House of Ick

   With the weather constantly fluctuating between 15 and 55 degrees, you can imagine the number of colds and viruses floating through Des Moines. It seems like everyone has been sick forever. My little family caught our cold December 17th. (Yes I know the exact day.) We went to the Dalton Family Christmas in DeWitt. 50+ people in one house, and someone shared something, because Scott, Weston, me and Shannon all woke up Monday morning congested and feeling generally like Poo. We all spent the week leading up to Christmas on every cold med we could think of... DayQuil, Advil Cold & Sinus, Musinex - well everyone except Weston, because he's still too little for Cold Medication. After Christmas, Shannon had a sinus infection; Scott was sneezing and light coughing all the time; I was coughing so badly it felt like I would lose organs; and Weston had a congested cough that seemed to be on it's way out. Add to that, Mom drank from my soda and wine, even though I told her I had a nasty cold and not to do it. So she got the cold which turned into Bronchitis and some other nasty infection that attacks low immune systems. So, Mom got pretty sick, but I did warn her. Many, many times.
  Fast forward to yesterday, January 15th. Scott's on the mend, Shannon too. Mom's on antibiotics, and I'm mainly coughing at night, and when I run out of breath. Weston on the other hand has gotten a lot worse. He now has a bad cough, really congested sounding, and tires very quickly. Yesterday, he coughed so badly he threw up lunch and breakfast. And then again last night, except the poor boy hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the first time. So it was so sad to watch, my little 3 yr old boy holding onto the trash can for dear life.
  I am leaving now to take him to the doctor. When I called for a recommendation on cold meds, they wanted to see him. Since it's been a month, they want to check his ears and lungs. So, I'm off to the doctor! Wish us luck!

ADDENDUM

  So we went to the doctor. Our regular pediatrician, Dr. Emily Gavin, was unavailable. So we met with the new doctor, Dr. Rhonda Dodge. I loved her! She was awesome. And it's great to have a back up doctor. Anyway, after informing Dr. Dodge that one child at daycare has pneumonia, another is on a nebulizer, and a third went home sick with a fever, it was a surprise to hear that Weston's lungs and ears are clear. that all he has is a virus. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done for him. And we were told that the cough sometimes takes 4-6 weeks to move out of his system. Hopefully we're halfway through that wait time. Dr. Dodge did tell Weston that the only medicine he needs is a lot to drink, mainly water and juice. and he seemed to understand her. So... no meds, and lots of fluids. And hopefully we'll be on the mend soon. We woke up to almost 3" of snow this morning... maybe that hard long freeze is on it's way to kill all the bugs in the air. Maybe....