What a week. I feel like I haven't been home at all, but I can't think of where I have been. It's all a big blur.
Things got even blurrier from the kids' point of view: Owen woke up Tuesday with super-goopy eyes. Then Samantha woke up goopy on Wednesday, and Drew woke up goopy on Thursday. By Thursday, Owen's eyes looked a lot better, so I thought Drew and Samantha would get better in a couple days, too. But then, Thursday evening, Samantha got all warm and rosy--really warm; 103.5, to be precise. All she wanted to do was sit on my lap, so that's what she did while David called the Nurseline. They suggested we give her a bath. It seems like every time we call them, their answer is, "Give the kid a bath." Good thing there's a nurse in my family. I called my marathon-running, super-mom, cousin Heidi. She returned my call the next morning and gave me some tips for reducing Samantha's fever with Tylenol and Motrin. It helped! Samantha's fever dropped back to normal by noon, and she felt well enough to complain about not feeling well.
I'm big on wait-and-see when my kids are sick, but their eyes just weren't getting better like we thought. Owen's eyes looked pretty clear, but Drew and Samantha's were still grody. So on Saturday David took the kids to the doctor while I went to clean some apartments. Sure enough, they all had pinkeye. Yuck. I feel really bad that we didn't take them in sooner, because they could've started treatment sooner. (I also feel bad that we took them over to the neighbors' to play on the trampoline. Oops.) Good thing we still have insurance. Even with insurance we shelled out $20 for each kid's co-pay, and $10 for each kid's eye drops. Doesn't seem like much, but when you times it by three... It would've cost even more without insurance.
The doc thought Samantha's fever was just part of a bad cold. I wonder if it was all related to her eyes, because once we started the eye drops, her eyes cleared up, her nose has started to clear up, and her temperature is a nice 98.6 degrees.
In unrelated news, I applied for a job as a clerk at the city utility billing office. I think my experience working at Convergys makes me a great candidate for the job; I had to deal with all different types of customers, and I learned all kinds of things about helping people manage their accounts. Hopefully I can score an interview and convince HR that I'm the gal for them.
5 comments:
Ashlyn was goopy last week and so was Braelyn. The nusre told us to just wash the eyes out. They are all better, except the runny nose hasn't cleared up yet.
Oh, man! It's no fun having sick kids. Glad they are getting better. Good luck with the job!
Glad you got that cleared up! Tuck the little tidbit about alternating Tylenol and Motrin in your back pocket because I'm sure it'll come in handy again. That's one of my favorite tricks.
Good luck with your job search...that's the pits :P.
It is always a gamble... should I pay the cash and find out they have a virus and treat with motrin and tylenol, or should I wait around... I am always striking out. Cyprus had pneumonia a little over a year ago and we waited a little too long to take her to the doctor to find out. We ended up with a super sick kid and 3 days in the hospital. I am going to invest in a otoscope (to detect ear infections), a stethoscope (to listen to the lungs for "crackling") and a better thermometer. Not a doctor, but hopefully better at diagnosing some simple illnesses!
Check out www.docmom.com for a great little layperson otoscope. I used that one for several years until I upgraded to their more expensive version. I highly recommend it to all my neighbors.
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