Can we just be healthy already?

March 24 – Sarah is diagnosed with strep throat. An unusual ailment for a child under the age of 5 and she is prescribed amoxycillan for 10 days. She throws up her first dose at home and later vomits in my car (without any warning).

March 28 – Emily wakes up with a fever. Give her motrin and the temperature comes down. She is eating, playing, and sleeping as usual. Must be a passing thing.

April 3 – Found out that Emily vomited at 2:30am. Her fever is persisting (as it has all week) and now she is definitely not acting like herself.

April 4 – Take Emily to the pediatrician because the fever is no better and she’s clingy and listless (this has been increasing over the past week). Doctor checks her for strep which comes back negative and says it must be viral, particularly because she didn’t have a flu shot. He asks that I call April 5 with her status.

April 5 – After a morning of basically wearing Emily as she would not let me put her down, I call the pediatrician and explain the situation. He suggests taking her to Children’s Hospital. I pack her up and head over only to find out she must pee in a cup. She refuses. I know eventually she just won’t be able to hold it any longer and when that time comes, I slide the cup under her from behind. I get no credit for my ingenious thinking, she proudly tells everyone she peed in a cup. Actually, she's a little too proud of this new-found talent (as I will find out over the next few days). At any rate, she is diagnosed with a severe UTI. Cefdinir for 10 days and she’ll be good as new.

April 6 – I wake up to the sound of a vomiting (well, dry heaving) child. It's 6:30am and I was in that "dead-to-the-world happy place" everyone wants to get to while they sleep. I clean up what little mess there is and she seems fine. Emily keeps her antibiotics down and she goes to school at 8:30. At 3pm she was awakened from her nap unable to focus on anything and with a temperature of 105. The nurse says to give her motrin and the fever should come down. The antibiotics will kick in 48 hours after her first dose. Motrin does bring the fever down and she has a good night.

April 7 – 46 hours after her first dose of Cefdinir, Emily wakes up shivering and sweating. She hangs out in a steamy bathroom and after about 20 minutes she is herself again. The fever broke and my Emmy is back. She chattered non-stop from one subject to another for the rest of the evening.

April 9 – Sarah sneezes blood and goes to Walgreens Take Care Clinic. The pesky cold she’d been fighting since March caused her nose to become raw and infected. The nurse prescribed a nasal mist (which she doesn’t mind) and a clear cream to clear the infection. Pleas to treat her for a sinus infection (tis the season) go unanswered.

April 11 – Sarah visits the pediatrician for her 4 year well visit. The doctor is not happy that she was not given antibiotics to treat a sinus infection and at Sarah’s urging also checks out the “diaper area”. Apparently the strep bacteria settled in that region and she has a flaming rash. Pediatrician says antibiotics will clear up both the sinus infection and the strep. She suggests holding off on the DTaP vaccine until after the infections clear up. An appointment is scheduled for April 22. She also wants to see Emily in her office to a follow-up urinalysis and asks if Emily will be able to pee in a cup. I say I’m sure that won’t be a problem and relay just how proud she is of peeing in a cup. Appointment scheduled for April 18.

I have a list on my refrigerator - a column for Sarah and a column for Emily. It includes their medications and creams, the times each need administered, and the last day each needs dosed.

My head is spinning and I’d like to know how much the pediatrician would charge in rent if we were to move in, just for a bit.