Last Sunday I was excited to post pictures of us enjoying one of the nice fall days we have had here. We seem to be going back and forth between cold and rainy and beautiful 50s and 60s. Here's a few of the kids. In the first one, Sydney is pretending to be Balto bringing the medicine to the sick children of Nome, Alaska. That's why her tongue is hanging out.

So why didn't I get this posted last week? Believe it or not, illness invaded our house once again. Sydney spiked a fever right after church and started coughing. I kept her home on Monday, pushed liquids and rest, all to try to get her to school on Tuesday. That was the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. Not only that, but Sydney was scheduled to be helper in class (i.e. line leader, bring something to show the class, etc.), they were having Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for snack, and turkey dinner was on the menu for lunch. Sydney had been looking forward to this for two weeks.

Tuesday morning, she was still running a fever and coughing, but I gave her all of her medication and let her try anyway. Twenty minutes after school started, I got a call from the school nurse asking me to pick up Sydney. Her fever was still pushing through both fever reducers I had given her and she was hacking her head off. Her sweet teacher sent her Charlie Brown treats home with her and we were on our way. She slowing down at all, which helped me since I needed to pick up some things at WalMart and get Zack through physical therapy and an occupational therapy evaluation. We picked up some frozen turkey dinners at WalMart for lunch, and the day seemed to be saved.

However, Sydney started getting sicker that afternoon and was progressively worse all day Wednesday. When I put her to bed that night, she started coughing so hard and didn't stop for several minutes. She started throwing up and still couldn't stop coughing. I knew she needed to get to the ER, so I called my wonderful friend Emily across the street to come stay with the babies, and off we went.

Turns out that it was pneumonia. Poor little girl. She just can't get a break. Some breathing treatments and an antibiotic shot later (which she still talks about since it hurt so dang bad) we were back home.

Thursday morning, I had to break the news to Sydney. She was too sick to go to Thanksgiving dinner at the bishop's house. This was absolutely devastating to her. She had been counting down the days to this since the beginning of November. We drove in to town to get Sydney's prescription only to find that the Walgreen's pharmacy was not open as the ER staff believed and the nearest open pharmacy was nearly an hour away in Blue Springs. Since Zack, Tansy, and I had started feeling under the weather on Wednesday, and the ER staff assured me that the shot would hold Sydney over until Friday morning if necessary, we skipped the trip.

Instead, we briefly stopped by the bishop's house, got some delicious turkey dinner to go, as well as a priesthood blessing. Lots of disappointed people. I was one of them.

Sydney started coughing really hard again that night and we started for the ER, but she fell asleep quickly in the car so I turned around and came right back home. I had left Tansy at a friend's house, and was glad the next day that she wasn't there for long since she really got sick the next day.

Friday morning, once everyone was dressed and fed, it was time to really head back to the ER since Zack and I weren't breathing well. They diagnosed albuterol and steroids and sent us home. However, that afternoon I was informed that a much better treatment was on the way.


My super, incredible mom!

My parents decided that enough was enough and for the last week that Ben was gone, my mom would come stay with us and help us get better.

And not a moment too soon. She arrived here at our house about 3:15 yesterday afternoon. I thought I had been sick on Friday. Oh, no. I discovered sick this morning. My cough got so bad despite religiously taking everything I had been allowed. I knew I needed to go back. So we all packed up once again to the ER.

I knew I would be coughing too hard to speak by the time I got to the registration window so I simply handed them my discharge paperwork from Friday. After many tests and a few consulations with my OB/GYN, I was diagnosed with bronchitis and given even more drugs.

Now I am just sitting, resting, drinking water, and observing my children bask in the glow of a grandma visit. I have the best parents EVER! Here's hoping that at some point, our bodies will just get tired of all of this crazy illness and my kitchen counter can stop serving as an in-home pharmacy.

Thought you all might like an update on the haircut situation with my kids.

Sydney got her hair cut this week by my friend Kimberly.
Tansy got her hair cut this evening by Sydney.

And Zack just really needs a haircut. Maybe I should have taken a picture of the back where we are having some major cowlick problems.

I don't have any pictures of us languishing away on various pieces of furniture this week. Last weekend, it was time for Zack and Tansy to come down with the dreaded swine flu. The actual flu part was mild and Tansy improved after a couple of days.

However, Zack's breathing got really wheezy on Tuesday, and by that afternoon, he was working really hard to breathe and becoming lethargic and not responding well to me. I took him to the ER where they tested him for RSV and pneumonia. Both tests were negative, but since he was having such a hard time breathing, they gave him a breathing treatment and sent us home with Xopenex.

I took him in to the pediatric clinic here on base the next day for a follow-up and found out that both of his ears were badly infected. I had figured all of the screaming was just his way of protesting his illness since he could finally breathe.

I also got a phone call from my OB/GYN's office that day to tell me that my blood work showed that I was really anemic and I needed to start an iron supplement immediately. I was going to call that day to ask about some dizziness and weakness that I had been struggling with. Mystery solved. After just a couple of days on the supplement, all strange symptoms disappeared.

Tansy relapsed on Thursday with a fever and coughing and drank absolute gallons of water. By Friday, both she and Zack were doing much better, as was I. Sydney had been back to school all week so things had been quiet and restful.

I'm happy to report that we all made it to church today. Sydney got to participate in the Primary program. She said her line so well. I was afraid she would get shy and mumble into the microphone. She didn't sing most of the songs, although she knows them. She gets shy and chews on her fingers. It's really gross.

Thanks for all of the prayers and thoughts for our family. We have an amazing ward out here. I didn't have to cook for a week and a couple of sisters came and cleaned my house on Monday. We have been blessed and well cared for.

Those of you who have been following my Facebook posts this week know that our family has been plagued by H1N1 this week. Sydney was diagnosed with it on Monday. Despite our best efforts to keep her cough under control, her reactive airway disorder kicked in, and by Wednesday night she was coughing so hard she was throwing up everything she ate. I called a couple of guys from church who came right over to give her blessing. After a rough night, we were back at the clinic Thursday morning.

The nurse we initially dealt with was really ticking me off. She kept going on about how the cough can last for a few weeks after the illness. I kept explaining that her cough was getting worse, not a residual post-flu cough, but she wasn't listening. The doctor, however, was more helpful. She changed one of the medications Sydney had been on, gave her another medication in a nebulizer, redid her chest x-ray (still clear, thank goodness), and gave her another nebulizer treatment since the first one hadn't loosened Sydney's lungs as much as she had expected. Sydney had also broken out in hives right before we went in and the Benadryl was totally knocking her out by the time we finished. We were there for two hours trying to get her well enough that the doctor felt like she could go home. During this ordeal, my wonderful friend Cassie was watching Zack and Tansy. There is no way I could have gotten Sydney through everything with them there.

By late Thursday afternoon, I noticed definite improvement in Sydney's breathing and a reduction in her coughing. She wasn't out of the woods yet, but at least we were going in the right direction.

Just in time too because that evening after the kids had gone to bed, I started coughing and feeling achy. I had an appointment with my OB at 9:00 the following morning, at which time we discovered my temperature was going up as well. She prescribed Tamiflu and told me to start it immediately since we had caught it so early. I was a so scared because I have so many risk factors. I'm pregnant, I have reactive airway disorder as well, and I am extremely suseptible to pneumonia when I get the flu. This is why I ALWAYS get vaccinated. In fact, I had received an email Thursday afternoon saying that the H1N1 vaccine was available at the clinic on base and had planned to go in on Friday. What timing.

Because of my risk factors, my doctor warned me that if I got any sicker that I would need to go straight to the ER, especially since we were going in to the weekend. So I spent the afternoon on the phone setting up with friends to be on ER alert. My friend Camara also brought dinner over for us that evening. I also got a blessing from the same guys who gave one to Sydney. It really helped me to relax and know everything would be okay.

So what did that mean for Halloween, you ask? I called yet another wonderful friend named Roxanne and asked her to bring over some dinner for us last night then take the girls out trick-or-treating. It was really sad that neither Ben nor I got to go with them since it is so much fun to watch them. They only went to a few houses because I didn't want Sydney out too long since she is still recovering. I know they look totally mad at me in this picture, but I think that's just because they wanted to get out the door, not take pictures. Sydney is a dinosaur and Tansy is a flower. Today, I am doing better than I expected. The priesthood and modern medicine are wonderful blessings in my life. I am still confined to the couch and have to be careful about talking too much. Yeah, I know how many of you are chuckling about that. I have dinner coming for the next four days and someone to help with housework tomorrow. I am so blessed to have so much love and support. Not only are there so many people that are willing to help when I ask, but many that insist and helping regardless. I hope to have better news about the health of this family next week.