Uncle. I'm done.
I'm still dealing with the blasted ankle. Still in the boot, still with the bone stimulator. I lasted about three weeks wearing the thing at night, until one night one of the electodes somehow came off my ankle and ended up stuck to the opposite buttcheek. No idea how that happened since it beeps loudly any time the electrodes aren't making contact with skin. No idea what I ended up stimulating there (don't let the name fool you, I don't feel anything when it's on), but decided I didn't want to stimulate anything except the broken bone and didn't want to risk that happening again. So I don't sleep in it, but I wear it all the rest of the time.
The girls weren't feeling well over Christmas, so BigDaddyFish took them to the doctor on the 26th. Long story short: Trout had the flu with a side of strep, and Sunny had probablyjustgottenovertheflu with a side of pinkeye. They got a bunch of medicines, but a few days later Nemo spiked a fever. His turn with the flu. By the end of winter break they were all healthy and sent back to school. That didn't help me, though, and I got the flu worse than anyone else over New Year's Day, followed up with a difficult to shake sinus infection a week later.
A week back to school and Little Man came down with a sore throat, so we went off for a culture that turned up negative. We discussed that he's been sick off and on pretty much all school year, and if he gets sick again with anything in the next two weeks, he'll be facing blood work for lyme and mono and other things to find out why he keeps getting sick.
This morning, Nemo grabbed his throat, said "I have such a sore throat. I don't think I can go to school," and sighed heavily, complete with overly dramatic shoulder drop. Yeah, and that doesn't have anything to do with the two-ish inches of snow outside? I felt his cool forehead and told him to suck it up, buttercup, you're going to school when BDF hollered from the other room "Lymph nodes don't get that way for no reason." Huh? So I grabbed his neck and felt his glands.
"Flashlight. Now." Just a quick peek in the mou....holy mother of pearl. Tonsils bigger than golf balls, angry and red, adorned with bumps and whitish spots.
Ewkay. Off to the pediatrician, CERTAIN of a strep diagnosis.
The nurse took the culture, the doctor came in and started to ask all the usual questions, like "How long has he been feeling sick? What are his primary symptoms? Does he have a fever?" etc. and I just told her to look at his throat. That's all. Just look. That got a "Wow" out of her. We made small talk a bit, then she went out to check the culture, as a formality.
Negative. She was as flummoxed as I was. She looked back and forth between Nemo and I as he nattered on about how we got snow and how his brother and sisters were at school and how he has a dreamlite and it's a penguin and it makes stars on his ceiling. I asked what the percentage effectiveness of the rapid strep is, and she said when run 24 hours after onset of symptoms it's 98% effective. I thought to myself it wouldn't be the first time someone from my family fell into a rare 2% as I could see her thinking hard, struggling with what to do.
"Well, it's obvious he's got something. Those tonsils aren't borderline anything. It could be strep, but kids with mono can also look like that. So, we'll treat as though it's strep. If it is, it should respond to treatment fast, no more than 48 hours. If it doesn't, you need to bring all of them in for mono tests."
All of them? All four kids? Apparently so. There's a high likelihood that if one has it, others do too, even if they're asymptomatic. Alrighty then.
Last night I paged Dr. Google and looked at photos of strep throat and mono. I can see what she was talking about, they look very similar. Also, don't google those things if you have a weak stomach. Blech.
He was worse today. He's had three doses of the antibiotic.
I may have to open up the house and air it out, even if it is 18 degrees outside. Surely that'll kill whatever illness gremlin that is apparently living under my couch.
Right?
Right?