what a week.

it's been a while, eh? i hardly remember what it means to blog. there are so many things that have happened since saturday, i'm not even sure i have the energy to form cohesive thoughts about it. i'll try.

saturday was a busy day of getting things done around here while doug was around since he was leaving at 4pm to go out of town for the night. emma still had the tummy aches and complaints of her ear hurting. behind her ear was all red and oozing clear stuff. blech. so i cleaned it up and put some neosporin on it. no big deal. so doug left and we did our thing, crafting, watching a little movie---can't even remember which one now---colored in coloring books while snuggled in blankets on the bed with the windows open, read books.....all that good stuff. all the while emma complaining of her tummy hurting; the complaints closer together and the comforting not helping at all. so i took her temperature and noted it was on the low-grade side. gave her some motrin and debated on whether to take her to urgent care. which would have been a bit tricky with doug gone. so we waited it out.

sunday. i had no energy at all. none. nada. zilch. so i moved from couch to bed to chair to couch again most of the day. finally at 5 ish, i got up and check out emma's ear, did the temperature check. this time 102.4. okay. we're going in. i opted for the ER instead of urgent care knowing that urgent care checks the bare minimum and refers you out to the family doctor--at least that's been our experience. so to children's hospital we went. can i just say that driving backroads to children's even during the day is scary. scary. so we got there around 530, checked in, get called back and the first thing they do in triage is ask if they can do a strep test. ummm, yeah. whatever needs to be done to find out what's going on was my response. immediately, it's positive. huh? what? strep? and she didn't complain once about a sore throat? wow. i would have never guessed. cool, let's get the meds and get ourselves outta here.

no go, joe. we are sent back to the waiting room to wait for a room in the ER to see the doctor to rule out anything else with her tummy and also take a look-see at her ear.

we were there for 5......FIVE........hours.

it was a pleasant 5 hours though. i really can't complain. tv in the room, rocking chair, light dimmers, deliveries of color pages and crayons, stickers, popcicles. 5 star hotel room in her eyes.

lots of checking and testing and waiting, repeated over and over. UTI ruled out and an additional diagnosis of impetigo (skin infection). more checks and re-checks to make sure the medicine to treat both won't cause her reactions since she's allergic to amoxicillin---the med of choice when treating strep.

anywho. so we get home at 11pm after a quick stop to the pharmacy. get her settled in bed and end up tucking myself in, only to get back up 30 minutes later with an annoying pain in one side of my throat that feels like something (food, maybe?) is caught in my throat. so i gargle, doesn't help, drink warm water, blah, blah, blah.......nothing helps. oh well, go back to bed.

i'm home from work monday because she's still contagious and can't go to the sitter. ashlyn was out of school monday too. and that annoying pain. yep, it's still there. still only on one side. the day progresses, it gets worse. trying to swallow feels like sandpaper rubbing my throat. no matter how much i drink my throat still feels dry. and my stomach hurts. wierd. monday afternoon, call the doctor.

tuesday, take the kids to the sitter since ashlyn doesn't have it and emma has been on the antibiotics for more than 24-hours and is fever-free. head to the doctor for a strep test. sure enough......it's postitive. great!

go grab my prescription, stop at the store for some chicken soup, grab the kidlets and stop at the park to let them run some energy out. only, ashlyn lays on the blanket in the grass the whole time, not playing. and complaining. tummy ache. ah ha! i know now that tummy ache=strep (when other people in the house are positive too). so i ask her about her throat. she says "well, it doesn't hurt right now, but when i drink my slob it hurts a little bit, but not very much, but it does really hurt". clear as mud, no? so i say "when you swallow it hurts?" to which she replies...."yes, mommy, when i drink my slob it hurts." her way with words cracks.me.up.

so a call to the doctor with an explanation and some begging and pleading for a script instead of an office visit and three return calls from the nurses, ashlyn is now on antiobiotics for strep too.

niiiiiiiice. 3 out of 4 of us with strep.

(ps.......i'm having email problems and intermittent internet problems. if you have emailed me in the past 2 days and i haven't responded, please email again. i was on the phone with tech support 5 different times yesterday for a total of about 3 hours and they didn't solve anything. uggggggh)