Sickly

I am so behind on this blog. So behind, that I feel overwhelmed. Just to recap December through February:

1. Luke was sick with pneumonia in mid-December. We ended up in the ER. Antibiotics cleared it right up.
2. Jack got a nasty virus. I'm still not positive what it was, but I'm thinking it was the flu. Fever and LOTS of coughing. This also resulted in an ear infection.
3. Jack gave the virus to Luke. This resulted in another bout with pneumonia and a nasty ear infection.
4. Luke's fever spiked to 103 after he was over halfway through with his antibiotics. We took him to an urgent care clinic. They ran every test in the book, and found out that he had bilateral pneumonia and the ear infection was still there. He had to have a very painful antibiotic shot.
5. We took Luke to follow up with pediatrician a few days later (one day before we were to fly to California for my sister's wedding). His lungs sounded decent, not great. And, his ear infection was horrible still. Poor thing had to endure another antibiotic shot.
6. I got the virus. I was MISERABLE. High fever, bodyaches, awful cough. We fly to California feeling pretty puny. I have never felt so much pain when we descended. I thought my head might just explode.
7. Greg felt fluish for a few days, but seemed to escape the worst of it.
8. Luke seemed better in California, praise God! But, Noah started getting really congested and coughing. We took him to an urgent care in California. Doctor said he had a virus.
9. I was still coughing up a storm in California. On our flight back, I started feeling like I had pulled a muscle or something in my rib area from coughing. However, the next day, I couldn't move because of the pain. I went to urgent care and found out that I had FRACTURED my rib from coughing. Nothing they could do to help...just had to heal on its own. That was a good week of intense pain. I am better now, but certainly not 100%.
10. Jack got sick, again. High fevers, just puny. Doctor said he had an ear infection again. Oral antibiotics didn't clear it up, so they had to give him an antibiotic shot. Broke my heart.
11. At that appointment, I told his doctor that he had been complaining about pain in his groin area. I won't go into details here, but let's just say that he was examined, and the doctor was worried. He scheduled an emergency appointment with the urologist later that day, who happened to be working an hour away that day. Everything checked out okay, but we sure were scared that day.
12. Noah got really congested again, and his eyes became goopy. I was concerned it was pink eye, so I took him to the doctor. No pink eye, just a cold and a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION. Poor baby boy.
13. In the meantime, Luke's ear infection still hadn't cleared up, but his pneumonia did. So, we were referred to the ENT. He finally didn't have an infection, but he did have some hearing loss and lots of fluid in his ears. We go back next week. If the fluid it still there, he will have to have tubes.
14. I took Jack back to doctor to recheck ears. Same story...no infection, lots of fluid. We have to go back in about a month to see if it has cleared up.
15. Oh, and in the middle of all this at some point, Luke and I both got a nasty stomach virus.
16. I got mastitis. Misery.

I am tired just typing all of this out. I can't believe how sick we all were. I felt like it would never end. Not to mention, the hundreds and hundreds of dollars we spent on co-pays! This truly makes me grateful for our healthy seasons of life, and for the fact that none of these illnesses were serious. Our life seems to have stopped, and it was probably the hardest couple of months in my life. It all started as the newborn fog was clearing. So, we are just now starting to feel somewhat normal since the beginning of November. And, we still aren't out of the woods. I would appreciate prayer for Luke and Jack that their fluid will clear out so they won't need surgery.

Here's to hoping I get caught up on this blog very soon! And to strong immune systems!