Brandon celebrated his sixth birthday party on February 27. Right after his party my husband tells me he’s not feeling well; achy & just plain old yucky. We go out to dinner anyway & when we get home he goes to bed. The next day he comes home from work at noon, which is not like him, and sleeps until dinner time. He’s sick most of that week & later informs me that of the 12 people he works with, ALL of them had been home sick during the week.
The next Monday, March 7, Abbie (my 2 1/2 year old) is acting sick. Runny nose & diarrhea. Lovely. I spend all day Monday & Tuesday (stayed home from work) holding her while she’s crying. Exhausted, I go to work Weds to have my mom call me & say that Abbie’s been curled up on the floor all day crying for me. We get thru the next two days, and by Friday I think I’m coming down with her bug (but go to work anyways).
That evening my mother-in-law comes to visit, and I have some obligations for my son’s t-ball team I need to take care of. I felt like crap, but I’m a mom so I pop some emergen-C and Motrin and take care of business. Saturday I feel like crap, but run errands all day. We went to a cousin’s house for dinner that night, but I was feeling worse by the moment. Halfway thru dinner we all decided that I really needed to just go home.
As I was driving home I realized that I was REALLY sick. Like I barely had the energy to put my pajamas on, and the blanket I needed for my chills actually hurt my skin.
I slept all day Sunday. Monday I had mommy duties, and tried to convince my husband that it really wouldn’t be wise for me to go to work on Tues. I work with two year olds & their moms, so it’s not like I can hide my sickness. Wednesday I wanted to go to work, but woke up feeling even worse so I went to the doctor’s. Diagnosis: the flu.
Yay. The one year I skip our flu shots (due to our insurance changing & not being sure which doctor we could go to). The good thing was that now my husband believed that I was actually sick!
I spent the rest of that week & weekend in bed. By the next Tuesday (10 days after coming down with the flu) I was back at work, but still sick & exhausted (just not feverish anymore). I barely made it through that week and spend every non-working moment in bed.
Friday at work (3/25) I realized I hadn’t shaved my legs in a while—duh, I was sick—so I planned on shaving Saturday morning. I woke up Saturday & noticed I had what appeared to be broken capillaries on my shins. Odd. I get them from coughing or throwing up too much, but on my face. I brushed it off & decided I could wear pants one more day & shave that evening.
Saturday night I had more broken capillaries & what looked like really bad razor burn. I decided I’d wait to shave until my legs cleared up because I didn't want to irritate them.
By Sunday the spots were above my knees, and by Monday my legs were covered with red bumps. I spent a few hours on the computer to see if I had anything contagious & determined I didn’t, so I planned on going to work Tuesday. At this point I figured I had a bad allergic reaction to something…new Tide, someone’s carpet cleaner (I work on the floor with kids), kitchen cleaner, something…
Tuesday night my arms & butt were covered too, but nothing on my trunk. So Wednesday I went to the doctors, at this point scared that I had a Strep infection on my skin. By early Wednesday, the bumps had turned into weird looking blisters. I looked like I had the chickenpox.
***Before I go any further, I need to say how much I love my doctors! My primary physician is Dr. Lichti, but with everything going on I’ve seen whoever is available, and I’ve also seen Dr. Perkins & Dr. Hedman. They all work at Turnure Medical Group in Rocklin. If you are local & in need of a family physician, I *highly* recommend them! Dr. Turnure works there too, and although I’ve only heard great things about him as well. They are all Christians (if that matters to you) and they have a Bible in the waiting room. I love that they really treat your body, mind, & spirit; Dr. Turnure prayed with a friend after she came back very depressed from missions trip to Cambodia.***
So Wednesday afternoon I made it in to see Dr. Hedman. I was told I had vasculitis.
Huh?
Basically: I have a good, strong immune system. Sometimes when our bodies fight off an infection, like influenza, they go into overdrive & then attack themselves. Vasculitis is an auto-immune reaction where the immune system attacks the blood vessels. So the vessels rupture. It’s like a party favor for the flu! Yay me!
I was sent for some blood work & a chest x-ray, because not only does it affect yoiur skin, it can attack your major organs. Lovely. I spent early Thursday taking care of that, and late Thursday noticing that I was still getting more blisters.
Thursday night I did a stupid thing & googled it. Bad idea. The images I saw reminded me of someone with Ebola. By the time I was going to bed, I was in tears, scared that I was dying. That the blood vessels in my brain were rupturing too. It was not a good night.
Friday (today 4/1) I went back to the doctors to go over my lab results & see what could be done. The good news: no major organ involvement (though we think there could be blood in my urine so more labs were ordered).
The ok news: the flu was the earthquake & this is the tsunami.
The really bad news: nothing can stop it from running it’s course at this point. The infection (the flu) that set it off is over, and it just has to get out of my system at this point.
The worse news: it’s now starting to run it’s course on my face. I could (kind of) handle the spots on my legs by wearing pants. And my arms look awful but the worse part is on the area I can’t see without trying. But let’s face it, I’m human, I’m vain. I do not want my face covered in bloody blisters…who does?
And as if that wasn’t enough: if any of the blisters pop (ulcerate), they need to be covered & kept dry…which means NO SHOWERS!
Needless to say, I stared crying at the doctor's. The only medical treatment is prednisone, which Dr. Lichti said has it’s own complications (and may not do anything for me), so he’d rather not put me on that. I can respect that (now, 12 hours later), but sitting there in the office I really just wanted to hear, “hey, these pills will make you gain some weight, but they’ll stop the blisters from forming.” I would’ve taken them in a heartbeat.
So here I am, three weeks after I came down with the flu. I feel better physically. Emotionally? I’m spent. I have to tell everyone I see, “don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” And every time I look down there’s another broken capillary, and another new red bump, and another big blister.
So there’s my month in a not-so-nutshell. It’s long & I apologize. I should be back next week to catch up with Project Life, some heritage layouts, and our fabulous Star Wars party from a month ago.
And because I can’t have a post without a photo…
Here’s a picture of Abbie blowing bubbles from this last week:
Ooh! I am so sorry Christine! That sounds like a really bad month! I have missed seeing your heritage layouts! Brandi tells me how beautiful they are! And yes, I would stay away from Prednisone if you can! It's the CRAZY drug that I end up going on every time I have a flare--it is not a fun drug . . . but it does work quickly!
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