The Ups and Downs

It has been a whirl wind over the last few days here at our home and in my family. Friday my sweet C woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and then began complaining of an ear ache. After staying home from school and voluntarily taking a 2 hour nap, I got her in to see the doctor. She had an ear infection and possible strep throat. She was given antibiotics and Tylenol and seemed to be feeling much better the next day!

Saturday was a leisurely day with the kids and Sunday we went to church. My dad was home in Atlanta sick with a terrible headache and fever over the whole weekend. He began to vomit and just attributed it to the headache and then when his neck got stiff, he just figured he had some sort of pinched nerve or something. I told him I thought he may have the flu and that he should go to the hospital or an urgent care clinic if it got any worse.

Sunday afternoon, my sister in law drove 3 1/2 hours to our house to babysit my kids all evening while I went out on a true "girls night out." I was given the opportunity to go see Dane Cook, the comedian, up in Raleigh with a girlfriend and her friends. I was so excited to get out of "mom mode" for about 8 hours and just feel like a grown up woman. I got to put on makeup and wear a nice shirt and just have fun! It was great!!

Here is a picture C and I took of ourselves before I left for Dane Cook.

And I always think its a little dumb to take self portraits, but I felt like I looked nice so I wanted to remember it...plus my hubby wasn't there to see me so I thought I should take a picture :-)

After driving up to Raleigh and eating a wonderful dinner with the girls, we headed over to the coliseum for the show. When we arrived, I got a text from my mom that said my dad was being admitted to the hospital and was being tested for viral meningitis. I couldn't hear a thing when I tried to call her to find out more, so my sister ended up texting me with updates all evening. I was so worried, but at the same time, I knew there was nothing I could do being so far away. I enjoyed my time at the show and laughed so hard my face hurt :-)

Later I learned that my dad had to have to have a spinal tap and CT scan. It looked as though he was really sick. The doctors ran a lot of tests and by Monday morning it was determined that he had bacterial meningitis that was caused by an ongoing and untreated sinus infection (that he never felt!). Turns out the sinus infection actually "spread" through his skull and got into his brain fluids...thus causing the meningitis. He is currently on a lot of antibiotics and very heavy pain medication. They later learned that the weakened part of his skull that let the infected sinus fluid into his brain was around his eye socket. I assume that will need to be repaired at some point so this doesn't happen repeatedly. Pleas pray that the antibiotics will kill all the infection quickly.

Also on Monday morning, little C had a very rough couple of hours. As I got her ready for school, she was just crying and crying and couldn't tell me why. She said she felt fine and that she wanted to go to school, but she just wouldn't stop crying. I took her to school as usual and though she cried the whole way there and then almost fell asleep, she still got out of the car and went inside. I told the teachers how she'd been crying all morning, so I wasn't surprised when 30 minutes later they called me to tell me she was still upset and was actually starting to feel feverish. By the time I got there, she was asleep on one of the teacher's laps and was obviously running a fever. She came home and took some Tylenol and then went right to her room and took a nap. She is still complaining of her ear hurting, so I think the antibiotic she is on must not be strong enough for her :-( I won't be surprised if we're back at the doctor tomorrow.

On a good note, the "Daddy Dolls" that my mother in law ordered for the kids arrived today! They are so beautiful and both kids seem to love them. We stuck in the voice recorders that B had previously recorded and they each say a personalized message to the kids. Check out these cute pictures I got of them with their dolls:

Lastly, little D is getting sick as well. He isn't running a fever yet, but he clearly has a cold. his stuffy nose is making it hard for him to sleep...which makes it hard for me to sleep as well :-(

Please pray for the health of my family - both kids and my dad who will be hospitalized for quite a while recovering from all the infection in his body.