Plagued

Elsa, recovered from the chicken pox, went to Gabriela's four days straight (including a Saturday make-up day) the week before last, only to come down with another high fever while out to breakfast before church that Sunday morning. The fever lasted for days, spiking to between 104 and 105, and coming down to only around 101 with the use of ibuprofen and acetaminophen. I suspected roseola, as others told me it was going around, and I was waiting patiently (or, not so, really) for the fever to break and a rash to appear. I thought the fever was finally gone Tuesday morning, but it popped up again by that afternoon and I decided enough was enough. To the doctor we went. With complaints since Saturday afternoon about a hurting tummy, the high fever, very swollen glands, and white stuff on her left tonsil, the nurse practitioner, Susan, diagnosed her with strep. The poor girl felt horrible while we were at the doctor, so Susan did not even want to put her through the swab test. She felt confident enough that it was strep, and just went ahead and prescribed an antibiotic. Even with the antibiotic, it was Thursday before the fever was completely gone.

With strep, on the very rare occasion that I was able to get some food down her.

After getting to go to playgroup for those four straight days, Elsa was begging to go back when she became sick again. I felt so bad telling her that she had to stay home yet again. And the television watching was getting out of hand. And a serious Curious George addiction was running strong... and still is. She was such a brave little thing once again, going through all of this. Jarrett and I were amazed that there was not more whining and such coming from her. I do not think she really needed a reward, but she was surprised one day with a George of her very own, arriving in a big brown box on the front doorstep. He is her little buddy now. (He was good bribing material when it came to giving her medicine too.)

Elsa and George -- their first night together.

So Elsa started feeling better last Thursday, and we went to the zoo on Friday to get out of the house and get some fresh air. It was while at the the zoo that I noticed two or three red dots on Avie's cheek/hairline. I thought about the possibility of chicken pox, but kind of shrugged it off for some reason. Until later that evening when I realized more dots were appearing elsewhere. Thankfully, our little one has had a pretty mild case, even more so than her sister. She has had absolutely no fever, at least that I have been aware of. And I would say she has around 40 pox total, about 25 of them in her diaper area alone. That must be the worst part for her. Her constant diaper rash, combined with chicken pox cannot feel very nice at all. But, like her sister, she seems to be a trooper, and has really remained her happy, go-lucky self. I just hope it is a strong enough case that she will not have to worry about it later down the road. I think it probably is, though.

May the sickness end after all of this. We have a much anticipated trip to the beach scheduled for next week, and it would be lovely if we were all well to enjoy the sun, sand, and surf!