A household of Sickies

The last few months have been a whirlwind of the unexpected for our family. I don’t think I’d normally document all of this information on our family blog but it’s a time that I don’t want to forget as it’s been filled with chaos, stress and an abundance of blessings. We entered 2012 as healthy as can be but unfortunately that status altered quickly.

It started with a wave of the flu spreading like a wildflower through our household. In one moment, Mike was sick and then my mom, then me. Luckily Ava didn’t catch the horrible bug that had us all flat in bed and then hunched over the toilet. A week later I had a run in with an Upper Respiratory Infection that caught me off guard and quite literally took the wind right out
of me. It took me a while to heal from that. During that time I discovered a lump in my breast. The doctor sent me to do some diagnostic testing which resulted in my first mammogram and an ultrasound. Both tests came out clear and a sigh of relief moved over me. When I went in for my follow-up the doctor discovered a totally different lump, this time it was a cluster of lumps that
were hard and non-pliable (the scary kind).Apparently the reason that women under 40 don’t commonly get mammograms is because doesn’t necessarily show up on them at this age. Interesting, but a little frightening if you ask me. I was sent to a specialist and just a few days later I was whisked away into the operating room to have a lumpectomy. My wonderful surgeon cut me open and dug down deep to pull out five (count them 5) large lumps. She carried those lovely lumps to the pathologist herself and asked him to work through the results in 24 hours (my anxiety paid off).

Luckily, the results came back and I had a large benign tumor. Our family was so blessed that we didn’t have to take anything a step further. I learned the lesson that Susan G, Komen has been teaching all of us women for years…..don’t forget your monthly breast exam. I don’t know that I had ever done one before but felt very prompted the day I found the original lump. The ending to this saga could have been much different but it once again reminded me how critical early detection is to our health and that we are in the driver’s seat when it comes to bringing forward health concerns.

Shortly after my surgery Ava got tonsillitis. It’s extremely rare for an infant to be diagnosed with this. Her daycare provider called me one afternoon and her temperature had spiked to 102 and by the time I got her to the doctor 90 minutes later she was at 104 degrees. They gave her Tylenol on the spot to bring down the fever and she began a round of antibiotics. After we got through that, we for sure had to be in the clear, right? Wrong! The next week Ava was admitted to Children’s Hospital with RSV/bronchiolitis/pneumonia. She spent 6 long days lying in the crib in her hospital room. She had a constant flow of oxygen as her saturation levels were dropping to dangerously low levels. We experienced som e frightening moments during those 6 long days but
were blessed with great doctors and nurses, prayers of family and friends, and great visitors. Two weeks later she is finally recovered. During her time in the hospital I developed a cold and had to be treated for bronchitis.

Things are looking up now. Our household is healthy. We are keeping our local Target store in business with our Lysol purchases and hoping that this Spring will hold only good health for each of us!