10 Exhausting Days – Carrie Baughcum

Day 1: Fever, cough… sick 4 year old

Day 2: Fever, cough, sore throat, negative strep test… sick 4 year old

Day 5: Fever, cough… sick, tired, crabby 4 year old and one very tired mommy.

Day 7: Fever, cough, negative mono and flu test and blood work… sick, tired, poked and prodded, crabby 4 year old and one beyond exhausted mommy.

Day 10…
Today was the day we were taking Francine back to the doctor. We still had no answers. We still didn’t know why she would start to feel better but around noon her fever would shoot up to 101. She would curl up on the couch, her lips purpled and she shivered in fevered chills. The doctor suspected it was a virus followed by another virus. I was a scared mom who just wanted her daughter to get better.

I was a worried sick mother who had to walk into the other room when her daughter’s fever shot up. My brain fought off the negative thoughts… is it time for her to go in the hospital, could she have…., or maybe it was….. I wiped my tears, took a deep breath and told myself the doctors knew what they were doing. I would not entertain any other thoughts. The doctors would figure it out.

Everything else in life was taking a back seat to this. My husband and I took turns staying home with her. Everything extra went to the way side. Running, making a home cooked meal, writing, laundry, house work, alone time with my husband.

I took a shower and got dressed. Her appointment was first thing in the morning. We decided that my husband and I would both go. That meant the whole family was going. The doctor walked into the office. He shared with us that her chest xray was clear. That meant no pnumonia. Her blood work showed that her white blood cell count was down, another good sign. The culture they took for her urine sample showed that she had a bladder infection.

All of this was because of a nasty virus followed by a bladder infection. I couldn’t believe the simplicity of it all. Relief flood over me, then happiness and then embarassment. All my concern, the worries I had fought off, the people I had bothered with my daughters progress and their worry were all for a virus and a bladder infection!

Day 12…

Several naps, multiple loads of laundry, a couple of home cooked meals, an antibiotic and two sisters yelling, “MMMOOOOMMMYYYY Olivia is bothering me!!!” “MMMOOOOOOOOMMMMY Francince won’t share!!!!”… Life is back to normal and I can not help but feel even more thankful and more blessed for my family, my friends and my children’s health!