So how was your Thanksgiving holiday? Mine? Well, it went in a direction that none of us imagined. It started out a few weeks previous, where my three school-age children began a round robin of illness. One, if not two, would stay home from school in different combinations over the last few weeks. None of the illness were so bad that a few days rest couldn’t help and rejuvenate the kid.
The Monday before Thanksgiving a couple of the kids didn’t seem to be getting better. Unfortunately, it started to snow during the afternoon commute. The gridlock of the roads prevented Seattle’s cleanup crew from taking care of the roads. This meant Tuesday the roads were unnavigable. There were abandoned cars along the roads and highway, and it took a while before most of the arterials were cleared enough to make traffic flow. The residential side streets were still blocked with snow and ice. We had hoped to be able to take in the kids to see the pediatrician on Tuesday, just to get them checked out and eliminate anything major.
Wednesday the road were clear enough for us to make the trek to the pediatrician. Unfortunately, there were no appointments available. We attempted to make an appointment for Friday, the after Thanksgiving, but apparently regular appointments were not being taken. If it was an emergency, we could go to Urgent Care, but since some of the kids had elevated temperatures, not actual fevers, and nobody was vomiting, we didn’t see this as an acute case in need of emergency treatment.
Normally I hate leaving the house the day after Thanksgiving for any reason. This last Friday would be different. My 3 year old just wasn’t getting much better, and my wife and I were afraid for our 6 month old being exposed to whatever was staying around our house. Then we had our other 2 small kids that had been staying home from school off and on over the last few weeks.
I called the pediatrician’s office as soon as it was open for scheduling, and said I would be bringing in my 4 children. I was able to make an appointment for Ciárán, my 3 year old, but the receptionist wasn’t able to compute multiple kids. This is nothing new for my family or their pediatrician. It doesn’t take much longer to look down the ears and throat of 3 kids as it does 1 if they are all done in an assembly line fashion, which some of our medical appointments wind up becoming. I told the receptionist that I was going to be bringing in all four of my kids, appointment or no, and it would be nice to have their medical records pulled and available. He said he would notify the doctor’s team, but couldn’t authorize anything, and they would have to call me back when they arrive to approve or deny the request. I responded that all four kids were coming, thank you very much, have a nice day, see you in a couple of hours.
Naturally, as we’re getting ready to leave the house, which is a massive production with the number of small kids we have, the doctor’s office calls back, and not only are all the medical records getting pulled, but it would be great to have the children be seen at once.
We get in, and the bottom line is that the four small kids all have Strep Throat. So the smaller illnesses from previous developed into secondary infections. Additionally, Ciárán has an external ear infection. This meant he would have to have an additional medication, as the external ear infect couldn’t be taken care of with the regular antibiotics, it would require drops in the ear.
This was, unfortunately, not the final word.
While the kids were not feeling great, the parents were not immune from feeling bad. A couple of weeks ago I had a sore throat, but nothing serious. Then I got flu-like symptoms (achy joints, etc.) and I thought it was just the general virus that was going around. My wife also got a bit sick. As last week progressed, my wife thought she might be developing strep throat, and Friday morning we made a doctor’s appointment for her in the afternoon.
As we were in the pediatrician’s office getting the kids diagnosed, it became more and more clear that I should go in to get my own throat looked at. After the kids were looked at, and before we left, I was in the parking lot of the pediatrician’s office calling up to get myself looked at, but I don’t’ have a doctor for myself. Talking with the consulting nurse, I was able to get myself scheduled for a straight lab visit, just to get Strep Throat checked for.
After returning home, dropping off the kids (and getting the first dose of medicine in them) I headed out to my doctor’s clinic for the lab test. After spending 20 minutes waiting in the wrong line, I got myself checked in, swabbed, and was told that I was indeed “very” positive for Strep Throat. My wife had begun looking up symptoms of Strep Throat, and it turns out everything I was feeling the last couple of weeks was a symptom of advanced Strep Throat. Alright, so the symptoms could be manifestations of any number of illnesses, but since everybody in the family had flu shots a while ago, well, you can imagine what we were thinking.
I get my medicine, Laura goes to her doctor’s appointment, and takes our oldest, Kyle, who is visiting from college for the Thanksgiving weekend to get his throat swabbed. Throughout all of this, we still had Kyle come home for Thanksgiving. He flew in on Wednesday, and because of the snow still on the ground, and general road conditions, I took mass transit down to the airport to pick him up, and we took mass transit home. He spent most of his time home in his room, working on homework or generally being too cool to hang out with the family, but since he complained about having a sore throat on Friday morning, we figured it would be a good idea to get him checked before he returned to school Sunday.
She of course came up positive. Kyle didn’t. That’s what you get for not being in the house.
By Friday night everybody had two doses of medication in them and was beginning to feel better. Saturday the children in particular had bounced back and it was obvious that they were going to be alright. Mom and dad, however, have a bit of guilt for not taking the kids in to get checked out earlier.