Here is our friend Ben. You have seen pics of him before. He is Nate and Rylee's brother. There is something about those Hornoks that enjoy visiting sick people. ; )
Here is Matt he got the fever thing too.
Here is a picture of all the boys sick. Abbey doesn't have it yet here. This is the first time ever that they have all been sick at the same time. So we took a picture. Practically, once any 3 of them are on tylenol, I have to make a chart of who had what and when. Several times Titus or Gideon have found my chart cut it up and thrown it away and then I have to dig in the trash and puzzle piece my chart back together so I don't overdose anyone.
So the Answer!
The Problem: We seem to have had 3 illnesses this month. A fever that lasted 2 days which all 10 of us got, a stomach flu which Robin and the boys went through, and then the mystery. We seemed mostly better but every few nights some random child would barf in the night and feel fine in the morning. No fever, no nausea, healthy appetite, but we kept passing it around.
Preventative measures: I cleaned doorknobs, lightswitches, surfaces, and bathroom (singular b/c we only have one), daily. I spray bleach solutions on their bunkbeds, carpets, walls, and mattresses. I used only paper plates plastic cups to try to stop the germ sharing. No luck.
The last straw: Samuel. He had avoided the stomach flu up until the end. Then he threw up about 5 days in a row. The last day I said Enough! We will go to the doctor!
The doctor is a process: I make an appointment. They had two openings during the entire day, slim pickins. Neither are convenient. All my babysitters are gone to a youth group retreat. However in Lagrange we have the never ending supply of babysitters. I show up at the Bible School during the break, introduce myself to a random female and ask if they will babysit 7 children for several hours this afternoon. Ahh sweet bliss she needs cash! Success!
Next Sam and I gather our "sit in the waiting room" activities and make the drive to town. 15 bucks (in the van) in gas and 45 min later we are at the doc. It was a Lagrange reunion in there. 11 Lagrangers were there. 9 from 2 familys with illness and 2 of them worked there.
Sam and I played pokemon, killer bunnies, and read the readers digest together - he may be a faster reader than me- until it was our turn. The doc asked Sam the usual questions about his stool and barf. Hahahaha. He was so uncomfortable. Then she poked on his tummy more embarrassment. And then she cultured his throat.
The results: He had STREP! In children, strep presents as a tummy issue, sometimes with no fever or sore throat! Matt had strep several weeks ago, at the same time as several other people in town, but the kids didn't have a sore throat so I never had them checked for it. We think now that several of the children had strep and got over it on their own. Next time I will know better and have them cultured.
At home: The babysitter did fine, although the power went out and stayed out till 7 pm. We got home about 4 hours and another 15 bucks in gas later. She had thoughtfully called me and told me about the outage and I picked up fastfood in town so we would have dinner. All in all a 200 dollar day if you count the appointment, prescription, gas, fast food, and babysitting. But well worth it!
Sam is on antibiotics for the first time in his life which is awesome that we have avoided them so far. Today I am buying yogurt at Sam's Club to help out those good bacteria we are destroying. My good friend Angie recommended flax seed for better health and I'll need to find some of that too.
The End: No fever no barfing since Thursday. I am cautiously optimistic.
Today the weather is good, the house is a disaster with a capital D, I have some gardening, cleaning, laundry, worshipping, playing and reading to do. Here we go! Have a great day everybody. The Boyds love you!
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