In Which A Mysterious Disease Eats Months of My Life

Tags

illness, jaundice, liver, mysterious disease, new brunswick, Nova Scotia, rash, reunion, toenails falling off, vacation, virus

No, I’m not dead.

I’ve been touched by the comments and tweets that I’ve gotten, asking after me. You’re right, my blog has been very silent.

You see, I contracted a mysterious disease.

…Let me backtrack a bit.

So, in April I was extremely overworked. On top of the 35 hours I pull at the vet clinic, my dog training business was going through one of its booms again and I was out training almost every night during the week, and for 3-6 hours each weekend day as well. So I was working around 50 hours a week spread over all 7 days of the week.

But I had something to look forward to – vacation!

My 10 year Mount Allison University reunion was going to be in early May and a bunch of old friends from residence were attending. PH and I had planned a full 10 days home in the Maritimes, and the highlight was going to be the reunion. PH would drive me up to Sackville, New Brunswick and have dinner with my old friends, some of whom he knew from his own days at Mount Allison. Then he would go visit with his family and leave me to stay in residence with the girls, reminiscing and eating and dancing, for two whole days.

I don’t know when I’ve been so excited. I loved my university days. I loved the town. I loved the school. I loved the people. And I was going back, and it was going to be AWESOME.

So I dragged myself through day after exhausting day, counting the sleeps until vacation.

Then, the day before we were due to leave, I collapsed at work.

Like, literally collapsed.

Miss Pepper

Tags

cats, death, grief, illness, kittens, loss, pets

When I was just 15, my parents surprised me with a kitten. I guess they were suffering from a combination of empty nest syndrome (I was away on a class trip to Quebec) and anticipatory loss, because our dog was dying of cancer.

I had wanted a cat for years, but my parents weren’t cat people. When I was 10, my friend’s cat had kittens and I fell in love with one of them but my parents resisted all my pleading, and he went to someone else (I recently saw a cat at my work who was a dead ringer for that kitten – I think part of me will always be looking for him). They had let me have mice, gerbils, birds, fish, and a dog, but they drew their line at cats.

So when I came home from Quebec and found this tiny ball of fluff waiting for me, it was a dream come true.

“She’s yours for the next 20 years,” my parents warned me. “When you go to university, THIS goes with you.”

“Of course!” I said reverently, fingering the wispy tail.

But it didn’t work out that way.

In Which We Do Not Take Medical Advice From L.M. Montgomery

Tags

babies, coughing, croup, illness, parenthood, sleep, wheezing

You can sleep WHEN I CAN BREATHE

Little Owl has kennel cough.

Er, I mean, croup.

Right.

…

…

…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

…I’m awake.

Anyway, this may or may not be related to the fever of 39.5 from last week. 

Might not be.

He started coughing a weird barking cough that sounded like kennel cough on Monday night. But Daycare Lady said she heard no coughing at daycare the next day. But he was up all night Tuesday, too, coughing and crying and refusing to sleep outside of my arms.

Wednesday, again, Daycare lady heard no coughing during the day.

Until about 4 in the afternoon, when he began to wheeze. The Daycare lady was concerned, but pointed to his cheerful demeanor and good appetite.

Thing is, when Owl’s appetite disappears, that’s when I should rush him to the E.R. because I don’t think I have ever encountered anything that made him turn down food, especially Daycare Lady’s lamb stew with barley.

But he was definitely getting worse. 

“Every time he gives that sad, wheezy little cough, I feel like someone has just killed a kitten in front of me,” PH complained. “A sad, tiny, mewling kitten, and God just, like, SNAPPED ITS NECK.”

That night I ended up in locked the bathroom with the door closed while the hot water from the running shower filled the room with steam, until my baby stopped coughing and dozed off.

A consultation with Dr. Google revealed that he did not, in fact, have kennel cough, but croup.

“Then we should give him ipecac” I announced.

PH looked horrified.

“NO! Why would you do that to my baby??”

“Because when Diana Barry’s little sister was sick with the croup, Anne of Green Gables saved her life by giving her syrup of ipecac!”

But PH felt that perhaps a 19th century fiction novel might not be the best source of advice for treating our baby, so I was officially out of ideas.

…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sorry, I was just resting my eyes.

Daycare Lady took him the next day anyway, because he had no fever, was otherwise quite cheerful and she really didn’t think he was contagious – or that if he was, he had probably already passed it along. However, his wheeze was getting worse, and I ended up leaving work early to take him to the children’s walk-in clinic.

The doctor was concerned about his airways, gave me steroids, and told me to bring him back if they didn’t make a big improvement.

They didn’t.

“I would stick an ice pick into my own eye socket if it meant that I would never hear that cough ever, ever again,” PH told me.

Cue another night of steamed-up bathrooms and PH sleeping downstairs while Owl restlessly wiggled and coughed and wheezed through the night in our bed.

…

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

No, really, I’m awake.

So the next day I took him to the pediatrician again.

Happily, the doctor said his wheeze was getting better, and recommended adding some whacking doses of Tylenol to the steroids.

He’s getting better.

But he is still ending up in our bed, wiggling and coughing and kicking at his Daddy while he noms onto my boobas from the most improbable angles.

PH said one time he woke up in the night, and we were both asleep, but Owl was collapsed over my face, his bum up in the air.

We’re all a little tired. And by a little, I mean

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

PH gave me a bit of a sleep in today. I’m hoping he’ll be able to take a nap this afternoon.

And we’re PRAYING that Owl will be all better soon, because tonight is his last dose of steroids.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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