The Cox Family Circus

Sick of being sick...

I don't know about anyone else, but I have had it with the cold and flu season. I don't think we have gone a week in the past 3 months without someone being sick. Last week, Eli got deathly ill almost overnight and it turns out he had Strep. I was then paranoid that everyone would get it, but no one else has, but everyone is SICK! Josh has had a fever and cough off and on for a week. Claire was at the doctor on Wed. and she has an ear infection and is requiring Albuterol nebulization (fancy doctor talk) for her respiratory infection (she is wheezing a lot). Eli was on an antibiotic for Strep that seemed to clear it up, but has done nothing for his horrific cough that keeps him up all night. Nate is coughing his guts out all night and has been complaining about his throat today. Ansley had 2 dance team performances today and when I went to pick her up, I could tell something was wrong...she feels like crap and her throat hurts. Lovely. Our doctor told us when we took Eli in last week that the flu (Influenza) is really bad right now in our area. Maybe we can all get that next. Hooray!

Kyle and Eli crashed in the recliner. Eli was really sick. He had a high fever (notice the flush cheeks) and could only sleep sitting up because of his cough. Kyle would sleep holding him until 3am or so and then prop him up on the couch to sleep the rest of the night. It was a long couple of nights and it looks like we aren't out of the woods yet. His cough is back and I can hear him coughing in his bed right now.

Here is Eli getting a nebulizer treatment. In our house, we call it "smoking the pipe". I know that is ridiculous, but when Nate was little and starting needing these treatments, he didn't understand what we meant when we said, "You need an Albuterol treatment". It was way over his head. So, Kyle starting calling it his pipe because it looks like smoke when the medication is coming out. Anyway, Eli had to "smoke the pipe" at the doctors office last week because she thought he had pneumonia (nope) and we had the nurse questioning our parenting abilities because we kept saying, "Eli you have to smoke the doctor's pipe. It is just like our pipe at home, so don't be afraid of the pipe. Just smoke it like you do at home." I am sure she thought we were insane. I then started to over-explain our use of the terminology because I didn't want her to think that we are drug users or pot-heads or anything. I told her that I didn't think of it like a crack pipe, more that a peace pipe. That helped. It really eased her trepidation about sending our helpless child home with us. It seems so normal to us after all these years, but I guess it sound really bad to outsiders.