Sick Babies

For the entire months of November and December, it felt like we all just moved from one sickness to the other. I was as sick as I've been in several years over Thanksgiving. And just when I'd think we were on the mend, something new would strike. 

Last Monday we started in on week two of Christmas break. I blearily made my way into the living room where Zara was hacking up a lung and Adelaide was just an all-around goopy mess and I made the executive decision to strap on my big girl pants and get these kids to a doctor. We'd been miserable long enough. 

I got a same-day sick doctor appointment for that afternoon and even though I was still feeling pretty miserable myself, we all made it through still alive. Zara had bronchitis and an ear infection (right ear) and was given a 10-day dose of amoxicillin. (Zara had been telling me the day before that she kept hearing a sound in her ear which alerted me to the possibility of an infection.)

Adelaide had a rougher time of it. She had pink eye and was given the appropriate drops but the doctor couldn't see her ear canal well enough to determine if she had an ear infection too so she got to endure an ear wash to clean the wax build-up out of her ears. She was not pleased and let everyone know it. But once her ears were clean, the doctor pronounced that her ears were just fine. 

So with our prescriptions in hand, we set off to Kroger to hit up their pharmacy and stock up on foodstuffs for the week. They even got free balloons from the floral counter. (Big hit.) 

Adelaide loves her balloon.

So after a week and a half, I'm happy to say that we're about 90% back to health. (I have a pesky nose that won't clear up.) Adelaide is goop-free and Zara's cough has finally left and I can only assume that her ear infection has healed as well. Thank goodness for doctors and medicine and a week off from school so that we could all get better.

When it rains, it pours....

It really is true....sometimes when it rains, it pours. Both in good and in less-than-good ways.

It's been a great three months: we got awesome callings which we love, I have the best job in the world (for me), and our toddler just grows cuter and cuter by the nanosecond. In some ways, the blessings have been poured out abundantly and I'm very grateful for that.

But in the last three months, I've also been sick more times than I've been in the last three years. Seriously. I went my whole pregnancy without a single bout of morning sickness or sneeze, and spent the first year of Zara's life enjoying excellent health and was growing rather used it. And then suddenly BAM! Sicknesses galore! I've had:

Cold
Stomach flu/bug
Cold
Headaches
Vertigo/weird ear thing

I mean, what's with vertigo anyway? It's not even a real illness....just a weird "everything is spinning" kinda fun house. So far, I'm not a fan.

It started yesterday at church. We were just about to teach our Sunday School lesson when my left ear decided to shut down or something and all I could hear was a loud ringing. I managed to teach my portion of the lesson (David and I team teach so we split up the lesson) with a constant buzz in my ear. I figured it would eventually go away, but by Relief Society, I was in a full-on dizzy tailspin.

I called our doctor's office first thing in the morning and got an appointment right away. They cleaned out my ear, which had a little bit of build-up, but it's still closed for business. At least the ringing has gone away, but I'm getting a very real glimpse into the life of deafness. I swear, I can see people talking to me, but I honestly can't hear what they are saying to me. I keep telling David to speak louder, and he just says, "Is this what it's going to be like when we're old and decrepit?" but apparently old is relative term when it comes to my body these days. I really hope this is just a short phase and that my ear will "pop" soon. I'd love to hear again.

The vertigo seems to be improving....or maybe I'm just getting more used to the world constantly tilting on its axis? I can't tell. Today was better, but I have a feeling that the only cure for vertigo is time and a lot of rest.

Apparently, my body does not agree with turning 29. I don't even want to imagine what a joyride it's going to take me on when I turn 30.

Until, I guess I'll just try to enjoy the free rollercoaster.

A Sad Tale of Sick Kitty Woe

Spring has finally come to the Korean peninsula and since David had today (Friday) off from work, I had hoped that we could finally get out and see some more sights in and around Seoul (since we've been mostly homebound since the winter set in). Instead, I spent the day with a sick cat.

We noticed on Wednesday night that Suyom seemed unusually lethargic and turned up her nose at her wet food so we decided to watch her on Thursday. She slept all day long (rotating between our bed, the couch and her cat bed) and refused to eat or drink water, which had us really concerned. She felt much warmer than usual and was uninterested in anything around her. I decided that I'd call the vet first thing Friday morning if she didn't seem any better in the morning. She spent the whole night sleeping next to me (normally she gets up and leaves halfway through the night) so I knew she was still not feeling well. I called the vet on base as soon as I got up. They had had a cancellation that morning and so I quickly got dressed, loaded Suyom into her cat carrier and set off directly for the vet's.

After waiting awhile, the vet determined that Suyom had a fever of 104 degrees (a cat's normal temperature is 102) which meant that Suyom had either an infection or inflammation but they couldn't be sure without a blood test. Unfortunately they couldn't do bloodwork at the vet clinic on base so I had to put Suyom back in her carrier, walk to a Korean vet clinic off base, cross two very busy intersections and attempt to have a conversation with the Korean vet about my cat's bowel movements in very bad English. They wrapped Suyom in a blanket and went to draw some blood but she was fighting and clawing her way out of there (don't blame the poor cat) so they clipped her poor claws. After wrapping her little leg with a bandage, Suyom and I had an hour to wait for the results to come back so I decided to head back to base to eat (since I needed all the won in my wallet to pay for the blood test). Just as I was about to enter the base, the Korean vet called to say that they needed MORE blood so I crossed back over the two busy intersections again and walked back to the vet clinic. (And I had so worn the wrong shoes.) Her meows this time were so pitiful and heartbreaking that I nearly started to cry. But she made it through and once safely ensconced back in her carrier, we set off again for the base.

By this time, it was 11:30a.m. and I had yet to eat anything. I was one very unhappy pregnant woman, carting around one very unhappy and picked-on cat. We made it back to base and I had just enough time to eat before I got a call saying the blood results were ready to be picked up and so I walked back to the clinic, crossed two very busy intersections with my abused cat and picked up the results and paid them 90,000 won for the privilege. (And more Korean/English language barrier fun ensued when I asked for a receipt.)

It was nearing one o'clock by the time I got back to the vet on base. But the vet was pleased that the blood work showed that there was no infection in Suyom's kidneys or liver and that it was probably just inflammation. But since Suyom hadn't had any water in at least 24 hours, they wanted to give her an I.V. to pump her up with fluids before sending her back home which would take about an hour.

I went home, picked up David and we headed back to the clinic at 2:30 to retrieve our poor cat. The vet had shaved one of Suyom's arms in order to put in an I.V. but the vessel was blown (from the blood taking) so they shaved the other arm, but that vessel wasn't viable either so they waited for us to get back to show us how to inject fluids under her skin ourselves and to administer her antibiotics. So, for the next three days, David and I get to stick needles into our cat and pump her full of fluids and for the next 2 weeks, we get to force-feed banana flavored antibiotics down her throat. It should be fun. If my arms aren't scratched to pieces by the end of the weekend, I'll be very pleased indeed.


Though she looks rather pathetic here, she is doing a lot better now. I just hope she won't hate us forever for all the trauma we put her through today. It can't be any worse than carting her halfway around the world with us. And she's (mostly) forgiven us for that.