Pain in the throat and other problems

My pharynx is phalty. The poor thing is blisteringly sore like I have been gargling shards of glass. But you'd think I'd be used to that by now.

I have gotten strep throat more times than I remember. I get it at least once a year, if not more. I didn't realize this was abnormal until I began 2011: The Year of Random Health Issues. Fast-forward to August, and I am staying home without a voice today, taking a medley of medical treatments, and scheduled for a tonsillectomy.

In January, I started noticing some red, itchy spots on my arms around the time I got horribly sick with a 103 degree fever, horrible body aches, and a sore throat. This was all in the midst of a blizzard, so I never made it into the doctor. After several months of misdiagnoses, a dermatologist finally told me I had a type of psoriasis brought on from an untreated strep throat infection. Who knew that happened? Certainly not me.

I eventually saw an ear-nose-throat specialist who told me recurrent strep was not normal for a 32-year-old (at least my throat still thinks I am a teenager) and recommended I get my tonsils out. Unfortunate side note: tonsillectomies are also more common in children and said to be especially painful for adults. Yay. It's also not a great thing to have untreated strep floating around in your body which I have apparently often had. Those little strep jerks can cause your immune system to attack your own organs. So in a few weeks I will get the offending tonsils stripped out, slurp ice cream, and watch daytime TV. But just to get in one last dig, my throat has been incredibly painful for the last week, and I lost my voice yesterday. My tonsils aren't going down without a fight!

--MM

I need a wet nurse

I remember secretly liking when I got sick when I was younger. It meant a day on the couch watching TV with my mom taking care of me. I had no worries and plenty of time to rest and recover. It got a bit less enjoyable when I hit high school and college and sickness meant missed class and more work. Then when I was a single, working woman sick days were kind of enjoyable again. I was back on the couch, no one to take care of me, but plenty of daytime TV and laziness.

All that is out the window as a working mom. Last week I got horribly sick with some sort of respiratory thing. By a bad twist of fate, it was also the day we were socked with a huge blizzard. I croaked my way through a step aerobics class and went to work Monday with a raspy voice. I opted to skip class that night, but worried about what I would miss.

The next day, it hurt to move and my fever climbed to 103.3! I was alternately sweaty and then freezing. I was coughing and my head hurt. I felt dizzy if I even sat up in bed. Thankfully T took the kids to the nanny. What do stay-at-home moms do? I can't imagine. I did need to still pump milk though. You just can't go the whole day without doing it. Not only would that be monstrously painful, Lena wouldn't have any food for the next day. It took monumental effort to get all the pieces of my pump and prop myself up against pillows for 15 minutes several times that day. But I did it.

When the kids returned home Tuesday night, T fed them dinner, and I nursed Lena and she lay next to me on the bed. How was I possibly going to avoid her getting sick? (She did end up getting sick the next week, but thankfully it passed quickly.) I thought about going to the doctor, but by this time offices were closed due to the blizzard.

The next day, I stayed home again and managed to take a shower. After lunch, my fever had broken, and I felt like a new woman. The list of work tasks I had awaiting me were weighing heavily on my mind, so I plugged in my computer and worked a half day from home. By Thursday, I was back at work and back in class trying to stifle my coughs.

Life doesn't slow down when you are sick unfortunately. It just becomes more complicated. I am glad I have a husband and childcare, so at least I can check out for a bit. Now T is sick as the germs make the way through our house. I can't wait until this sick season is over, the ibuprofen is put back on the shelf, and the sounds of coughing fade.

--MM

Sick house

This house is full of germs and grossness. I am finally feeling a bit better today, but yesterday I was a mess. It felt like knives were scratching my throat, my ears hurt, my body ached, and I had a fever of 101.7. It seems like the flu, but I did get a flu shot.

I had R stay home because he seemed to feel sick as well and had diarrhea. So I barely felt like moving and yet had to care for a sick kid and a newborn baby. No fun. R mercifully slept in, but when I went in to get him, I found he had had poo smeared all over his bed and his clothes. He was screaming and crying as I tried to clean him, and I actually started crying because I was so exhausted and getting light-headed as I tried to clean him up. It was a disgusting mess. I had to sit down several times during the process of getting him ready.

I managed to get his clothes and sheets in the washer, feed him two Nutrigrain bars for breakfast, and put the Dora Christmas special on TV. Then I went upstairs, climbed back in bed, and begged family members for help. T came home for a couple hours and then my dad came over for the afternoon. He even changed three poopy diapers, which I think is a first for him. He'll probably never visit again.

It is horrible being sick when you are nursing a baby. I feel like it is inevitable that she will get sick. I feel like my breast milk is tainted. So far she has been OK, though she is sleeping a lot, which is all right by me.

After being a waste of space yesterday, I am catching up on some bills and other things today. My throat still feels like a raw wound, but things are turning around. Thank goodness for that. Being sick is no fun.

--MM