Ilness galore!

About three weeks ago, we started having major head colds & the flu (both of which I managed to get a light version of thanks to Zicam & then completely miss) around here. Both of them cycled through almost our entire family as is the season. Now as everyone is getting healthy again, we have another illness hit us out of nowhere - strep throat. So far I'm the only one but if it doesn't spread that alone will be amazing!

Tuesday night started what would be one of the worst nights of my life. I was so achy & sick to my stomach all day that I simply went to bed at the same as my kids. Then my evening consisted of constant restfulness. I woke up every half or so in either covered in sweat (& strangely I rarely sweat) or chilled to the bone. My stomach was constantly upset. By morning my throat felt like it had hot coals shoved down it & every time I swallowed it was so much worse. I only swallowed when I absolutely had to. On top of that, my ears were aching badly. After somehow managing getting Son off to school, I immediately went to the doctor still dressed in my pajamas with my daughter. I got into convenient care right away where the nurse & doctor both looked at my throat & saying "Oh wow! That's really red." Let me tell you, getting a throat culture hurt like more than I can describe. Of course it was a severe case of strep throat which had also caused an ear infection - all in one day! They gave me a prescription for liquid antibiotics & lidocaine to make it easier to swallow. The lidocaine isn't work that great for me because it's so hard to get it to the back of the throat, and boy does it taste nasty! Just imagine clear liquid as quicksand & that's the consistency. Luckily the liquid antibiotics were bubble-gum flavored which helped mask the medicinal taste somewhat.

Now it's two days later. I still have constant pain & am swallowing as little as possible. It's surprising how long you can go without needing to sometime. I can't handle food & barely some liquids. That made me wonder what the function of swallowing does for us? Now I know. The good news is that my body is slightly less achy than when this all began. Hopefully this will resolve soon.