Of Chicken Pox and ETD....

It's been a tough couple of weeks around here in the MacKenzie household. A week ago yesterday I woke up quite dizzy, and it brought back terrible memories of having vertigo during my pregnancy with Sweetie. I didn't have too bad of a day, and continued on with life. The next day, the dizziness was still there, and added to it was a monster headache. GREAT. I LOVE headaches (cha right, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!) Anyways, I started to get a little more concerned. Was I having an aneurism? A stroke? What could it be? On with life...... The next day, the left ear started to hurt. Aaaaah, easy explanation - I have an ear infection! Call the doctor, can't get in for a week and a half. I decided to wait it out and see if I could find an opportune time to go to the walk in clinic. (as if that would happen!) Next day, the other ear is sore. For sure I have an ear infection, right? Sounds like a logical explanation. Call the medical clinic and plead my case - husband is a shift worker, and I can't get away to visit the walk in clinic or emerg... can you PLEASE fit me in!?! They snuck me in for the next day (Funny how they just all the sudden find a time slot for you, when they were full before!)WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT in the waiting room (hence the name!). Get called into the examination room and WAIT AND WAIT AND WAIT.... Tell the nurse what's wrong, wait some more. Then tell the Doctor what's wrong (didn't I just tell the nurse!?!). He checks my ears and has the gall to ask if I'm sure they are hurting.... are ya kidding me? They're KILLING me!!! He wonders because apparently they look fine. He scratches is head, looks something up on the computer and gives me a diagnosis. Eustachian Tube Dysfunction. HUH???? So, there is a tube running from the back of the throat that goes to the inner ear. Air is meant to flow freely through this tube, which regulates the air pressure in the ear. Swallowing or chewing gum while at high altitudes moves the throat to open the tube and regulate the pressure (to pop your ears). My Eustachian tube is supposedly blocked up (with mucous, phlegm, snot, whatever you like to call it), and the pressure is crazy insane in there and can't regulate. Sounds legit to me! So, off I go with my prescription for a nasal steroid that is supposed to help clear my ear/nose/throat area. Well, it is being faithfully administered with little relief. It's disappointing that it doesn't seem to be helping, but I at least have some light at the end of the tunnel: I have a follow up appointment next Monday to see him again if I have not been able to find relief. ONLY 6 MORE DAYS..... YAY.... (can you sense the sarcasm!?!)

In the midst of my issues, Monkey woke up on Friday morning with SPOTS... spots everywhere. I saw a couple on his face, pretty much all congregating around his right eye. I wondered to myself if the poor kid had a hungry spider in his bed or something.... but then a lightbulb went off in my head. About 1.5 weeks prior, one of Monkey's friends from school (and our neighbour in the cul-de-sac) came down with a case of chicken pox. He had a pretty good dose of it, but his little brother got it even worse. So, Monkey had been around him when he was contagious (before the spots appeared) at school. Then I, being the nice mother I am, said, sure the kids can play with him outside, they've both had the vaccination! The kids had a grand time playing outside on the big snow hill in the cul-de-sac. Monkey even had a little Saturday afternoon playdate over at their house. He was fine.... he was protected.... right?!? NOPE. So when I saw the spots on his face Friday morning, I thought of the recent bout of chicken pox in the neighbourhood. "Buddy, show me your belly..." yep. "OK, now your back." YEP. The kid had chicken pox. I'd heard of kids getting it even though they had been vaccinated. Clearly we had a case of it on our hands. I thought to myself, "perhaps I should check his vaccination record". Wouldn't you know, Monkey has fallen victim of the poor, ignored second child syndrome. He was not, in fact, vaccinated. Oh well, we have a normal, run-of-the-mill childhood illness to deal with.
It's not a bad case, and luckily, he has dealt with the itchiness far better than I would have expected. He normally has dry skin and itchiness on his back during the winter, and I don't think he's itching any more than he would have with the dry skin anyways, he's a trooper!






Funny spot to have it though, on the bottom of his foot. That would drive me INSANE!!!








And on top of the same foot - the other foot doesn't have any on it. What a funny sickness, picking and choosing where it attacks!









Pretty much the worst area on his body is the lower back. He itches it from time to time, but I'm so proud of how well he's been dealing with it!!!



Luckily, with a mild case, he's been getting through it relatively quickly. He came down with it on Friday, and I think he'll be back to school tomorrow (Wednesday). Once he's all crusted over, he's allowed to return. It won't look pretty, but he's out of the woods as far as being contagious, and for getting his spots infected.
In the meantime, he's having a great time playing with Papa, our interim babysitter. We're very fortunate to have him available on short notice, and greatly appreciate all he's done for us whenever our kids get sick.


So, that's the saga of the 2 sickies. Hopefully I can re-post in a little while with a success story of how I beat ETD. Perhaps some antibiotics will be the right ammunition of choice when I revisit the doctor.

Have a happy, HEALTHY day!!! :)


UPDATE.... It is now 12:43am on Tuesday night (Wednesday morning?), and Sweetie has finally calmed down and gone to sleep after getting sick for the last 2.5 hours. Ugh, when will we all be healthy again? My boss just won't believe me if I can't go into work tomorrow...... :(