Sunday night, after two weeks of craziness, stress, and anxiety, I looked at Tom and said, "We seem to be in the home stretch. If one more thing happened, I'd have a nervous breakdown." He laughed and said that it was guaranteed to happen now. And Monday morning, the call came that put me over the edge.
WARNING - graphic kid and poo (and kid poo) talk follows.
It really all started last month. A kid at day care was diagnosed with
shigellosis after being out for a week with "flu-like" symptoms. Kids get sick. Kids in day care get sick. It happens, right? It's the price of doing business, of having kids in a shared space, be it day care or school or even a neighborhood play group. So when Clara got diarrhea a week later, I took her to the pediatrician. But the thing is, she also has dairy issues and she had mac and cheese (for lunch at day care) and ice cream (treat from daddy) in the couple days preceding it. And the morning of the appointment, her fever broke and she had normal... bathroom output. Because of all this, the ped declined to treat her for shigella, reiterated watching the dairy, and sent us on our way. That was May 21.
The assistant day care teacher was out sick that week, as was the baby in the center. The day care director also wasn't feeling well, went to Urgent Care, and received antibiotics for shigella - just to be safe. She also submitted a sample for testing. Her test eventually came back positive.
On May 30, the Director called me to tell me the county Health Department was closing the day care because of shigella. All kids and employees needed to be tested. "Tested" means submitting 2 stool samples at least 24 but not more than 48 hours apart. Clara was thrilled. She told anyone and everyone who would listen that she was going to poop in a cup. I ended up taking off work May 31 and July 1 to be home with the kids; I was already on vacation the next week to get ready for Clara's dance recital and family coming to visit.
Meantime, I had this lump form on the side of my head over the course of that week, almost like a golf ball was stuck behind my ear under my hairline. Friday it was so bad I wanted to cry when I washed my hair, and the water in the shower hitting my head felt like someone jabbing me with hot pokers. I called the doctor to see if I should get it looked at; they told me to be there in half an hour. Diagnosis: shingles. The wonderful nurse practitioner told me to take a deep breath and try to relax. Yeah right... The good news: Clara happily provided her first sample for testing.
Do you know how fun it is to get stool samples from kids? I won't go into all the details (which involve Saran Wrap, serious breaches of privacy, and a throw-away foam cooler filled with ice) but we got Clara's second and both of George's by Wednesday morning. I called the public health nurse to let her know, and she said she wasn't going to drive all the way to our town to get the samples when she had just been there Monday (when Clara's first sample was sent). She was going to wait until all kids had turned in both samples, then come get the whole lot. The thing is, the test takes 5 to 7 days to run, and in the meantime the kids are unable to return... so I went to day care, got the whole lot, and drove them all to the county health office.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night Clara had rehearsals for her dance recital. It was fun, but exhausting - the first night we were there until after 9, the second about the same, the third was a full dress rehearsal. I did enjoy sitting through that since I had volunteered to be dressing room mom for Clara's class, so it was the only chance I had to see the whole show.
Friday morning the Erie portion of the family arrived. God bless my Aunt Sue, but she made all the dips and snacks for George's preschool graduation party and the recital after-party at our house. And she walked in my door and said "What am I doing first?" She mopped, she washed wine glasses, she showed me once again the kind of person I want to be... especially when I got a call from the nurse in the county where we live (day care is one over) and was told Clara was shigella positive. Even though she is not sick. No symptoms. At all. Called the ped, got her in, got the antibiotics, and got an appointment made for Tom (it's a family practice office) who said he was having some issues.
Friday evening was the preschool graduation (I'll give that a post of it's own). Saturday morning Tom went to the doctor and started Cipro. Andy and his whole family came in Saturday. Saturday afternoon was George's t-ball game, and that night was the recital (which will also get it's own post). Clara and I got home from the recital a little after 10:00 pm. Needless to say, the after-party was mom, Patty, Aunt Sue, and me sitting around munching and having a drink - too late for everyone else.
Sunday the Erie crew went home, and George and I went to a Baltimore Orioles game with Andy, Julee and the kids. Sunday evening, Patty started texting me that she didn't feel well. Sunday night I made the fate-tempting statement.
And Monday. Monday. F'ing Monday. I went to work - I had been out 7 work days... Tom was home with the kids, Clara was finishing her antibiotics... that girl shoots down medicine like a sorority girl taking a tequila shot, bless her heart. And then the call came in that George was shigella positive. He is asymptomatic, never got sick before and it floored me. And Patty went to the doctor and got Cipro for likely shigella.
Today George and I went to the doctor (the front desk staff knows us on sight). He's on antibiotics now; they would not put me on any unless I submitted samples and turned up positive. Every time someone in this house uses a bathroom, it all gets wiped down with Clorox wipes, and we help the kids wash their hands. I'm working from home all this week, Tom will next week (while I am out of town for work. Yes, all week.).
Each kid needs to be off antibiotics 48 hours before they can give a sample. Hopefully we'll get Clara's on Thursday and Friday, testing will be early next week with results by the end of the week, and please God let her test negative. George will be on his antibiotics for 5 days, Monday we (Tom - I'm out of town) can start following him around for samples, get them in by Wednesday, get results by middle of the next week.
Oh, and day care is closed the week of July 2 for summer vacation... so now we are looking at July 9 as the week the boy can go back. So we are looking for a temporary nanny, and will have to double pay for child care because you have to pay day care to hold your spot.
And that, folks, is why my tenuous grasp slipped.
