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Strep

Our entire family has been feeling off and on sick over the past few weeks. Ella was laid out for 1-2 days, but then seemed to get over it. Unfortunately, after she got over it, Michael was hit over the head for a few days---flat on his back. He finally got over it enough to go get a strep test, it came back positive and we got him some antibiotics.

The Monday after Michael started taking antibiotics, Ella was sick again---a stomach bug, it seemed, but she only seemed to be sick about 1/4 of the time. The rest of the time she was wrestling with her siblings and running through the sprinkler, and so on. Finally at the end of the day, Ella felt sick again and Michael made me promise to take her for a strep test, even though I was sure there was a more benign explanation.

I called and made the appointment, thinking all the time that this was a waste of time and I had other things to do. Ella really seemed to be fine. I had some other questions for the doctor, so I made an appointment for Amanda too for something else. Ella got her throat swabbed---it was positive. Then the Dr. looked in Amanda's ears. "Her ears look fine," she said, "but could we do a culture on her too?" It turns out that in looking at Amanda's ears she had felt her swollen lymph nodes. Another positive.

So should we get Luke swabbed as well? Well, his throat felt fine, so probably not. Then I thought back over the past few days and how tired I had been, how my throat occasionally hurt and the nagging headache I had. I had put it down to taking care of the family for days and days with no backup but maybe... "Should I get tested?" The Dr. allowed as that would be a good idea.

So, after getting out of the pediatrician's office, we headed to the urgent care place down the street. The doc there listened to the story, looked at me, and said, "Well, I could give you a strep test. But it might not come back positive since it looks like it's still early, and I would probably still prescribe antibiotics, given the amount of exposure you've had." So I skipped the swabbing and got the prescription. He also asked when I first started feeling the symptoms. I looked at him blankly--I couldn't remember! I'd been not allowing myself to be sick for so long that one day was the same as the next.

Waiting at Target for your prescription to be filled with 2 sick kids and one not-sick-at-all 4 year old is not very much fun. We made it home with 4 new movies (I couldn't imagine at that point that we'd ever feel better) and chilled out. We're starting to recover, and we all take our antibiotics at the same time. But really, I can't wait for everything to get back to normal.

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