"I'm not cold!!"

That is indeed reassuring, thanks. Happens all the time no matter how much I try to guard against it, sigh.

So, she was doing much much much better -- continuing with saline but pretty much nothing coming out, and no nose-blowing during the day -- and then Wednesday evening that was true for one nostril but the other was surprisingly congested. Cleared her out though, shrugged and thought whatever. That night (Wednesday night/ Thursday morning) she came to get me in the middle of the night, very upset, but I couldn't get out of her why -- seemed like it was a bad dream. She was hot but she sometimes is when she's upset. Sat with her until she fell back asleep, felt her forehead, fine (not hot), went back to bed. She appeared about 10 minutes later, same thing including cooling down once she fell asleep again. Stayed with her longer, made sure she was soundly asleep, went back to bed again. Then she appeared AGAIN. (That's very unusual -- she occasionally gets me once in the middle of the night, but once I get her back to sleep that's usually that.)

This time she was urgent about me not going anywhere so I stayed with her. Was dozing off myself when I felt a movement, wasn't sure what it was, checked -- mid-barf-attack.

ARGH.

Dragged her to the bathroom for the rest of it, cleaned everything up, etc. Gave her Motrin (she wasn't nearly as hot as she usually gets for this stuff, but she was hot). Eventually got her back to sleep, and that was the end of it. She slept for a long time, and woke up groggy but basically fine. (This is her new pattern and is MUCH MUCH preferred to barfing at least all night if not much of the next day as well.) (My mother in law said that E.G.'s brother would often get sick that way -- a high fever for one day, then totally fine after that.)

Thursday was about trying to get fluids and nutrition into her, she had very little appetite. But no more barfing, and not as hot.

Thursday night she had a downswing (often happens) and had a fever of 102 at about 8 PM. School policy is kid must be fever-free (or minor fever) for 24 hours before going to school, so Friday was out school-wise. Plus I just wanted her to be stronger, still wasn't satisfied with her food/ fluid intake.

Thursday night was not a pleasant one -- woke up a few times -- but she got through it. Friday was better, we went out and did some stuff. Still not as much of an appetite as I would like. Lots of snot.

Friday night (last night) also not very good. Woke up a few times and one time had a really difficult time getting back to sleep. Haven't gotten out of her why -- too hot, too cold, too stuffy, what? Would like to figure that out as sleep has a huge impact on her health.

She's mostly better now though including a big improvement congestion-wise, fervently hoping I'll be able to get her all healthy by Halloween, which she's largely missed the past two years due to being sick.

As far as I can tell it's just another cold, and fevers make her nauseous. When I volunteered on Wednesday, one kid was out sick, one looked awful and coughed in her face :-? and one had a really yucky nose. (I will NEVER understand why parents send their kids to school like that...)

soz : sure hope the sozlet is feeling better again !

there seem to be a lot of 'bugs' making their way around .
just a month ago - we had already booked our flight to europe - , i came down with some kind of 'stomach flu ' .
went to the walk-in clinic on saturday morning ; lots of people waiting to see the doc . when i saw her , she said : " don't know what it is . it's a bug that's going around . take it easy ; drink lots of fluids and take some tylenol " .
on tuesday - the day before our flight day - i saw our family doc . hia waiting room was full , essentially the same diagnosis , with the addition : "wait ten days or so and you'll probably feel better " .
my worst problem was that my digestive system was somehow 'out of order' - no appetite - food tasted like cardboard , nauseous , dizzy , difficulty sleeping ... the works .
now i feel well again - the trip , of course , went down the drain .
so it's young and old that's getting it's equal share of the 'bugs' going around .

btw did you read that a british study claims that flu-shots are pretty well useless ?
rats , we've been getting the shots faithfully ever since they became available .

all the best to the sozlet and soz !
hbg

...FLU VACCINE NOT EFFECTIVE ?...

Yes, I'd read that you had to miss your trip, no fun! So glad that you're feeling better.

Sozlet just asked for a "turkey, cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and bread sandwich" and is eating it with apparent relish so I hope the bad appetite phase is over, we'll see.

"Sozlet just asked for a "turkey, cheese, mayonnaise, mustard and bread sandwich" and is eating it with apparent relish so I hope the bad appetite phase is over, we'll see. "

that sure sounds like appetite has come back !
when i don't feel like eating at all , i know i'm sick !

sozlet's story reminds of of ehbeth after she had her tonsils capped when she was ten years old . she had all kinds of colds and throat infections prior to the operation . it really made a difference . she was no longer sick several times a year.
anyway , when we picked her up at the hospital the day after the operation , the discharge nurse handed mrs h a list of recommended foods : icecream , jello ...
when we arrived home ehbeth DEMANDED "potatoe pancakes" . so mother made up a batch and ehbeth consumed a plate full of crispy pancakes with relish !
no MUSHY food for her !
hbg

Kid's been SO much healthier this year! No problems between the end of October and the end of December, and that's usually the worst of it.

Just as I was starting to get really optimistic, though, she did have a severe illness. It was an unusual one, and I think it was more akin to motion sickness than anything else. She didn't have a fever and was pretty clear, sinus-wise, but there were a series of things that happened that got her thinking about barfing, and I think just that plus a very full tummy and the excitement of Christmas (this happened the day after Christmas) was enough to set her off. And it's always been hard to get her to STOP once she starts.

This started at about 2:00 PM on the 26th and she just kept going and going. We were on the verge of taking her to the ER twice, and both time she convinced us she wasn't dangerously dehydrated (peed, cried tears). Eventually she fell asleep (always the best cure), barfed once more in the morning, and then steadily improved from there although I had to talk her down a few times. Appetite took longer than usual to come back and it wasn't until Friday (the 29th) that she was back to full strength. She's been completely fine since, though.

Same as last year, a side effect of the whole event is that her congestion has cleared up significantly and her hearing is much better. We have an ENT appointment in a couple of weaks and I expect that he'll say the fluid is gone from her ears, though there might be pressure issues. That is, if she doesn't catch another cold in the interim. We'll see.

soz :
i find it interesting that you mention that the sozlet's congestion cleared up after her 'episode' .
most of my life i've had a 'stuffed up nose' - you could call it congestion .
after i've been up for a while , gone swimming , run up and down the stairs a few times , it improves - sometimes more , sometimes less .

many years ago our family physician explained to me that humans are not meant to walk upright ! he made a drawing showing that the sinuses are not draining when we are in an upright position - seems that when the human race evolved from the monkeys :wink: , the sinus system was not part of the 'evolvement' .

a few years later our new family physician referred me to an ENT specialist for my sinus problem .
it turned out to be our retired doc's son .
i casually mentioned my connection to his father and couldn't help mentioniong his father's explanation re sinus problems .
the son loked at me and said : "yes , the old man did have some strange ideas , didn't he ?" .

i still believe his dad knew what he was talking about !
sure hope the sozelet's sinuses are draining properly - nothing wrong with a 'snotty' nose - have had one pretty well all my life .
hbg

OK, so the ear saga seems (knock on wood) to be over!!

Had a follow-up today, her ears are totally fine. No fluid. Some negative pressure in the right ear (the eardrum is a bit concave) but pretty minor. (That's what happens for a while after the fluid recedes.) Left ear is perfect in every way. :-) Had a hearing test -- normal, normal, normal. (Both ears.)

Her last ear infection was in October of 2005.

We're gonna check in again next year.

Next YEAR!! (It's been every 3 months or so for a couple of years now.)

I talked about getting to the bottom of other problems (stuffiness) since we'd waited for ear stuff to resolve before doing that. The doc thought it wasn't adenoids since it would be year-round if so, and this is definitely seasonal. May be allergies. (She was tested for -- 60? -- of the most common allergies but could be something else.) She's usually fine in the summer, so we'll see if anything happens next fall and call him if so -- otherwise back next spring.

I had a new interpreter and was chatting with her while we waited, filled her in on the whole saga. After talking to the ENT, I told him that recounting the story to her reminded me how much I appreciated his approach (not pushing tubes, boosting immunity, etc.). Got a little emotional while thanking him, he was obviously touched. He said just 'cause her ears are doing so well doesn't mean we can't stop by and say hi now and then. ;-)

Anyway, really glad that this has worked out so well. Whew!

Oh and he had some camera with a TV monitor and showed me what her eardrum looks like, and described what it'd look like if there was fluid. VERY cool!

Soz--

Another major milestone passed.

Have a glass of wine tonight.

Hold your dominion.

This has been super-useful in terms of noting patterns, etc., so:

Sozlet made it through Halloween itself fine but got her traditional Halloween illness (which usually occurs on or right before October 31st*) the next day. When I picked her up from school she just didn't look good -- pale, "sick" eyes, and dry lips. When I asked her how she was she started complaining that her throat hurt. Eventually she had her typical fever crash -- fever of about 102, BUT, and this is good, no nausea (or at least no actual barfing). Also her appetite was good (I made some omigosh wow pork tenderloin -- already in process before she started crashing -- and I think its wowness helped).

Gave her Motrin right when she started crashing, and got her through to bedtime. She slept moderately well -- no witching hour, which is more typical for her, just woke up once in the middle of the night (3 or so) and went back to sleep without too much problem, then woke up for the day too early (a bit before 7).

She's been mostly fine today. Main problems are a very red eye (maybe from rubbing it overnight, maybe something to do with leftover Halloween makeup -- though her eyes were fine yesterday -- maybe both, maybe pinkeye). Very mild to no fevers today. After some rest this morning, she's been up and about.

So I'm hoping this will be a short and non-epic little illness. Maybe even already past tense. (Fingers crossed.)

I went to help out at the school Halloween party on Wednesday and one kid was obviously sick -- he's usually smiley and happy-go-lucky and he was just a lump. His mom was like, "yeah, he has a headache and he doesn't feel well." Full stop. Why don't these parents take their kids HOME when they're sick?? I'll never understand that. (He was out on Thursday, anyway.)


*Not candy-related, which is the obvious link. She usually gets sick before trick-or-treating even happens, and I only let her have 5 pieces of candy total this year for just that reason -- knowing that she has a tendency towards illness this time of year. I think the main links are a) weather changes (hot->cold->warm->cold) and b) excitement about the holiday resulting in less sleep than usual. She LOOOOOVVVVES Halloween.

sorry to hear that the sozlet didn't feel well !
sure hope she is better now .
quite a few of our pool-buddies have come down with colds , strep-throat - you name it .
question is : should we stop going to the swimming pool in the morning ?
we think that if we stop going to the pool , we'll probably pick up a "bug" somewhere else .
one of the pool-buddies announced that she diddn't think she'd go for a flushot this fall since she gets a cold every winter anyway !!!
so i tried to explain to her that the flushot does not proptect against the common cold , but would likely reduce the chances of her getting a REAL flu quite badly .
i'm not sure that she believed me , since at the end she said : "but if it doesn't help against catching a cold , what good is it getting a flu-shot ? " .

hbg

Soz--

Perhaps your daughter's immume system could be charted as an inverse ratio to brain development?

Be of good cheer. Slow children catch up.

:-) She's actually doing really well in general -- kids get several colds a year, it happens, and won't stop happening. I started keeping track of things though when things were more serious -- ear infections, etc., -- and have found it so useful that I'm continuing, because it's informative in terms of noting trends and seeing what we can do to minimize things.

For example, I'm now convinced we need to get a humidifier for her room. There is such a clear seasonal correlation, and while it's still possible she's allergic to something, she's been pretty extensively tested and they didn't come up with anything. When she was sick I was looking some stuff up on the Mayo clinic site and the fact that mucous membranes dry up in winter conditions (and the connection between that and colds) kept coming up. She usually gets sick for the first time 1-2 weeks after we start needing to use the heater. I really think that a humidifier in her room could help things a lot. (I have to convince E.G., though -- he has a mold allergy and has an automatic "NOOOO" reaction when it comes to humidifiers. I brought it up yesterday, he's thinking about it.)

Anyway, to fill in what happened:

I really hoped this would be a short and uneventful one. It wasn't so bad, but dragged out longer than I would have liked. She was mostly fine by Saturday -- took it easy to try to get her up to speed for soccer on Sunday (at that point I thought she'd be able to). She had another fever Saturday night (not terrible -- 101-102 range), and Sunday morning she was mostly fine but definitely not 100%. We decided soccer was probably a bad idea, and thought about just going to watch but she was depressed about the idea of just watching and not being able PLAY. So instead -- since she was mostly fine and feeling very cooped up after having been inside all day Friday and Saturday -- she and E.G. went on an outing.

E.G. said that pretty much immediately she lost her voice -- something about trying to project over the noise of the car, I dunno. She kept insisting she was fine, though. They did their stuff, came home, she still seemed mostly fine. Got another minor fever, gave her some Motrin again.

Then that night, a couple hours after she'd gone to sleep she came and got me. I felt her forehead and it seemed fine. I sat next to her bed, with my arms resting on it, to keep her company as she fell back asleep. I kept feeling these paroxysms that I thought were coughs. But when I'd look at her, she wasn't coughing. This confused me for a while, and then I figured out that she was shivering violently every 10 seconds or so. I climbed in to bed with her to warm her up, but couldn't get the shivering to stop. And I noticed that while her forehead wasn't that hot, her neck and armpits were sweltering.

I tried to give her some Motrin but the combination of fever, extreme tiredness, and the syrup set her off -- barfed. (I just ordered some Feverall suppositories for 6-12 years old -- can't find 'em past the 3-6 dosage in stores [of which you need to use 2 for her current dosage, which can be tricky], and they're much more useful than syrup or chewables for fevers with her.)

I took her temperature at that point, it was high but not as scary-high as I feared.

She got over the shivering, went back to bed, barfed again.

Then went back to sleep and stayed asleep.

Yesterday she felt much better. No fever, much more energy, etc. Only remaining problem was her voice, which was still messed up. I told her to rest it, and she talked to me all day just by mouthing words -- one area where lipreading comes in very handy!! Voice was much better by last night, still a bit raspy.

Got a good night's sleep last night (no fever) and took her to school today. Seems totally fine (knock on wood).

Would E.G. agree to a trial period with a humidifier?

This is what--the third furnace for Sozlet's nose? I assume the furnace filters are brand-new, spanking clean and that the heating ducts have been vacuumed?

She seems to be a child who is either Sick or Well. "Recovering slowly" is not one of her coping skills.

A couple of links that may be helpful.

http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/5046.html

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/humidif.html


Soz, What type of heat do you have? If it's forced air, dryness can be a problem, but may forced air systems have a humidifier built in.

Thanks, Swimpy.

This is one I found yesterday:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/humidifiers/HQ00076

I figure that if I can handle the whole saline routine -- making the saline with purified/ distilled water, kosher salt, and baking soda, keeping the bulb syringe clean -- I can handle the humidifier. (And the saline has been a huge help.)

The heat is forced air, and we do have a built-in humidifier that we have kept turned off because of E.G.'s concerns. (It's never been on -- we moved in during the summer and turned it off before we started using the furnace that fall.)

We keep the ducts very clean and change the filters often, also because of E.G.'s allergies (he has several, not just mold).

This is sozlet's second furnace so far.

Sounds like E.G. and sozlet are on a collision path when it comes to humidity. My son swears by this. I doubt sozlet would tolerate it.

Can you just humidify sozlet's room at night? If she keeps the door closed and you monitor the humidity to make sure it stays <40%, I wouldn't think it would cause great problems for E.G. especially if you changed the water every day. Also look for the Microban filters. They are supposed to inhibit mold growth.

That's the saline thing that I was talking about. We do it every time she's stuffy, have been for a couple of years now I think. At least one whole year. She didn't like it at first but she got used to it, and even asks for it when she thinks she needs it. It's GREAT, makes such a difference.



Right, that's the idea. E.G. was still opposed, last time we talked about it.



I wouldn't think so either. He's skeptical. We'll see. Thanks for the Microban tip!

Pneumonia this time. <sigh>

"Walking pneumonia," though.

Walking pneumonia just means that she doesn't feel sick enough to stay in bed, doesn't it?

Mr. Noddy had Walking Pneumonia last month. Walking Pneumonia means short of breath, short of oxygen, depleted brain power and endless complaints about lassitude.

I'd rather have Walking Pneumonia and crawl in a corner with a book than nurse Walking Pneumonia.