The story about me getting sick...

So, it's been a month since I blogged, and for good reason. It's been freaking insane! What a month we have had at our house... 

It all started with these random headaches that started coming every morning, more and more frequent until one just didn't go away for a few days and I was off to the doctor (well, Urgent Care since Dave and I are dumb and don't have a family doctor). UC Doctor did some bloodwork and a CT scan (lovely) and decided that the headache that went from my sinuses all the way over my head, down my neck and back.... was a really bad sinus infection. So he sent me home with prescriptions for antibiotics and painkillers. That was Thursday the 11th. Saturday morning I woke up so sick and spent almost 6 hours dizzy and barely able to move (among other things, but you don't want to know about that- TMI) before I could finally get myself into the car and we went to the ER. It took them forEVER to get to the point of medicating me so I wasn't hurting so much. They did more tests and admitted me with a kidney infection that they said was E. Coli.... which I never really got more information about, but whatever. Once I was admitted, I kept telling them, this headache is not normal- I don't get migraines- It's not going away... I couldn't handle even the little bit of light from behind the closed blinds in my hospital room... the on-call doctor at the hospital that I was assigned to (again, stupid us- no family doctor, bad idea!) finally listened and they started doing more tests- eventually a lumbar puncture- which determined that I had Viral Meningitis. Lovely. I spent the week in the hospital with IV's and lots of drugs, and finally got to come home on Sunday.

In the meantime, Dave was handling things at home... Three little boys, one just a couple months old... and I should mention that Dave's mom had recently broken her foot, so his usual first route for help was not available to him....  He was at the hospital most of the time (more on that later). Our ward was AMAZING. They really went above and beyond. I had been so sick that our house was falling apart, and several of the ladies came in and cleaned up. Others took care of the boys. They were shuffled around for a few days. Mariann (sister in law) took our boys on and off, including nights with the baby.  Jeanne (Dave's sister) decided to fly in to help and she took over my house and took care of my kids. She did so much, I can't even begin... she was our angel. Just having her come stay at the house so the boys could be home and have things sort of normal was so huge. She also stayed at the hospital with me so that Dave could be home with the boys...

Dave didn't want me alone after the first or second night, so that made things trickier...  He had gone home to take care of the boys and was going to come back in the morning. That was our plan- Dave would take care of the kids and the doctors and nurses would take care of me. Well, the doctor ordered a test (can't remember what it was) and they came to get me with a wheelchair, even though I was in bad shape and was on "fall alert", meaning I couldn't get up out of my bed alone because I was too shaky. I had no clue about this stuff- I haven't really ever been in the hospital besides a couple of surgeries and having babies. Never a week full of tests and unknowns...  so anyway, they took me in a wheelchair (apparently they should have wheeled me in a stretcher) and then left me sitting there in a room... where I either fell asleep or passed out (I think I just fell asleep) after a few minutes and fell out of the chair onto my head. Dave was so mad that they let that happen, he wouldn't leave me alone after that..

One of the hardest parts was not being able to take care of my baby. I mean, he was just over two months at this point, and suddenly I couldn't nurse him and he wasn't with me 24/7- that was the weirdest thing to get used to- and then to start all over with him when I got out... definitely an adjustment. Luckily, he is the happiest baby. He was a little out of sorts at first, but now he is back to his content self and we are doing good. I wish I would have been able keep nursing, but they made that pretty impossible for me. At least we're all healthy.

I felt a lot better by the time they let me out, but I realized after getting home that I still had a lot of recovering to do. I was really tired and weak, not really up to my normal energy levels. I'm still not 100%... but getting there! We are so thankful for all the help, and the wonderful family and friends who were praying for us, and for priesthood blessings. Thanks.