Kelly's sick (super long post)

I'm always needing to work on updating the blog with our family goings-on.

It's past time that I need to create another blog book with our current family history.

This post is long, but I don't want to forget any details.

Kelly's been home from college for a month now, for the summer.

She's home to make money so that when she does her practicum, she won't need to worry about having a job that she won't have time or energy for.

Washington state has a minimum wage that is at least $4 more per hour.

About a week in to being here, she started feeling achy, but thought it was from kayaking one day with Andy.  She took ibuprofen for the aches for a couple days, finally realizing that muscle aches should have only lasted a day or two.

One night, she had sharp, terrible pain in a specific area of her belly.

Earlier that day, she had gone to a local clinic to see if she had strep or mono (webMD).

They took blood and check her urine, but didn't have the right number to contact her with results.

I've seen enough to know that specific pain warrants a doctor or ER visit. 

So, when Kelly had the pain, I took her in since we hadn't heard back from the clinic.

She had been nauseous and not able to keep food down for that week, and so after an examination, the doctor had her get a bolus of fluids and prescribed zofran for nausea.

Her blood work at the ER showed that yes, she had mono. 

So, she was told to not work or work light duty for at least 6 weeks.

The next morning, she came in our room, complaining of really itchy hands. 
She went to wash her hands before putting anti-itch cream on them.

Kelly's hands started burning, swelling, and hiving.

We looked and didn't find Benadryl, so we headed straight to the store for some.

Before getting in the parking lot though, her throat felt like it was swelling.

So, we went to the closest clinic since it was closer than the ER.

They gave her a shot and prescribed more medicine.

She was miserable for another day.

The next day, she saw her doctor as a follow up to the ER visit.

That night, she felt like her throat was getting swollen and tight, so we went back to the ER.

They looked at her throat, said it wasn't bad enough to do anything about, and they can't do anything to help her while suffering from mono.

Mono is a virus, and you just have to wait out the painful symptoms.

Everyone is affected differently with it.

Since then, we've been back to the doctor's office twice, finally heard back from the original clinic with a letter saying the first mono test was positive, been told to stay home and wait it out, and finally went back to the ER early this morning again for ear pain (9 on a scale of 10 for pain).

Her tonsils are now touching the uvula, she is not able to eat or drink half the time, and she has a hard time swallowing.

Yesterday, she was going downhill and I knew we'd likely be needing to go in to the ER by evening.

I went on FaceBook, asked friends to pray for her, then got busy cleaning and making a fast, easy dinner.

As soon as I started cleaning, our missionaries were walking by and were thirsty.

We got them some water and chatted for a few minutes.  I told them how sick Kelly had been, then I went to go check on her.

She was worse and couldn't even swallow sips of water.

I got her a wet washcloth to hold against her lips, to hopefully get some hydration that way.

I asked Kelly if she wanted a Priesthood blessing from the missionaries and she did.

They were more than happy to pronounce a blessing of healing and comfort on her head.

Then, she went back to bed.

I checked on Kelly a little later, and she was sitting up, taking sips of water, and TALKING at half normal volume.

Before, she couldn't speak and was signing, texting, or writing to let me know what she needed.

For an hour and a half, Kelly felt decent enough to drink fluids and eat foods, even lasagna!

She ate and drank as much as she could handle, knowing it might only be a temporary reprieve.

So, because of Priesthood power, prayers of friends, family, and strangers, and modern medicine, my Kelly had the best hour of the week!

Andy's been working a lot of hours, so Maggie's been my main helper.

She plays with Anthony, keeping him busy and mostly out of trouble.

Because of YouTube, Anthony likes to put all his Hot Wheels in the little pool.

I made him take them out and put them in a container to bring in, but he wanted them to dry in the grass...

We love our Wenatchee Wild hockey team, and Anthony was given this shirt.

He was ecstatic!

Our Wenatchee Wild were so very close to winning the RBC Cup in Canada.

They played better than all other teams in the playoffs, but in the round before the final, they lost.

A few days before, they had beat that same team by 7-1!

Anyways, we went to a celebration rally, to welcome the Wild back home.

Anthony wanted a picture with Arch Ecker, the voice of the Wild...I don't know that he'd ever met him before.  But, I think he was in a few advertising videos at games, and Anthony doesn't miss a detail.

Just a peaceful look to the patio from the nook window.

Maggie tending to her pallet herb garden, Anthony hanging out with the girls, and Kelly resting for a few.

One of our favorite meals!

My picture of it isn't that pretty, but it's delicious with mashed potatoes!