I'm not at all sure yesterday's post made any sense at all.  However-we now have scientific confirmation that Ben has swine flu. Interestingly, they are saying that 24 hours after the fever is gone you are no longer contagious. It's good to know so we can judge when to re-enter society. For instance, I think Ben will miss gymnastics this week. I will be very surprised if the fever disappears before then.  Nate may possibly make YG on Wednesday, but it's doubtful. If they are anything like Dave and I, they will still be miserable for a few days after the fever is gone.  Both boys are doing better today, fevers are down as long as they are taking Aleve and Tylenol.  Nate feels fairly ok aside from the cough. Ben is ok as long as we give him Zofran every 4 hours. He's drinking, but the egg nog for Keto makes him throw up every time. His Ketones have dropped, so I am mixing a tiny amount of egg nog into his Talking Rain/baking soda drink. So far this seems to be working, so I'm hoping his Ketones will rise by this evening.

Dave is off coaching yet another soccer game without Nate, poor guy.  He's feeling better today at last, though still coughing. (we have a friend who said the cough lasted 2 months at their house...).

I am running around picking up meds, dispensing meds and making beverages. It's crazy busy managing this much illness. Poor Meg is not getting much attention. She does get to go Trick or Treating tonight, though, so she's pretty happy. I'm going to have her wear gloves so she's not passing on any possible germs.

Did I mention the laundry? OI with the laundry already!  I'm going to have to wash pretty much every blanket in the house when this is over. The house is like a disaster zone. We've got a mattress in the living room and blankets every where. Both boys keep discarding socks and shirts when they got too hot, so those are lying all over as well. I'm running loads of towels to try and keep germs from festering and mutating. (scary when you think of it that way).

Teena

Ben and I spent the whole day in the ER. His temp is down, but he required meds to keep the vomitting at bay.  They ran a ziilion tests, and he's just sick. We are still waiting to hear conformation that it is swine flu, but everyone thinks it is.

Nate's temp also reached 104 today but is now back down.

Dave was super dad-he even made gluten free casien free cookies for Nate. He took temps, gave a regimen of meds, administered drinks and finally put Nate in the shower when he couldn't get the temp to go down.  Dave is now exhausted.

 Many of you are asking what you can do-we always need prayer! I don't want to expose any of you to this, so unless you want to leave treats on our porch(popsicles, flavored but not sweetened Talking Rain, orange juice, chicken soup) we will just continue to muddle through. Praise God, I am feeling much better today, and somewhat up to the task.

Only one convulsive seizure last night with the high fever-considered very good by all parties.  So far, so good. I plan to wake in the night to give both boys more Tylenol so their fevers don't creep up again.

Teena

We called Children's when Ben's temp hit 104.1 while on Tylenol. I am headed to the ER. they told me to pack to stay...so barring a miracle I am away from my very sick family. Please pray for Ben..and for Nate who is very sick today without his mom...and Dave who is not at all well himself...and for Megan who is sturggling bravely to be cheerful when all her fun events are being canceled,and she'll probably be sick on her birthday. Pray for me-I am a house divided. I can't stand to leave, but I can't stand to keep Ben home in this condition, either.

Thank you for your faithfulness!

Teena

Ah, yes, you guessed it. Ben got a diagnosis of swine flu today. (Means that's what Dave and I have had, too) He is throwing up and has a fever over 102. It's all bad news, and Dave and I are gathering our already frayed nerves to do battle.  There is a whole regimen for both Keto and neurology when you have vomiting and fever.  Upon consideration, I mentioned to Dr. Mark that Ben was pulling his ear, and God Bless that man, he had me drive up to his office and he ran out with an otoscope and checked Ben's ears. Which were infected. Along with his nose. Dr. Mark assured me Ben's lungs don't sound nearly as bad as mine(gee, thanks).  After some consideration we decided to try the usual natural methods of clearing up infection, and if Ben's fever won't come down, or he won't stop throwing up, we will resort to antibiotics. We won't let it go as long as I did(Hey, my infections were mostly viral still...except for that crackling sound in my lungs. That was bad) In the meantime, we keep on top of the fever(seizures) and make sure he drinks eggnog(deep Ketosis) and keep him hydrated. I know you all have been praying for our personal train wreck and we thank you for your prayers.  Once again-you have no idea how much that means to us, or how we feel that supernatural calm and know you are praying. 

Dave and I are both doing better today. I've learned that I sort of like oxygen. Dave has learned he likes not having a fever.  Once Ben got sick, all of our evening plans changed. Dave's fever miraculously broke, so he went to the Parent/Kid game for soccer. They are now at the party, and Dave is not touching or breathing on anybody.  They are only staying a few minutes. Besides the contagion factor, Dave is woefully exhausted.

We had a busy weekend planned, but things are falling apart all over the place.  Nate has a party tomorrow, we were having people over on Saturday for Trick or Treating, but they don't want to get exposed. (silly people!)  Dave's parents were coming to town for the weekend, but I don't know if they really want to get this either.  They are unsure of their plans-Megan and Terry were supposed to have a birthday celebration.  I don't know what we'll make it to, or what we'll have the energy for...we'll see. Ben was going to be Mickey Mouse.....

I'm now giving meds every 20 minutes so Ben can keep them down. It will take me about two hours to get through them all, plus tylenol, plus colloidal silver, plus ear drops. Phew, it's a good thing Dave is feeling a bit better!

Teena

Ben is hive free and feeling fine today. I cannot say the same for Dave-He's pretty sick with a fever of 102 when he rolled out of bed this morning. We're keeping him hydrated and on ibuprofein.  When I saw Dr. Mark today, he went ahead and put us both on antibiotics on the principle that we have simply been sick too long for our bodies to fight anymore. Hopefully this will do the trick and we with both feel better soon.  I do have an ear infection and occluded sinsues and....basically I am a cesspool of germs waiting to grow.  Dr. Mark also informed me that Dave and I had two different viruses before, and they mutated and we gave them to each other. Swell.

It has been very sweet. Ben is concerned about Dave and just sits with him on the couch kissing and patting him, for hours! He did the same when I was sick, but I kept forgetting to put it in the blog.

I am back to the craziness-there is so much to do while caring for Dave(he is so sick he really NEEDS someone to care for him.) changing Ben's diet and trying to squeeze in homeschool-we have stacked activites the next few days, I have no idea how we will work it all out. Something is going to give....I'm just not sure what.

Teena

Well, lets see where we are.  Dave woke up with a fever around 102 this morning(Dad-you made the right choice last night!).  He's home from work, and had to have someone take over his soccer practice tonight. This is really sad for him, because it is the last regular practice for the year. Thursday is the parent game and the last week they have no practice because of daylights savings time.  Anyway, at this point Dave and I are thinking we had two different things when we were sick before, and we've now traded.

Actually, it's looking like whatever I have has morphed into a sinus infection.  The headache is killing me. After a week of snorting Colloidal Silver and gargling this foul concoction of Dr. Marks', I think I'm headed for a doctor appointment tomorrow, and I'll probably choose to go on antibiotics because I simply have to get well. Where did October go? It's my favorite month, and I've missed it in sheer illness.

It's been a busy day. I changed Ben's ratio starting this morning, which means making all of his meals from scratch and using the new calulations. It takes longer without the routine I had going before.  Ben seems happy on the new ratio, though a little bewildered by the "extra" food. It seems to me he is already feeling better, but that may simply be in contrast to Dave who has not moved in hours except to say "I feel like death" which is exactly what I said two weeks ago. (BTW, all three of the kids have stuffy noses. Anyone want to come over and spend the day?)

Tonight is also our crazy night-Nate has soccer, Ben and Meg have gymnastics. This means if we want a gluten/casien free meal hot and ready at a reasonable hour, I have to fire up the crock pot mighty early.   One Cowboy Stew later, Ben and I headed out for supplies, Dave and I having been sick long enough to run out of pretty much everything.

To sum up-Ben is doing great. Dave and I are miserably ill and rather tired of it. Nate and Megan are homeschooling themselves. Ben is being homeschooled by Nate and Megan. The house is an unmitigated disaster, and we have a PACKED weekend looming ahead of us, not to mention all the soccer wrap up ceremonies.

I wonder if there's a ladder big enough to get us out of here?

Teena

after I wrote this, Ben threw up and we realized Nate does not have a ride home from soccer, and now Ben can't go to gymnastcs. Good thing Dave feels a tiny bit better

after I wrote THAT, we discovered Ben has hives. It looks like Trader Joe's veggie chips are an allergen for Ben, since that is what he threw up. The only things I can see there is potatoes.....not eaten for 2+ years because of SCD and then carbohydrate count, and possibly turmeric, which I use, but only occasionally, and probably not for Ben. huh

All in all, things went well today. We converted about 10 each of meals and snacks for Ben. The dietitian recommended not converting more in case his seizures get worse and we have to change his ratio back. (WHAT!?  Would everyone please refrain from telling me worst case scenarios?)  We could either see great improvements physical, cognitive and neurological.....or we could see huge detriments. Obviously, we are praying for improvements, especially since Ben made some leaps this week.

I took all the kids and Megan and Nate kept Ben busy while I worked with the dietitian.  Strangely, Ben gets extremely upset about dietitian appts. When docs poke and prod, or Phlebotomists take vial after vial of blood he's pretty calm and co-operative. But put him in the room with a dietitian and he cries during the whole appt. Go figure.

I am still not well, and woke up with almost no voice. After some hot drinks I did better, but still got to wear one of those pretty face masks so all the sick people wouldn't get my germs.  Come to think of it, masks really freak Ben out, so maybe that was the problem.

Last night I had some trouble getting to sleep and lay in bed composing terribly amusing things to say in the blog. I intended to astound you with my wit and veracity, my style and self-deprecation.  Sadly, I have slept since then...

Teena