So, where to begin. Basically one or all of us have been sick since the beginning of October. I got sick first and quickly came down with a sinus infection and got on antibiotics. Then the boys got sick with, what I assume, was pretty much the same thing. They had thick, runny noses and a little bit of coughs. Pierce's finally cleared, but Blaine's just wasn't. And he was so cranky all day, which just wasn't like him. I took him in to Dr. Hartman and she looked in both ears and quickly diagnosed him with a double ear infection. Poor baby! I hadn't expected that, but was glad to have him on antibiotics to put it all behind us. Around this same time, BJ got a chest cold and we just assumed he had what the 3 of us did. And maybe he did, but November 2 he got the menacing email from Joe at work that he had gotten a positive pertussis test back. And the boys and I had just been to NovaTech 2 days before for Halloween. Not good. I wasn't too worried at first, but then Pierce started coughing. He had been the healthy one and this was such an isolated symptom. At first I just thought it was the dry air so I bought a humidifier. Didn't help. I called the dr. and explained the situation and my nagging feeling about pertussis, but they said we should be fine and to monitor and call back if it worsened. So I put my worries aside and chalked it up to another random virus he had. Besides, BJ was still coughing too.
So on Friday of that week, BJ reluctantly decided to go back to the doctor just to be sure he didn't have an infection. He'd already been previously for a weird rash (we had been afraid of shingles), but they had just said it was related to the virus he had. They ran all sorts of tests and sent him home saying it was probably still the virus lingering. But then, Tuesday night he walked in the door and told me he had just gotten the call that his pertussis culture came back positive. I was shocked and not sure what to even do next. So the next day the boys and I went in to the doctor and we all got put on a Z pack as prevention/treatment. They didn't test any of us, but I just know Pierce's would have been positive. I think Blaine and I escaped the worst because we'd both previously been on an antibiotic. So BJ took a couple of "disease days" and we laid low at home. All 4 of us feel pretty much normal. BJ coughs very occasionally, but Pierce is a little worse. Every now and then he'll have a short coughing fit, but it is pretty manageable. The worst is at night though and that's what gets taxing. The poor baby won't even wake all the up sometimes, but he just can't stop so we'll have to intervene with a drink and paci. I think it's messed up Blaine's cycle too though because he has been waking up ridiculously early (like 4 AM) and sometimes won't go back. But considering that we have pertussis, it could be a lot worse.
Perhaps the worst timing of all of this is with GG's trip here for Thanksgiving. She flew in the Tuesday night we found out. Not good timing! Wonderful Dr. Talbert wrote everyone in my family prescriptions for Z-packs which I guess can also help prevent it. We also had to send out an email and make phone calls to everyone we'd been around in the past couple of weeks to let them know. Talk about a humbling position. I felt so bad, but knew we had to. Everyone has been very gracious and appreciative of us letting them know. And so far, no one else appears to be infected. Now we're just praying it stays that way.
Will we ever be healthy again? I'm not so sure at this point...
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