Sickies

Like I mentioned in my previous post, we all got pretty sick for a while after our big trip. I noticed Matthew started to act a little funny in Vegas and had a really bad croup-y sounding cough for a night or two while at my Grandma's house. Even though the cough got better pretty quickly, he just seemed SO tired and not quite himself. I figured he was tired from the trip but even after we returned home it seemed to get worse instead of better. He was napping almost every day (he quit naps almost a year ago) and still went to bed relatively early. His appetite was way down as well - he barely ate even his favorite foods.  He was also a lot crankier than normal. I actually highly suspected mono, though I couldn't be sure. He didn't really have any symptoms that concerned me enough to take him to the doctor. (They can't do anything for mono.) However, one day after his nap he was extra cranky and was crying and just seemed miserable. And then we noticed his lymph nodes were RIDICULOUSLY swollen. I called the doctor and was able to get him in within a couple hours. Thank heavens, because it was a Friday! It is the worst to need a doctor during the weekend. Ha. His mood had improved by the time we got there but the doctor agreed that his lymph nodes were basically out of control. He diagnosed him with lymphadenitis, (infected lymph nodes) gave us antibiotics, and sent us on our way.

I wasn't entirely convinced that he was correctly diagnosed, but I was glad to have antibiotics that could cure a variety of illnesses. Matthew finally improved but the next week the RASH appeared. At first it was only on his cheeks. I was confused, but most people just seemed to think it was heat rash or something.

And then the rash got worse and started slowly moving down his body. Agh! I won't post all the pictures I have (mostly because I think they'd embarrass Matthew in the future) but trust me, it was BAD! It seriously looked like he had the measles. (I was really glad for the peace of mind of knowing my kids are vaccinated. Ha.) Me and Michael kinda freaked out and immediately started googling everything it could be.

It was mostly likely Fifth Disease. The rash appears several days after the child is better, starts at the cheeks, and then moves down the body. By the time the rash appears, the child is feeling pretty much totally better and is actually no longer contagious. Matthew was so NOT bothered by his rash - he was actually bragging about his "spots!" Hahaha. When it was almost gone he DID itch a bit, but other than that, the rash was probably the easiest part of the illness. We still kept him home from church though and away from friends because we didn't want others to freak out about his appearance... and they might have. I don't blame them... if I saw a kid looking like that (and didn't know what it was) I would run far, far away! ;-)

I still think he might've also had mono, but whatever. I'm just happy that he's healthy again. Once he got better though, Kate and Joshua both got colds. Kate actually seemed really lethargic as well for about a week, though she never got the rash. And then I got strep for the first time ever. Not fun! We're all healthy now, and I'm just hoping it stays that way for a bit. :-)