Davis Family: A Pox Upon Our House

As I write this I am holding my breath because both kids are actually healthy. Knocking on a lot of wood here! It all started on Saturday, March 7. Avalon had a fever and ended up missing two days of school. She seemed OK except for the fever, which maxed out at 102.7. Just when the fever broke she got a rash and we knew she had Roseola. We were lucky she never had a scary, high fever. About 10 days later Waylon had the same thing, and also missed two days of school, which was a Monday and Tuesday.

That same week, on Wednesday night, Avalon began throwing up and it lasted all night. She also had diarrhea, but no fever. That lasted two days, and she was just beginning to feel better on Friday night. However, I wasn't feeling so hot. I was a little queasy and tired and was very relieved when Grandma Josephine wanted Waylon to spend the night with her, and I was able to get to bed really early. Unfortunately, Waylon woke up in the wee hours of Saturday morning throwing up. Grandma Josephine took care of Waylon all weekend while I tended to Avalon, who was still a bit under the weather. Did I mention that Aaron was in Mexico for a bachelor party? Good times.

Waylon was hit extremely hard by the flu and hardly drank fluids and barely ate. Grandpa Ed and I took him to the kids' Urgent Care on Sunday night. Things did not improve and on Monday night Aaron got home and declared that Waylon, who was basically non-responsive and staring into space, needed to go to the ER. I am very thankful that our friend's sister, who is a pediatric ER nurse, confirmed that he should go to the ER. The nurse for our pediatrician's office had told me that as long as Waylon was meeting some minimum criteria for water intake and urination that he would be fine at home. She was wrong. Aaron and Waylon were at the ER for several hours, and even saw one of Waylon's preschool classmates, who was there for the same reason. Eventually they were seen and his blood tests showed that he was not doing well. Many of his levels were entering the "unsafe" zone and he'd lost 8 pounds! They gave him a bag of fluids, and in a miraculous turnaround Waylon came home chatting and laughing. It was a miracle, and another lesson that parents should follow their own instincts, even if they go against the advice of the doctor (or their nurse).

Waylon took a few more days, but he was on the mend and we all flew to Lake Tahoe on Friday for Doug's wedding (post coming soon). Just as we were leaving Tahoe Waylon got pink eye, and 2 days later Avalon had it as well. I was seriously worried that the Health Department was going to quarantine our family for the good of the community. Lets all keep fingers crossed that the cloud has passed and we will be in good health for the next few weeks.

I have not yet explained the true hero of this story...Grandma Josephine. She took care of both kids for almost all of their missed days of school of Roseola and flu. That is until she got the flu herself. It hit her hard! Aaron and I felt terrible. However, I know that Avalon and Waylon loved their time at home with Grandma, getting totally spoiled.

I cheated with this photo. This was after Avalon was doing better and back at school, but after I had taken out her pigtails and she just finished an exhausted crying fit, but this gives a good idea of what she looked like for several days.