I am finally feeling much better. I’ve been sick for well over two months now. It’s kind of scary actually to look at how incredibly much better I am and to realize I’m still not all the way well. I was a lot sicker than I realized at the time.

It started with Fritz getting a cold back in January. He gave it to most of the family, including me. It wasn’t too terrible. Right after I got over that I got gastroenteritis. It hit so hard and so fast I ended up quickly getting dehydrated and needed to go to the ER for fluids and phenergen.

Then several of us, including me, got the flu. I was back and forth better, worse, better, worse. Finally after about 10 days I decided I really needed to see the doctor. He diagnosed me with a “good” case of bronchitis, sinus infection, and an ear infection that would be starting within a day or so without treatment.

I went on Augmentin for 10 days. It helped, but not a whole lot. I continued coughing horribly and being short of breath. I finished my course of antibiotics on a Friday morning. Monday morning I was back at the doctor’s office much worse than I had been prior to taking the Augmentin.

He checked me over and decided that the Augmentin had calmed everything but I obviously had some resistant bacteria going on so it couldn’t cure it. Once I was off the antibiotics all the resistant stuff was able to grow quickly. My lungs sounded terrible, my sinus infection was back, my throat was infected, and both of my ears were infected. In short, I was a mess.

The doctor put me on Levaquin for 10 days and told me to go to bed. We did school in my bedroom for two weeks and I stayed in bed most of the time. By day 8 on the Levaquin I was finally starting to improve. We discovered that Ian pounding on my back helped to loosen up all the junk so I could cough it up. That really made a huge difference in helping me get better.

I finished the Levaquin nearly two weeks ago. I have more good days than bad days. If I do too much one day I am sure to have a bad day the next day. I just have to pay close attention to my body. When I start sweating it means I need to rest (doesn’t take much to get to that point). I get out of breath easily, but a short rest and I am okay again. I’m looking forward to being all the way better.

Though the last several weeks have been horrible (and pretty much a blur) and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, it definitely makes me thankful for feeling good and being healthy. I am also thankful for our living situation so my mom could help a lot (she got bronchitis, too, but was better by the time I got really bad). My children, especially the older two, were super helpful with cleaning and taking care of the little boys. All of that really helped to allow me to get the rest my body desperately needed.