This month for the Love household has been one full of sickness! The week of spring break my Papaw was placed in Baylor hospital where it was discovered he has Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I was away in Las Vegas when I received the news and was very saddened that I couldn't be with my family. That week was a very nervous week for our family, my Papaw was put on a ventilator, kept sedated, because along with the leukemia he has blockage in his heart and started his chemo treatments. With many prayers and the healing power that only comes from God, my Papaw is now awake and making improvements every day. He's a strong man! My prayers were that he would be able to awake, and have a chance to fight this cancer. We are currently waiting for him to strengthen so they can do the bone marrow test.He will also need to strengthen to eventually have the stints placed in his heart. Our family has decided that the one blessing that came of his two whole weeks of sedation was that he missed the horrible side effects of chemo. He went through 10 rounds and never knew it. The last news I heard today was that his blood was showing no leukemia and that is wonderful news. Of course the true news will come from the marrow test.
I was able to make a trip up to the hospital in the middle of illnesses. I was sick on wednesday and was able to see him the following friday, of course he doesn't know I was there...he was still sedated. It just eased me just having the chance to see him and pray silently over him.
Now, back at home has been a totally different story! As I mentioned I was sick the tuesday and wednesday after spring break. What I thought was a bad allergy flare up turned into fever and aches. Luckily it lasted only two days and I was back to somewhat being normal. The saturday I was sitting up at Baylor Tony was home with the boys. He texted that Isaac was burning up with a temp, he ended up running a high temp all day saturday. On sunday I was back at home and stayed home from church with him. His temp hit 102 which was the highest yet for him. His doctors office wasn't open so I took him to a minor emergency office here. They looked at his ears and sure enough he had an ear infection and upper respiratory infection. We were sent home with a prescription and I spent the day watching his temp hit 103 and then climbing all the way to 104.3! This lead to our first "cool bath" that I have had to give one of my children. Isaac HATED the cool bath, he cried and firmly stated "I no take a baff no again!!". Mommy fought back tears and prayed that his temp would break because the thought of taking him to the er was scary to me. After a short (short to me..a lifetime to Isaac) bath his temp was now in a more reasonable 102 range. I stayed home with him on monday and missed classes. He continued to run a temp all day monday. Well, monday afternoon I was called by the school nurse to pick up Collin from school...great! I picked him up and he seemed fine so I sent him back to school on tuesday. It wasn't until tuesday after school that Collin's temp started to rise. He had been complaining about a tummy ache and a very sore throat. I immediately called and made him an appointment which they couldn't get us in until wednesday morning. I also made another appointment for Isaac because his temp just wouldn't stop spiking.
Wednesday morning (I am forced to miss another day of classes)...we see the doctor, Collin's temp is up to 103 when checked. He was tested for strep, and sure enough he had it. After all, he's famous for getting strep in our house so he's given an antibiotic. Isaac was looked at again and it was noted that along with the right ear that was infected now his left ear had joined in on the party. He was not clearing up, the antibiotic we were given wasn't doing it's job. Isaac had the unfortunate opportunity of getting two shots and was also prescribed a high dose antibiotic. We come back home and right at time to pick Nolan up from school I check Collin's temp because he was shivering uncontrollably. His temp sky rocketed to 104.9!! This was only one tiny point shy of 105! I freaked!! I had to get Nolan in 10 minutes but HAD to get Collin in a cool bath right away to avoid a trip to the er. Thankfully I was able to call my Mom, she was able to leave work, grab Nolan and bring him home. Collin was not a fan of the "cool bath" himself. In fact, if he knew any curse words I'm quite sure he would have been cussing me the whole 25 minutes in the tub. We were able toget his temp down as well. This lead me to call the doctor back. They had us come back in to run more tests. The first test they ran was a flu test. All my boys were vaccinated this year but alas the flu test came back positive! "Great, just great" was all I could think. Tony and I failed to get our flu vaccinations this year. Collin was now prescribed tamiflu and was now being treated for the flu and strep.
I spent wednesday and thursday cleaning and sanitizing literally everything in my house! I did NOT want anyone else to end up with the flu. This flu had made Collin sicker than I have ever seen. My heart was being broken all week long watching two of my three boys this sick. I mean, there is only so much comforting a mother can do. I was grateful that the Lord granted me with what I felt was the most patience I have ever had in my life! I was attentive and I was loving. Collin was ordered to stay home from school until monday. This lead to me missing an entire week of school.
Friday morning I woke up feeling like a truck had hit me! My chest was congested and I could barely breath, and my throat was KILLING me!! I wasn't taking any chances and headed straight to the doctor myself. I was given the strep and flu test, both which thankfully came back negative. Turns out I ended up with the upper respiratory infection..fun, fun! Tony picked my prescription up where the pharmacist greeted him with "Oh, you again?". LOL! We had made so many trips to the pharmacy this week/month that he remembered us. I have ran a temp for the past three days but nothing close to what my boys ran earlier in the week! On friday night I just cried, I cried because I felt so bad. But more than that I was crying imagining just how terrible my kids must've felt! They were far more sick than I. I know Isaac was told he had an upper respiratory infection, but I'm convinced he too had the flu...we just weren't tested. His symptoms were so similar to Collin's with the very high temp and it lasted for 5 days!
Tomorrow is monday and I believe that everyone will be able to return to our normal duties. I'm praying that Nolan and Tony stay healthy! I cannot miss any more school! I have missed entirely too much this month alone. I'm faced with all the catching up that's needed. This involves one big project and a group project.
While this month has been troublesome on my both mentally and physically, I am ever so grateful for the health of my family. True after reading this blog (if anyone manages to make it through my rant) you may not think we are healthy, atleast we aren't laying in a hospital fighting for our lives. I have witnessed many extremes of sickness. I have found myself thinking "I am so glad that my God is big enough to handle the many random prayers I throw his way"! I mean, he has heard me pray fervently for my Papaw! He has heard me pray fervently for my childs fever to please break! I then find myself thinking just how stretched out the extremities of the sicknesses are but to Him they are the same. What seems like huge prayers are just small tiny things to him. He's got it all under control! He is the great healer! He knows my heart and hears my every prayer. I absolutely do not know how I would handle the obstacles of my life without having my faith planted firmly in God!
This verse has been quoted over and over in my head all month long...it has helped tremendously:
