The Worst Case of Strep Throat On Record

Posted by Chandra February 22, 2019

The Worst Case of Strep Throat On Record

Ok, well maybe I was getting too cocky. There is for sure one thing that will stop us all in our tracks:sickness!

Poor Ella wasn't acting like herself. I got her up from her nap on Friday and she immediately started throwing up all over me. It was hot- like, it burned my skin, because she had a fever. She was so sad but I had everything under control. I got her into the tub and then I took a shower. When I got her out, I wrapped her in a clean, white towel and gave her Tylenol. Then I noticed these little red bug bites appearing all over her body. I called Tanner in confusion and reached out to Andrea who accurately diagnosed her with hives. My poor baby! I was so worried about her! I knew Angel was on her way to the temple so I quickly texted her and asked her to put Ella's name on the prayer roll. In a miraculous turn of events, Angel had her phone in her hand and was about to turn it off when she received my text. She said she always turns her phone off before she enters the temple but for some reason didn't do that this one time. When she saw my text, she immediately write Ella's name down and within minutes, the hives were gone and her fever broke. She was better from that moment on. Heavenly Father answers prayers!

Tanner came home shortly after with Benedryl and other medicine but we never needed to use it.

I wanted to stay home from church on Sunday but Tanner had to speak in church! ha ha We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing and it was nice.

On Monday, we met our friends at the park for a little Valentine's Day party! Everyone brought something to share, pizza, cookies to decorate, cupcakes, bags to color, and valentines to hand out. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to be out in the sunshine with friends! That afternoon I noticed a discomfort at the back of my throat and one of my tonsils was swollen. I wasn't feeling by best so I got into the hot tub with the kids and sweet Parker made us all dinner! The next day I was hosting a special Valentine's Day Relief Society activity at out house. I'd been looking forward to it for a long time and had spent so much time planning and preparing. We were to have yummy treats and a chocolate fountain, I had pretty flowers and candles, romantic music and lighting, we had 3 speakers and 3 coordinating crafts: Love your family- card making, Love your spouse- dating ideas, and Love Yourself- bath salt making. As the day progressed I began to feel worse and worse. I told my friend that I was all ready for a nice evening in my home and was excited to have everyone come over but that I probably wasn't going to make it. I lasted 20 minutes answering the door and greeting people before I crashed. I had to go lay down upstairs. I was happy to have all of these wonderful women gathered in my home doing the Lord's work but was sad that I was missing out on it all. The ladies cleaned up so nicely- my house was spotless the next day.

I started an antibiotic that I had on hand and was hoping to feel better the next day but I was NOT. I was so much worse. Tanner had to drop his car off to get it worked on and needed to pick up a rental. I couldn't even get out of bed to help him do that so he had to take an Uber. He took Rayleigh to school and Parker to the doctor. He ended up missing the whole day of work and was not happy about it. But the afternoon my throat was so swollen I could hardly breathe and I was in excruciating pain. He took me to the doctor and I was given steroids and thankfully by evening, the swelling went down a little bit.

Parker was put on the same antibiotic I was on and was confirmed to have strep throat. But the medicine did nothing for us. I stayed super sick and in worse pain than any of my C sections and Parker couldn't keep anything down. He lost 13 pounds in a week! I felt so badly on Valentine's Day. I was so sick, I did absolutely nothing. Tanner had to work and then I had to drive him to pick up his car at the shop and return his rental. He was feeling overwhelmed at all of the responsibilities falling on his shoulders and no one was really feeling the love. I gave the kids "Candy Dinner" on Valentine's day: M&M yogurt and Ding-Dongs. It was honestly the best I could do. I felt so awful! Everyday I woke up praying I'd feel better and every day I just wasn't. And neither was Parker. And the baby had a weird rash that looked like chicken pox! So a week later we took all of the kids into see Anique and Parker tested positive for Strep again! Ella and Jack had slight ear infections so she just wrote us all scripts for the same, stronger antibiotic. Oddly, Tanner and Rayleigh never got sick but Rayleigh had a horrible infection on her thumb. Gross. I went back to the doctor because I was NOT better and my strep seemed to have morphed into tonsillitis. And the awesome antibiotics gave me a stupid yeast infection! Ugh! So my mom came to help and sweet Rayleigh drew me so many beautiful pictures and hung them up over my bed. About 2 weeks after all of the sickness started, we began to creep our way out of it. Just in time for a wonderful weekend!

So sick and in SO MUCH PAIN

Maybe the warm sun will heal my broken throat

Grateful for Tanner who helped us out and played the role of nurse!

Donuts for breakfast because why not? Also, Rayleigh lives in her gymnastics clothes. I guess I'd better sign her up!

He slept all day every day and then threw up. It was almost like he had mono! The doctor said if his anti nausea meds didn't help him feel better long enough to keep the antibiotic down, we'd need to take him to the hospital. Thankfully, he powered through and was able to take the medicine and start feeling better.

So skinny!

Rayleigh had such a great attitude while we were all sick. She was so nurturing and kind. She loved catching lizards when the sun would shine and the rain stopped.