The Plague

In March we had what has been referred to in our family as "the Plague".  Mine started on Emily's birthday and continued to worsen into the weekend.  I went to clinic so ill on Thursday that everyone (including my patients) looked at me with pity and the department head finally rescued me after her meetings.  I was febrile and rigoring in bed for 4 days.  That was worse than when I had malaria, Keith confirmed that as he was with me when I had malaria.  I had to give up my call shift on the labour floor that Sunday and answered colleagues questions from my home "hospital" bed.  Monday I went in to work to round on my patients and it was a slow and pitiful week of multiple medications to get through the day.  We left for our "vacation" on Thursday after clinic and when I got in the car to hit the road Cian didn't look right. By Brandon he looked downright sick and when we stopped in Regina he had a raging fever.  I had booked a hotel with a super fun waterpark and a room that overlooked it and he was so sick that he didn't fight me the next day when I said we couldn't go in the water.  He slept most of the way to Edmonton the next day after shivering at the breakfast table.  We got to Edmonton and quarantined ourselves at my parents.  Thank goodness the Easter bunny still came and the kids were able to enjoy the hunt for their baskets following the footprints that mommy and Uncle Brandon used to follow when they were younger too.  The adults even got to join in the fun with Opa's silly riddles to find their baskets.

After Cian it was Emily's turn.  She fell asleep on Omi and then on Mommy - something completely unheard of in her young years.  She was still sick on our way to Banff and the night before my talk at the conference I turned around to look at her and she was COVERED in blood.  She had coughed and sneezed so hard and that combined with the change in climate gave her a nosebleed.  I had to wake her up, call my mom to help, put her in the shower and call housekeeping to change the towels and sheets.  It was a major doctor mom disaster on both the doctor and mom fronts as I sort of freaked out about this little person that looked like "Carrie" asleep in the bed.

Outside of a couple short visits with people we basically stayed sick at my parents' place.  My poor parents who were about to go on their 40th anniversary trip and desperately tried to stay healthy while caring for us.  My ONLY visit outside of family was to see Devin and I was in the pub about an hour before I said I needed to lie down.  Thank goodness his apartment was close and he could bring me drugs, water, pillows and cold cloths and that way we could continue our chat.

I was sick for 2.5 (almost 3) weeks and the kids were only sick for a few days a piece and it was a big wake-up call for how fragile our health can be.  We are lucky to live in a place where we can safely recover from illness, where we have access to quality medical care if needed and loving people who will care for us when we aren't feeling well.  I am so tremendously grateful that we are all feeling better and that Keith (our Florence Nightingale) escaped it. I am also so thankful for the reminder about such important things that are easily taken for granted.