Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Can I just complain about my crappy life for a minute?

UGH! When it rains, it pours. For the longest time, I've been feeling like my life was going along fairly status quo. Pretty boring and uneventful. I guess everything was waiting to happen to us all at once.

This post is pretty negative - I'll have to warn everyone right up front. The last week of my life has pretty much sucked, but writing about it is cathartic. So I'm feeling compelled to write it all down for posterity. I just don't know where to begin. . .

maybe with my kids. The last entry I wrote was about my poor sick Bryn, who I assumed was suffering from a bad reaction to her vaccination. Well, that changed. After 2 straight weeks of diarrhea, vomiting and high fevers I finally took her to the doctor - who diagnosed her with cryptosporidiosis. From the CDC website:

Cryptosporidiosis is a diarrheal disease caused by microscopic parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium. Once an animal or person is infected, the parasite lives in the intestine and passes in the stool. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive outside the body for long periods of time and makes it very resistant to chlorine- based disinfectants. Both the disease and the parasite are commonly known as "crypto."
Cryptosporidium lives in the intestine of infected humans or animals. Millions of crypto germs can be released in a bowel movement from an infected human or animal. Consequently, Cryptosporidium is found in soil, food, water, or surfaces that have been contaminated with infected human or animal feces. If a person swallows the parasite they become infected.
The most common symptom of cryptosporidiosis is watery diarrhea. Other symptoms include:
  • Dehydration
  • Weight loss
  • Stomach cramps or pain
  • Fever
  • Nausea
  • Vomiting

Some people with crypto will have no symptoms at all. While the small intestine is the site most commonly affected , Cryptosporidium infections could possibly affect other areas of the digestive or the respiratory tract .

There's been such a huge crypto outbreak this year, that all public pools are closed to children under 5 until the end of the summer. I've been home with sick kids for almost 2 full weeks. Gracelin hasn't had it too bad - just the occasional run to the bathroom and a couple of puke sessions. Poor Bryn though has been miserable: multiple messy diapers a day, no appetite, lots of puke, and she's gotten so skinny. Bryn's been a bear too - she's become such a mommy's girl that not even daddy can't help her. She cries almost constantly and wakes multiple times in the night. Last night she cried for almost an hour before she fell asleep, and then was up about 3 times. She hasn't had diarrhea in 3 days, so I took her to daycare today. I HAVE to work (more on that in a minute). She cried and cried when I left her. I actually think I'm going to call in a few minutes and make sure that she is ok. It broke my heart to leave her because she obviously isn't feeling well still.

And of course I got sick too. I've had symptoms more akin to what G's experienced, so its been manageable. But the fever and aches have been enough to make me miserable.

In the midst of all this horrible sickness, Ben lost his job. He'd been working for a real estate investment company. Obviously its not a good time for real estate, and several employees (including Ben) were "let go" last week - with no warning and no severance. (I could type a whole post about how low and dirty I think that is, but I'll refrain) So, the poor guy has been networking his butt off, trying to find something. We're seriously considering having him stay at home with the girls, and do some type of job at nights. I've even found a job that pays almost $2000 a month more than I'm making now. I've got my resume ready, and Ben is going to drop it off for me. I know we'll be ok. After the whole shock and horror of it all, I've had a calm peace about things. But it sure does suck!

Then yesterday I got a call that my 6 year old nephew was in ICU. The poor kid and his brothers have been through so much lately. (I haven't felt right about posting their plight on the web, but its bad) Over the weekend, he had a bad asthma attack that couldn't be controlled at home. So he went to the ER. The medication opened his airways and created something called respiratory mis-match. He went into respiratory arrest and nearly died. If he hadn't already been at the hospital he probably would have died.

Oh - and my mom also dropped the bombshell that she an my dad are talking about getting divorced. My father-in-law has cancer. The grass in my front yard is dying. A huge rock hit my windshield and it needs to be replaced. Blah. Blah. Blah.

I do feel though that we're all going to be ok. The stress is draining me, and I'm exhausted. But I am confident that we'll be ok.

Thanks for letting me complain!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm so sorry to hear you had a sucky week. I hope you all get better soon. How do you get rid of the parasite?
I'll be thinking of you guys. I know everything will work out in the end.

Anonymous said...

Wow. . .

I hope you and the girls start to feel better soon.

I guess the bright side is that things can only get better right?

I will keep you and your family in my thoughts.

erin said...

Wow-that's a lot. My kids had giardia last summer (it sounds pretty similar but no puking-just a TON of poop) so good luck with that! Good luck with everything else too. It's a lot easier when you have that peace. (oh btw, I am Rachel (from Operation Rosebud)'s sister.)

Anonymous said...

Oh, Christie...wow. I am so sorry for all you are going through. ((((Hugs)))) Hang in there...I'll keep you guys in my prayers.

Steph

Jess T said...

Crap, Chris. It is like the cartoons where the little man is standing at the bottom of the hill and at the top of the hill, the snowball rolls getting bigger and bigger until it knocks the man over.

I'm so sorry. I know you must be really frustrated and very overwhelmed right now. I know it sounds cliche, but try really hard just to focus on each day. For now, get the babies and yourself well and the job situation. The rest will follow suit. Remember to drink lots of water and try to get lots of rest. This will help you deal. Also, go sit outside for at least fifteen minutes a day. I've heard some of my friends say that leaning against a tree for that period of time helps "ground" them. I've never tried it, but maybe it will help.

Best wishes! Thinking of you guys! I know you'll get through.

pithydithy said...

Oh, hon, you ARE having a bad time of it!!!! I'd be a lot more whiny than this! I'm sending hugs! (And I totally laughed at your Whitest Family in America comment-- y'all could compete, lol.)

tiburon said...

Christie that totally bites. I feel for you on the Crypto - been there. The stomach cramps were the worst. I really really feel for ya!

I hope that Ben is able to find something quickly. I am praying for you guys :)

Anonymous said...

Well! That sounds like a week and half. Ugh... I'm so sorry about it all- the girls, Ben, your car... ugh ugh ugh.

I hope this week is better, I hope you guys can find something that works for you and Ben with his job and I hope you can find someone to fix your windshield for really cheap!

(((HUGS)))

I don't know why it always seems like these things happen all at once. Sometimes I wonder why we can't get one curve ball tossed at us at a time.

TTYL

Anonymous said...

Oh Christie...I'm so sorry to hear all that is going on. I'll keep you guys in my prayers. (((Hugs)))

Esy B.

Kriss said...

Yikes, what a crazy couple of weeks. I hope everyone gets to feeling better and gets rid of that nasty bug. It's one thing for us to get sick but babies are so different (& so messy). Sorry Ben lost his job, that doesn't seem fair the way they handled it. Can he collect unemployment until he finds another job??

-kriss