Marching Onward

Can't believe how long it's been since I added to this blog site. Thought I'd catch you up a bit.

We've had a highly eventful March 2011. Our weather has been unusually Spring-like for Colorado with very mild temps and very little snow. Unfortunately, our family didn't get to enjoy a lot of it as we struggled with several illnesses. First Shawn got a cold, then Joshy got it, and as they were finally starting to improve, I (Sharron) picked it up as a sinus cold. I finally made the acquaintance of a neti pot--interesting contraption and experience.

We thought Joshy finally was healthy, and then suddenly on a Saturday night his temp spiked to the 103-104 range (our thermometer is not as accurate as we'd like). After a restless night, we called the on-call nurse on Sunday morning who told us to monitor it. Since his temp remained high all that day and overnight (another restless and interrupted one), I took him to his pediatrician that Monday. She did a strep test (negative) but said his throat looked sore, and to bring him back within a couple of days if the temperature didn't abate.

We thought he was improving that Tuesday afternoon, but that night was the worst yet with Joshy moaning and crying all night. Shawn and I each got a bit of fractured sleep and then called the pediatrician first thing the next morning (Wednesday). Shawn took the day off work, and we got Joshy right into the doctor. This time they did a flu test on him (also negative) and then decided to prick his finger to collect blood for a white cell check. That turned out to be 2.5 times the high range of normal, so the doctor sent us for a chest x-ray. When we came out of that office to head home and wait for the x-ray result, our car battery was dead! Ack! So we called my brother-in-law Mike who came to take me and Joshy home while Shawn waited for the AAA guy to give the car a jump.

A couple hours later the doctor's office called to tell us it was, indeed, pneumonia! In our poor sick 2-year-old boy. The doctor had pro-actively given Joshy a shot of antibiotic that morning which was starting to take effect already, and with an additional antibiotic we saw dramatic improvement in the next few days. It was what the doctor called a "small" pneumonia on his lower left lung lobe, but certainly enough to scare us! We were so grateful for the pediatrician who really stayed on top of it to get a diagnosis and start treatment before it got out of hand.

All of that happened the week of our 10th anniversary, so we put off our celebration until this last weekend. My parents came up to Denver to take care of Joshy and our dogs while Shawn and I had a weekend away. We were given the use of a house in Estes Park, and we enjoyed a relaxing, restful time away of quiet reading, a beautiful drive, and a yummy dinner at The Rock Inn. The elk visited our cul-de-sac on Sunday morning as we were leaving. It was really great, and we're trying to figure out how we can get back up there soon maybe with friends or other family members, too.