aaaah... it's finally over!

Oh, thank you LORD! I'm so thrilled that I can send Kirsten back to school tomorrow! Last week was winter break, and she was sick. It started over that weekend with a cough that progressively got worse. You know, the kind that keeps you up all night because as soon as you lay down it decides to really attack you. Poor girl, she's such the trooper, she really is. She barely complained about her throat hurting. You just know the cough had to annoy her head, too, but she never said a word. Anyway, I took her to the doctor last Tuesday, on my day off. They ran a strep test & the initial results came back negative (the one they sent out ended up coming back negative as well). Nothing much was said except to watch her & let them know if she became worse.

Wednesday afternoon my Mom was watching her while I was working, and during this time she started getting worse. She wasn't eating/drinking much (this girl normally grazes all day long), was just laying around... my Mom even said she turned down some ice cream... CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM! (If you don't know, Kirsten would eat ice cream every day if I'd let her... and she's a chocolate fanatic!) When I picked her up, she threw up in the car. When we got home, her temp was 104.4. I really kicked in alternating the Tylenol & Motrin at that point, and did everything else to get her to eat/drink some. The next symptom to show was the runs... just so fun to clean up! LOL That finally subsided after a few days, and her coughing seemed to ease up some, too.

Saturday evening we decided she still wasn't in the best shape for church on Sunday (small fever), so we kept her home. I took her to the store with me in the afternoon, figuring the poor girl needed to get out a little, and the vomiting began... in Walmart, of course! She napped when we got home. My niece Jenny came to watch her that evening, and Kirsten got sick again. Speaking of being a trooper, Jenny really was! She cleaned up the mess so well... definitely earned some bonus babysitting bucks for that!

Monday (yesterday) was the first day back to school, of which we knew we'd have to keep her home. Matt decided since she seemed to be feeling better, he'd take her for a treat to go see a movie. I love when he does special things like that with her... reminds me of how much I've always adored my own father! Anyway, I get a call at work. Apparently, she threw up IN the theatre! Then again in the lobby, and again a few more times in the bathroom! She capped it off one more time before bed at home, but at least there was a bucket next to her!

Needless to say, I'm very frustrated at this point.

I kept her home again today, and took her to the doctor. Long story short, it's just a virus. If there's no vomiting today (which there wasn't), she can return to school tomorrow (which she IS!). Keep doing breathing treatments twice a day (we started that a few days back), and watch her temp. Most important, we need to make sure she's getting food/drink in her system. This little Peanut LOST TWO POUNDS in a week! She's too thin to begin with! She dropped from 42 (and some fraction) pounds down to 40! The doctor wants to see her back in a month to make sure she's at least gained it back. So, I'm happy, and she's thrilled. We all have been waiting to get back to some type of normalcy, and are glad it's finally here!


(Here she is reading a book at the doctor's office today!)