Sick Children and a Visit to the Vet

It all started Saturday night. Leah woke up in the middle of the night with a fever. Fortunately, she took ibuprofen and went back to sleep. She stayed in the bed (well, our bed) all day Sunday, watching tv and coloring. She was a super patient. Also on Sunday Clay began complaining with an earache and we had company for dessert. By Monday, Leah was better, she still laid around all day but did not have fever. Clay's ear was worse. I called my brother (an ENT dr.) and he diagnosed him with swimmer's ear and prescribed ear drops. Monday night we had company for supper--our preacher and his wife and daughter and our visiting preacher. Clay was up most of Monday night with his ear hurting too badly to lie down or sleep, in spite of taking ibuprofen. So Tuesday morning I took him to my brother's clinic for an exam. I figured he must have an inner ear infection since it hurt so badly. It turned out to be external, just like we had originally thought. Today, Clay has felt much better.......but Sam woke up today burning with fever! He is not the super patient that Leah is. He was not content to lie in bed all day watching tv! He actually never watches tv. I have held him all day. I did as much as I could walking around with him, but he is heavy, so we spent most of the day in the rocking chair. Sam DOES NOT take medicine well, so he has to just suffer. That is actually an understatement. Sam has NEVER in his life kept any kind of medicine down. He will take the medicine, but will throw it all up within 10 seconds. It happened again today. He drank 1 tsp. of grape motrin, then 5 seconds later......yuk! Thankfully he has been seriously sick only one time. He had an ear infection and I requested an antibiotic shot. I knew that there was no way he could keep down 10 days of the pink stuff.

To add even more interest to the day, I was scheduled to take 3 of our (4) dogs and our cat to the vet for their annual checkups. I had originally planned to take 2 pets yesterday and 2 today, but since I had to take Clay to the dr. yesterday plus I had an appointment also yesterday at the foot center (picking up the orthotics for my running shoes) I had to reschedule to take all 4 today. What an adventure! I took Olivia and Clay with me to help herd them all in. Two of the dogs are yard dogs which means they have no leash training! Lilly, our inside dog, does a little better on a leash, but does not get along with the other dogs, especially in close quarters like inside the truck! The cat was on the verge of a nervous breakdown between riding with 3 dogs, two of which are very large, and being forced into the pet carrier. The cat never goes outside except for the yearly visit to the vet. The vet reported that she threw up during the exam. (must be kin to Sam!). I am sure it was stress! The ride to and from the vet was thrilling! Lucky (80 lbs.) trampled Sam trying to get to the windshield to see out. The cat was crying pitifully. Lilly (25 lbs.) rode in my lap. Olivia had the cat carrier in her lap, Lucky in her lap (after I sent him to the back after making Sam cry), and Ribsy (56 lbs.) trying to get in her lap. I could not even see Olivia's face. Clay thought it was all great fun! I was just glad to get home. I opened the truck door and got out of the way before I was knocked down by escaping dogs.

What a day!