It's felt like a really long road....

These past 2 weeks have really been something else. First I had bronchitis. The coughs were so hard, long and deep that they tore my stomach muscles. At first I thought I gave myself a hernia - I actually felt something tear on my left side - so off we went to the ER. Nope - just tore the muscles. Not that that is any less painful. I've had my share of hernias and they are no walk in the park.
So the ER doctor gave a prescription for some serious cough medicine. It has Vicodene in it. Come to find out after I have 2 doses - I am allergic to vicodene. This medicine made me ITCH all over. Not just little itches. Big ITCHES. Then my tongue swelled up. This was in the middle of the night so didn't bother waking Russell. Not that I could talk anyway. I tried moving it around. No such luck. Eventually the itching subsided and my tongue went back to normal. I called the ER nurse the next morning and told her what happened. She said add this to my list of allergies.
The doctor calls in another prescription. "Please make sure is NOT a narcotic" I say. I am beginning to think I shouldn't go into the drug business of any kind. I wouldn't be good at recommending since I am allergic to the good stuff. lol Russell picks it up for me after church. The first dose seems to be going alright. Kept the cough at bay so I could get some rest. Took the second dose at the prescribed time. Almost immediately the itching started again. There is something in this medicine I am allergic too. Not sure what - but I am taking it back to the pharmacy so they can tell me. I have to know.
So for now - my cough medicine that is supposed to be all powerful is sitting by my bed. It's of no use to me. Back to the OTC Delsym for now. The cough isn't near as wet as it was. The phlegm is going down. My side only hurts occasionally now. Especially when I cough. Which I hope is getting less frequent.
In the meantime - my house is a disaster. Russell has done his best to keep things moving while I was down. He informed me it takes 5 people to replace me. Wow. That's a lot!

I got majorly kicked in the butt!

About a week and a half ago Donovan and Michael had bronchitis. They would NOT cover their mouths. Grrr......

So....Saturday morning I got up not feeling well. By the afternoon I started feeling fine again. So I went on a 3 mile walk with Russell.

Sunday morning woke up feeling fine. Got home from church Sunday and....

WHAMOO.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. The coughing. The body aches. The chills. The fevers. The ribs hurting. This is different than the body aches. Trust me on this. It just is. Did I mention the coughing? Oh, and the coughing. The never ending coughing.

Monday I woke up and somehow made my way to the couch. Nephi comes out crying. His ear hurts. Russell takes him to the doctor. Gasp. They were actually open on a holiday! He had an ear infection. He is doing much better.

Tuesday I wake up with my ribs hurting so bad I am beginning to wonder if this warrants a trip to the ER or doctor. We consult the nurse. Not much help. "It's up to you if you want to be seen or not. We really can't verify if the ribs hurting is a bad thing or not." No....it's never okay if your ribs hurt. Unless you were kicked by a horse or something.

So Russell took me in. Bronchitis. I am on horse size pills of amoxicillan for 10 days. Can't have a Z-pack because I am allergic to erythimycin (sp). They are in the same family. Don't want to go that route.

Wednesday night I took some Delsym before I went to bed and had about 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. It was pure bliss. Then the Delsym wore off. The coughing wasn't as near as bad though. Which is a good thing. I was feeling pretty phlegmy.

Life is so short....

I just found out today that a friend's husband is being sent home from the hospital with hospice. He's been battling cancer for a while now. He and his wife haven't been married for very long. They have a 2 year old daughter.
I know this woman though. She is a woman of great faith. I know she's poured her heart out to Heavenly Father many times on her husband's behalf. I know that because they were sealed in the Temple - they will be together again.
Life is so short. We never know when our turn will come or the circumstances that will surround it.
Give your children an extra hug and tell them that you love them. Give your spouse an extra hug and kiss and tell him/her that you love them. Life is so short to not take these precious opportunities for the good.

Update...
My friend's husband has passed away.

A thought provoking blog...

Russell, my dear husband has started a blog. It's called http://thepatienceofthesaints.blogspot.com/ . It makes me stop and think.

Now I must be off to make some pies while I ponder what I have read.

"Value" bracelets

In our church - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Young Women have a special meeting at the beginning of the year called New Beginnings. It's to welcome the new girls and to recognize the work of the other girls in the Personal Progress books. I wanted to do something the same yet individual for each of our girls. Something they would want to wear and be reminded of the values they hold dear. These bracelets are what I came up with. Each has an orange, green, blue, yellow, red, white, gold and purple bead. These represent the 8 values found in the Personal Progress book. I had each girl choose 3 charms to put on their bracelets to make it individual. I also found out what their favorite colors were so I could use the colors as spacers. I think these turned out really well. I hope the girls like them as much as I do! I sure had fun making them!

Lethargic I am...

I am feeling a lot lethargic today. A really long nap sounds really, really good. Too bad it's Friday. I have cub scouts in a few hours. If I fall asleep now - I might not wake up in time to pick up Michael and his friend from school. I really, really hope I am not catching what the boys have had in the past 2 weeks. It's a nasty virus that I don't really have time for.