everyone's sick!

I swear I haven't given up blogging... it's been a hectic couple days and I haven't really been able to sit at a computer until now.

Tuesday morning, I woke up around 2:30AM with a killer sore throat, which proceeded to turn into nasal congestion throughout the day. I left work early when my nose started dripping like a motherfucking river. My whole head felt swollen, and I felt like I'd been punched in the face about 83 times.

I slept from 1PM-7PM, and when I woke, I noticed that Mama Cat was acting strange. She had been laying in the same spot on the couch since I got home at 12:30, and she wasn't really responding to my calling her or trying to annoy her. She usually hates being held and scrambles for the floor as soon as I attempt any close cuddling, but when I picked her up, she just laid there on me and was breathing heavily. I immediately knew something was wrong. I noticed that she seemed really weak when I placed her back on the couch, so I decided to put her on the floor to see how she'd hold up - and her legs just gave out from under her and she fell to the ground. 

My first instinct was that something was wrong with her spine, so I put her back on the couch, careful not to move her too much, and called our local ER veterinary clinic. They said I should bring her in immediately, so that's what I did. I was a complete mess the whole way there, thinking the worst possible outcome was going to fall upon our laps.

Upon arrival at the ER vet, they took Mama Cat back and lead us to a little exam room where we were to wait for the doctor. We weren't there very long when the nurse came in and said that the doctor has examined her, but that she was busy with a few more serious cases that had come in, but that she had given Mama Cat pain medication to make her comfortable. I started freaking out a little, thinking that it must be serious if they're giving her pain medicine before even telling me what was wrong. 

A little while later, the doctor came in and informed us that Mama Cat had a severe ear infection. The infection developed into a 106 degree fever, which caused her to be extremely lethargic and weak. They decided that they wanted to keep her overnight, so that they could sedate her in order to shave her ear, administer an IV, and take care of the infection without causing her any pain. After paying the deposit on our bill (I'd rather not say how much... yikes!), we left Mama Cat in the hands of the doctors.

Because my illness had gotten MUCH worse throughout the night, I took off work on Wednesday and stayed in bed, blowing my nose approximately 174 times in one hour and coughing up funky, bright green, chunky substances. Sexy, I know. The doctor at the ER vet office called me around 10:30 and said that while they cleared up the infection in Mama's ear, her fever was still quite high, and she wasn't progressing as well as they'd like her to, so they wanted to keep her there throughout the day to monitor her and try to get her to eat. 

I continued to sleep, and cough, and sneeze, and blow my nose ALL day. Finally, around 4:30, the vet called me back and said that Mama's fever broke and she was looking much better. She said that Mama seemed really stressed out being there, and that she still hadn't eaten anything, so it was best for us to come pick her up. She thought that she was progress much better in her own environment at home.

I waited until Sean got home and then left to go pick up my Mama girl. Just upon seeing her in the carrier, I could tell that she felt SO much better. She was actually responsive and very alert, and she seemed happy to see her mama. I was so excited to take her home. The doctor gave me two different medicines to give to her, the first being an oral antibiotic, which I have to give her every 24 hours. The second medicine is the same antibiotic antibiotic in an ear drop form, which I have to put in each ear twice a day. She seems really happy to be home, and she ran straight to her food bowl when we walked in the door. She's not too pleased with having to take medicine, but she's going to have to deal with it. :)  It's crazy to think about how scary this whole situation was, and I don't even have children... yes, my cats are like my children, but I didn't give birth to her. I can only imagine how crazy my emotions will be when my future kids get sick.

I went back to work today, which I think was a mistake. I didn't really feel any better at all, but I knew my dad (aka my boss) would probably give me a load of shit if I didn't show up, so I sucked it up and went in. Sean started to feel the sickness with a sore throat today, so he called out sick and stayed in bed. I was feeling miserable at work, and wasn't really getting much accomplished considering I was blowing my nose and coughing up phlegm every 10 minutes, so I called and made appointments for both Sean and I at Urgent Care to get checked out. 

Surprise, surprise... I have bronchitis. AGAIN. For the second time in two months. Fuck. They also said that my breathing was really bad, and because I was wheezing so much, they gave me a breathing treatment in the doctors office, which made me feel like an idiot. They prescribed me antibiotics (Z-pack boyeeeee!) and steroids for my lungs. I'm hoping to feel better soon, but I still feel like crap, and my nose is literally RAW from blowing it so much. Poor Sean has laryngitis and while he doesn't have the congestion or the cough, his throat is really sore and gross looking. 

I'm still debating on whether or not I should go into work tomorrow, but I'm just going to play it by ear and see how I feel in the morning. I really SHOULD go to work, but I'd rather not push it and make myself feel any worse. We have a wedding to go to tomorrow evening too, and it just so happens to be at the same venue where we were married. It pisses me off that AGAIN, I will not get to really eat and enjoy the food... except this time it's not because I'm the bride, but because I'm sick as shit and can't taste anything.

So, there are tons of germs and infections and complaining going on here at the FoFandee household and that's why I haven't been around. Promise to continue our regularly scheduled program next week! I hope everyone is enjoying the first week of fall, and I hope no one is sick like we are over here! 

Happy Weekend!