The Swine Flu!

So, I had to post something about sickness in my house since it seems to be very prevalent this year...and by this year I'm counting all the days previous to this date a year ago. So, if we start with last fall, that would be the fall of 2008 we had numerous ear infections for Elijah, which prompted a visit to the Ear Nose and Throat doctor and hearing tests and putting him on 3 weeks of antibiotics. About this time I decided to take Eli off of dairy foods and put him on soy milk and keep him away from most dairy...well, since then he hasn't had any more ear infections. And now, the crowd cheers with delight because now the sicknesses will be away right? Um, nope. So, since then this is what we have endured:
Sinus Infections
Strep Throat
Bronchitis
influenza type A
HM Erlichiosis
Pneumonia
and in the last two weeks some unknown illness that has produced a variety of symptoms ranging from stuffy nose, coughs (with the need to be nebulized) and in my youngests case, hives covering his entire body.

So, a few things have passed through my brain the last 12 months. One thing is, boy am I glad we have medical insurance. Last fall, in 3 months we spent over 200 dollars in co-pays alone! I simply can't imagine how much $$ it would have been if I hadn't had medical insurance to go with the illnesses. Two, I love my doctors...they simply are the best and they are underpaid and overworked, that's for sure. It certainly helps that the one doctor is a friend of mine and our kids, on occasion, play together...but she is awesome and I'm glad that we switched over to her practice a few years ago. Thirdly, a mother starts to wonder - is it my house? is it the carpet? is it the Jones genes that I married into? (lol) am I not giving enough vitamins? am I not clean enough? are they not getting enough sleep? am i not washing their sheets enough? I begin to have doubts as a mother, as a caregiver, and when the illnesses fall on bad times of the month for me, my sanity is questioned as I start crying over another illness coming our way.

Now school has begun and so have our illnesses yet again...as I sit here watching my middle child battle some unknown fever with cough and stuffy nose I wonder - is it the swine flu? is it influenza? is it just a cold? And, what can I do differently this time to make the sicknesses go away? It's not easy being a mom, especially with all of the news stories telling of swine flu and how to prepare and how to keep it contained, etc. and with all of my friends whose kids, for the most part, seem impervious to getting sick. And yet, here I sit with yet another sick child.

In all of this, I am truly thankful that my kids don't have life-threatening illnesses. They are overall, healthy. And, as my child is completely grumpy and nasty to me, I can take it...