My Adventure With Pneumonia

Long post/long story warning

For the first time, in my memory, I'm looking forward to Winter ending. This has been the longest, most miserable season we've ever had. We have had every illness known to man. The beginning of December everyone came down with a major cold, except me. I was thinking how lucky I was because I never did get it. I attributed it to taking emergen-c like it was candy when everyone else was sick.
Come the week of Christmas everyone was well and I thought that this couldn't be possible! We may have our first Christmas with no one being sick! I spoke too soon. The morning of Christmas Eve I was feeling really tired. I figured it was do to stress and staying up late to work on some projects I was making for the girls. As the day wore on it became more apparent this was more than just fatigue. By late afternoon I had a fever, body aches, and a cough to boot. I had to push through because I still hadn't finished the hair clips I was making for the girls' stockings. So I took some Advil and went to work.
Christmas morning, I was worse. I was so thankful the kids slept in because I was so tired and felt awful. I had a high fever and my cough was getting really bad. It's a good thing I took video footage of the kids opening presents because I hardly remember any of it. Poor Garth had to completely take over breakfast and getting everyone ready to go to Meridian to visit with Garth's family.
While we were at my in-laws, my fever went up even more and I asked for a blessing. I'm thankful I have a husband who honors his priesthood. I was having trouble breathing at that point and the Advil was only bringing my fever down to around 101 degrees. I had never felt so miserable. I thought that I couldn't get any worse and I should be better by morning.
Wrong again. By Sunday morning, my lips were literally blue and I was struggling to breathe deeply. We decided it was time to see a doctor. I didn't want to go to the ER so we went looking for a clinic that would be open on Sunday. That is a difficult thing to do, especially on a holiday weekend. All the clinics in Ontario and Fruitland were closed. We drove all the way to Caldwell and finally found a clinic in the same building as my OBGYN. I was so thankful they were open!
I figured I had bronchitis again. I get it every year so I was expecting it. Nope, I had pneumonia and to top it off, a double ear infection! So I got a prescription for an antibiotic. The doctor also wanted me to get an inhaler, but it was going to cost too much so I passed. Garth's family was having their Christmas party that same day. I was really hoping that I could just stay home and rest, but we were all the way to Caldwell so I had to go to the party. I pretty much vegged out on the couch the entire time.
Later that evening I was feeling a little better and my fever had finally gone down below 102, but I was still having a hard time breathing. Garth's mom had an inhaler that she had when she had pneumonia earlier in the year and had me use it. It helped with my breathing, but it made me so jittery that I was nervous to use it again. However, after the jitters wore off, I felt a lot better.
Anyhow, the rest of the week I was completely worn out. I had zero energy and had coughed so hard I had pulled a muscle in my neck so badly that I couldn't turn my head. By New Year's Eve, Garth and Lizzy were sick as well and Jason was starting to cough a little. I was glad that I was better enough to take care of them. It seems like we are catching anything and everything.
Since Christmas we have had colds, ear infections, stomach flu, pink eye, and this week Claire has a sore throat. Jason may have another ear infection/sinus infection because he is cutting molars. I will have to tell the story of him getting his finger crushed in the hinge of Liz's bedroom door in a different post. Sigh...we can't catch a break. We all have major cabin fever and are ready for Winter to be over. That ground hog had better not see his shadow or else...