Sick Beds

In the month of January, our family was inundated with severe illnesses!  The Flu hit us very hard.

Sore throat, headache, high temperatures, body aches, and extreme fatigue characterized this year's Flu. After I recovered myself, I was a full time nurse to my husband and children.
We set up a "sick bed" for our sick folks. A sheet on the couch, pillows and the fabulous afghans made by my mother-in-law make for a comfy bed out with the family, under their mom's watchful eye!

We never isolate sick members in their bedrooms which may be the reason why the whole family was sick for the month!

Also handy were the wonderfully warm blankets that my Mom gave to each of the grandchildren for Christmas last year.
 The Flu morphed into a terrible non-stop repetitive cough that required a steroid and prescription cough syrup.
Much school and work were missed.

The sickest person of all of us was our sweet Natalie. She started out with the Flu which was bad enough, but in her case it morphed into a crippling state of being unable to walk unassisted. She went to the hospital twice, once in an ambulance! Severe pain wracked her back and her legs could not hold her up. My 19 year old daughter was using a walker and then even that couldn't help her. Her health was deteriorating despite the medications prescribed. It took two of us to slowly and painfully get her into the car to go back to the hospital for more help.

The Doctor diagnosed a nerve problem.  By God's Grace, ten minutes after receiving an intravenous dose of steroids, she was able to walk with her walker to the rest room better than in the previous five days! We were SO thrilled and grateful! Hope was reborn! She continued to slowly improve with her walking over the next week. An unexpected set back occurred with a case of the stomach flu in the midst of her recovery that cause terrible dehydration and impacted her other health condition. She was very sick for almost three weeks.

Today she is feeling great again and is 100 per cent!
Thank you, Lord Jesus!

Not everyone did recover from the Flu this winter. Many folks died. I appreciate the prayers for her recovery. Mom said to "put your hands on her and pray". Mom is a very strong believer in the power of prayer by the laying on of hands. All of you folks who think she is just giving you a hug better think again! All I know is that it was incredibly sad and heartbreaking to see my 19 year old barely able to lift herself to stand up while gripping a walker. I thought she might be paralyzed or in the hospital for a month. She required full time nursing care from me which was my privilege to give. Meg's help was invaluable. She and the kids spent time with us helping to get her sister through. Our patient could not be left alone. We put in calls to Greg for his opinion. This case needed consultation and moral support.
To God Be The Glory!

After the real Flu and its complications moved through, we were visited by the stomach flu!
We don't need to say much about that- the name conjures up plenty of unpleasantness. This went through our family and the friends who visited us on a particular day in an exponential fashion!

Nine folks who were at our house on one day became sick, two days later. This required some soul searching because I was humiliated to think that maybe my food made everyone sick! We plotted out the details to realize that some folks who ate did not get sick at all, but other folks who did not eat a bite did indeed get sick! It was discovered that work mates of one of our guests had the exact same illness and that it was severely contagious! This was a stomach bug that also included a fever! We went through many bottles of ginger ale and 7-up, both regular and diet.

Good health is a wonderful thing and often something we don't appreciate until we are without it!