About six weeks ago, Josh got invited to play basketball in the mornings with some new buddies that he has made in moving to Windsor High School. He would religiously get up at 4:45 every Tuesday and Thursday morning to hit the gym. I, being the selfish wife, would discourage him most of these mornings. It was really difficult for me to get myself ready for work and Kyler ready for daycare all by myself (I don't know how single moms do it!). Anyhow, this week I had finally come to terms with the fact that this was going to be Josh's time that he needs to grow as his own person.
This Tuesday started off as many others did on our house. Josh got up at 4:45 and left the house around 5:00. Then, as I was feeding Kyler breakfast, I got a phone call. This was really strange because nobody ever calls me at 6:20 in the morning. It was Josh and he proceeded to tell me that he had hurt his Achilles tendon. He was on his way home. Once he got home, I realized the seriousness of the situation when he couldn't walk into the house on his own. Then as I was getting ready to leave for work, I helped him get to Urgent Care. I couldn't stay because I had 28 students waiting for me in my classroom. Then Josh text messaged me the bad news...he had ruptured his Achilles tendon and would probably have to have surgery. I rushed over to Urgent Care to pick him up and take him back home where he would work feverishly on getting into an orthopedic doctor.
My day at school went as normal as it could with the worry of my hurt husband at home. Then at 3:00 my office manager called my classroom and told me that Debbie, my daycare provider was on the telephone. "She NEVER calls me at work," I thought to myself. Then she began to tell me that Kyler had laid down for his nap and was "barking" a nasty cough. I didn't think much of it since he has had a cough before. At 4:00 when I picked him up I noticed that this just wasn't any cough. He seemed to be in good spirits so we went along our way. We stopped by the pharmacy to pick up some crutches for Josh and then headed home for our nightly routine.
Once we were at home, Kyler's "bark" was becoming more frequent, but it still hadn't changed his mood. We got through dinner, bath time, and story time pretty smoothly. Kyler headed for bed at 7:00 as he normally does. At this time, I had decided to sit down and write some substitute plans for the next day since Kyler was catching something and Josh was laid up. As I was putting the finishing touches on my plans, Kyler had awoken with a terrible coughing fit, and in between the coughs he would gasp for air. I called our doctor right away. She said by the sound of it, it was the croup. She suggested we put him outside and let him breathe the cool air, or fill up the bathroom with hot steamy air and keep him in there. Josh and I looked at each other, and then at Kyler (and the way he was struggling for air) and made the decision to bring him to the Emergency Room right away.
When we got there, luckily, there weren't many other patients. We got through triage...Kyler had a temp of 99.7 and his heart rate was 188 bpm. This caught my attention as well as the nurse's. We waited for about five minutes before they admitted him. In the 15 minutes that it took for us to get from triage to the next time they took his temperature, it had spiked to 103.4. The doctor came in and said he is the textbook example of the croup. Then she explained that it is a vocal cord virus that can make the vocal chords swell so badly that it can restrict the airway and that's why a "barking" sound comes out. They treated him with steroids and a cool mist treatment. The ER nurse looked at Josh and noticed that he was on crutches and asked what had happened. After telling him, he looked straight at me and said, "You know things happen in threes, what is going to happen to you?" Meanwhile, we were waiting and waiting for things to get better. They did after about 2 hours. Then at about 12:30 they came in and checked him again and made the decision to discharge him. I was relieved to finally go home and get some rest.
And rest is what I did. Off and on all evening and throughout Wednesday. That is when I realized something could be wrong with me. I was coughing, fatigued, and had a headache and sore throat from hell. I just kind of brushed it off as being stressed and tired from the night before. Then Wednesday night was horrible for me. I was waking up every hour, my chest was burning, I was vomiting and I couldn't stop coughing. 5:00 in the morning was when I realized that maybe I should go to the doctor so that they could give me something safe for pregnant women that would relieve some of this pain. As I was booking an appointment for myself I booked one for Kyler to be rechecked by our primary care doctor (the ER had suggested to). Kyler checked out ok, but when Dr. Ripley took one listen to my lungs she diagnosed me with pneumonia. She said that we couldn't do a routine x-ray since I was pregnant, but with the explanation of my symptoms and what she had noted she concluded that it was pneumonia.
We went to the pharmacy and I started on the antibiotics immediately. I was feeling much better even after just the first day. That's when Kyler took a turn for the worse. Thursday night he was up coughing again with a fever. Luckily this time there was no "barking" or wheezing. I called my doctor on Friday morning and she just couldn't believe what she was hearing. She must have felt sorry for us because she said that I didn't need to come in for an appointment (she assumed it was pneumonia from me) and that she would leave a free sample of a prescription for Kyler at the front desk. We are both feeling much better after the weekend, but still have to take it easy.
As far as Josh is concerned, he is not complaining (he never does). He is simply playing the cards that he has been dealt. He is getting pretty good at crutching around the house and brought up the wheelie office chair up from the basement and wheels himself about. He is still willing to help out where needed and has only asked for my help with a couple of chores. He amazes me! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband! Surgery will be tomorrow...but a long recovery is predicted.
9. I am thankful for Josh. I think that should be enough said, but if you don't know him, you don't know that he is the greatest husband on Earth! He treats me like a princess and pitches in with housework whenever possible (even with a gimpy leg). He makes being married easy! He is the world's best father and cares for Kyler more than he will ever know. For Josh I am thankful. (PERIOD)!
