Valentines from He..!

Have you ever wondered how you could spend quality time with yourself on Valentines day? Ever wanted to just lay in bed, snuggled under the covers, locked in your room away from your kids for most of the the day? How about spending the evening with your spouse surrounded by people who just wanted to find out what was wrong with you till 4AM!!? Then you want INFLUENZA A. YES! THAT'S WHAT I SAID! INFLUENZA A will bring chills to your very core and pains that you can't imagine!
Let me back up a day. Friday when I got up I started coughing, not a big deal, it's been like that all winter. But when the boys got home from school I started feeling weak and feverish. By 3:00 I had a 103.2 fever and was curled up on the couch trying to nap. Luckily, all but Ammon were napping too. When Michael got home I just crawled in bed and stayed there all night. Michael figured he'd play it safe and slept in Ammon & Spencer's room. Thru the night my fever went up and down, and by Saturday it was between 101-102 degrees. Michael bought me some pretty flowers and a giant cookie for Valentines day. But I was in no mood to eat it.
The cute little bear was from Ammon. He bought it in his class with "Class Bucks" he'd earned for the week for reading, turning in homework etc. He spent it on his Mom to get her this cute little Rose bear.
By 5:30 I was really starting to feel weird. Meaning sicker than I thought, about 6pm I took my temp and it was 104.5!! This is not a number that you want to see! I decided that I should call the doctor who told me that I should go to the ER. I said that would be hard with 4 boys, and maybe I'd be ok to stay at home. About 30 minutes later, feeling very out of it and the fever still hanging on at 104.5 we decided that we'd better find someone to watch the boys for us. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone home not only on a Saturday night, but VALENTINE'S SATURDAY NIGHT OVER PRESIDENT'S DAY WEEKEND?!! We started with our speech thearapist, no answer, then just started calling everyone that we had in our phones. This was becoming a joke. We were going to have to drag our 4 boys to the ER with us. Finally, Michael got a hold of our recently released bishops wife, Carol. She said her and Kevin had plans, but if we needed her she would watch the boys. Michael told her not to worry about it and we'd keep looking. And we did. No luck anywhere. We were ready to packup the boys and take them in tow when Carol called Michael's cell and told him to bring the boys over. My prayers were answered and we'd be very indebted to them.
We checked me into the ER around 8. I'm not sure how long we waited till we got back there. Didn't seem too bad. And I had a bed to lay on. Then the fun began. Blood work, breathig treatments, 6 sets of x-rays, some dude named Vernon laying outside my curtain that we nicknamed Frankenstein because of his moaning. The kid next to me didn't know why his mom called the ambulance...drunks sleeping it off in the walkways. A Girl found passed out surrounded by high school boys, this is what I call celebrating Valentine's day in style!! It's like watching an episode of ER without the extra drama.
They figured out that I have INFLUENZA A. Very contagious. I was so dehydrated that they had to hang 3 bags of salline to rehydrate me. I probably could have used another one. The doctor said that's why my fever wasn't going down, I had nothing to sweat out. Good to know. So, at 3:30am we headed home. The boys had done really well at Carol's. Except, Spencer got upset and crying and puked so Carol had to give him a bath. Sorry. Otherwise, the boys were asleep and I was ready for my bed too.

{post script...now Michael & Ammon have it too. It's been hairy a couple of days, but even after a trip for Michael to the ER in the snow, driven by a good friend of his we are surviving. Ammon is doing great, Michael & I are still fighting low fevers but are happy to be feeling better. Thanks to all who've prayed and helped us these past few days. xo}