When it Rains

The last couple of weeks have been a real blast for That Family. Just as I got in a rhythm with my new running plan, I took a bit of a stumble coming out of the house. I have no idea how, and it may be a coincidence, but ever since then I have been having a lot of heel pain. It is a literal pain point (currently diagnosed as plantar fasciitis). I can push on a certain point and feel where it is. Since it hurt the same whether or not I kept up my running, I tried to keep up with the plan.

That Baby had her immunizations about the same time. She did pretty well. About a week later she started getting really cranky. This is very unusual for her. I was on high alert and kept taking her temperature, looking for a reaction, and so on. Finally she started to be a bit more like herself as we headed into a weekend. And for some reason she and That Little Girl decided to touch tongues at lunch time. Weird and super bad timing

And then, it just started a full steam downhill slide. That Little Girl started with a fever and sore throat, over the weekend of course. On Monday she wouldn’t eat anything but would drink a smoothie. Trip to the pediatrician and a negative rapid strep test left us with hand foot mouth disease as the only conclusion. It wasn’t until Thursday that we found out she had strep, as well, and were able to start an antibiotic. By that point she was feeling fine so getting her to take the medicine was a total battle. Since she had Hand foot mouth previously (last fall) it seemed to pass quickly and was not as severe as the first time.

Wednesday I had a raging headache and by Thursday a scratchy throat. Thought it was all in my head but stayed out of the office to keep them all healthy, but was really convinced I was fine and just had it in my mind since the rest of the family was healthy. So by Friday, I felt a little off and tired. I had to have blood work done that morning so I did that first thing since it was fasting. Right after getting home, I went out for a run and my legs felt like lead. I just blamed it on being a lazy loser plus the blood work and fasting and pushed through. Saturday I could barely stay awake and required a nap by mid-morning. By Sunday morning when I tried to run again I felt like I was moving the same pace whether walking or running. I’m guessing you are putting it all together but I wasn’t. By that evening, I had a fever. And the next day was a scheduled infusion. Ugh.

So I showed up in my oncologist’s office hating having to be there. I kept my distance from the other patients, because they don’t need any of this. My blood counts weren’t great, but I was able to get my Herceptin and since at that point all I had was a sore throat, headache, and body aches, the logical conclusion was that it was strep throat since it had been in the house. Z-pack and on my way. I had the infusion nurses pull curtains around when I was down there and scurried out as fast as I could get out of there. Picked up my Z-pack on the way home and took it as soon as I could. I was determined I was not going down with this.

I should have known. That morning when the oncologist was feeling around my throat, there were very specific points that hurt. By the next morning, I was developing full on sores. And so yes, I had the strep and hand foot mouth combo as well. Somehow I dodged it when it made it’s rounds through the family last fall when going through chemo treatments. This time, my blood counts were low and down I went. I had thought there was something wrong with my ear, nope just a sore all the way up and back in my throat somewhere. Above my front teeth on my gums. Roof of my mouth. Drinking water was difficult and extremely painful. Seriously, this was one of the craziest things. A few days into it, I remembered my magic mouthwash of mouth sores I did have last fall. Then they were caused by the chemotherapy drugs, but it worked all the same. It seemed to numb it up and help them heal a little faster once I started using it. A little over a week later and I am not in serious pain, but I can still tell you where the most severe ones were. Just two days ago I made the rookie mistake of having ketchup and holy moly. Big. Mistake.

Oh, and that running habit? I took a full week off and rested. Once I went back out, I was able to do exactly what I was doing before I started the downhill slide.

That Guy and That Baby dodged all of it.

So that is where we have been. Trying to get back in the groove. Taking it easy. Doing what we had to do literally pull us all through the last few weeks.