Shingles

This week has been SO friggen long. Monday was a very long, slow day. Insomnia has been kicking my butt lately, I was up until 3 am and, just when I crawled into bed, Avery woke up :/ I could barely drag myself out of the bed the next morning. I made potatoes and bacon for breakfast, Avery ate some potatoes and eggs.

Avery eating her breakfast

That afternoon I was slightly more productive - I faxed off a request to our medical records. When we were leaving Korea the medical center said we could only be given an electronic copy of our records, I filled out the proper paper work for us but naturally the records were never sent. Pagi is still in Korea and was nice enough to call the medical center for me, they told her the records were retired to Ft Sam Houston.... After I faxed off the medical records request I put in a request to have the maintenance guy come fix our dishwasher, the dang thing hasn't been able to drain since Friday. I had to wash dishes by HAND all weekend, I'm not sure how I survived lol.

Watching the fish while my fax goes through

Cuddling 'Meow-Meow'

On Tuesday I baby sat Kristen's boys, she dropped them off at 10:30 am. Avery went down for her nap at 11 am and Cassius fell asleep in my arms shortly after. Conner was great, he played quietly by himself while the others napped. Cassius slept for a little over an hour while Avery slept over 4 hours, I checked on her several times to make sure she was still breathing. When she finally woke up I made the kids some lunch but they weren't interested, instead they shared a bowl for fruit.

The second half of the day was less awesome. Avery was really hyper after her nap, Cassius cried every time I put him down, and Conner was a little grumpy from no nap. I had my mom come over after work to help me with the kids. My mom was showing the kids letter and number flash cards, Avery said "8, 9, 10!", when I took the card she was holding it had '8, 9, 10' on it! I probably wouldn't have believed it if my mom wasn't there too.

My mom singing the Ittsy Bittsy Spider

When Kristen arrived to get the boys we ended up all leaving at the same time. My mom, Steven, and Avery went to my mom's house for dinner while I went to get coffee, put gas in the car, and just enjoy an empty house for a few hours. It was really nice to just sit and decompress.

Steven's second monitor finally came - his new work set up

Week 12

On Wednesday I watched Cooper as usual, this week was slightly better than last week. Cooper actually spoke to me and ate part of an apple that I cut up for the kids. Avery took another 4 hour nap while Cooper napped on living room floor until Mitch got off work. Mitch brought me my usual payment of coffee and told us that the baristas asked him if he was Steven Lyon because he was ordering my specific drink lol.

Cooper passed out on the floor

I had a busy day on Thursday. My mom was kind enough to pick up Avery and I after work and give us a ride to Meridian, we had a play date scheduled with Kristen :) The play date wasn't very long and to be honest it was mainly for us mommas, it was so good to just sit and talk with my best friend.

Avery and Aunt Kristen

Steven picked us up after work and the three of us went to JPs to have dinner with his grandparents. I absolutely HATE going to restaurants with Avery, she used to be very well behaved while we ate but now she's like a rabid animal. Avery made a huge embarrassing mess of corn bread and water melon :/ Steven asked the staff if we could borrow their cordless vacuum but they insisted on cleaning it up for us. After dinner we went to Steven's grandparents' house to relax. Steven nonchalantly mentioned the rash on the left side of his abdomen and ended up showing his grandma. The rash showed up almost immediately after Steven went to the gym on Tuesday morning so he assumed it was heat rash or normal irritation. His grandmother pointed out that Steven's rash looked like Shingles, which his grandpa has had twice.

Avery feeding her great grandpa's fish

That evening I nervously researched Shingles as much as humanly possible. The rash was identical to the ones I saw online but Steven wasn't experiencing any other symptoms such as pain or sensitivity to touch.
The next morning I called Avery's pediatrician, our family doctor, and the VA medical center looking for help. The VA guy was a complete ASS, I wanted to punch his stupid face in. Steven had already submitted the required documentation to be covered by the VA but the guy said it would be weeks to verify. How hard is it to look at his DD-214 and/or military ID and go "yup this guy was in the Army for over 24 months" ?! The VA guy was so rude about it to. My doctor and Avery's doctor both said they would call me back because neither were too knowledgeable about Shingles.

My mom picked up Avery and I after work for family dinner, Steven met us there when he got off work. Avery was having a slumber party at my parents' house so we could have a double date night with Quinn and Ashley. The moment we got to Dave & Busters both my doctor and Avery's doctor tried calling and I ended up playing phone tag with both of them for a while. Both doctors agreed that Avery was exposed to Steven's Shingles because she was in our bed several days while he had the rash. Avery has only had one of the two part chicken pox vaccine, she can't get her second one until age 3. Since she was exposed to Shingles she may develop the chicken pox, neither doctor could say how much protection the vaccine would offer since she hasn't completely the series. Yikes! Fingers crossed she doesn't get the chicken pox. Both doctors did agree that Steven should see a doctor because without medication his Shingles would be a long drawn out process.

Making corn bread

We tried to enjoy our date night but the whole Shingles/Chicken pox thing was putting a damper on the evening. We were only at D&B for two hours before Steven started feeling really bad - out of nowhere he got a massive head ache, abdominal, and back pain. We ended up looking for an urgent care that was open at 8:30 pm on a Friday night. The only one that was still open was in Eagle, Steven wasn't feeling well enough to drive so he was in charge of navigation. Stupid Google Maps ended up taking us to a completely different location nowhere near the urgent care, we had to back track quite a bit :/ Steven was seen right away when we got there, the doctor confirmed it was Shingles, she prescribed pain pills and antibiotics. We were really lucky that the only pharmacy still open was right across the street. We were unlucky in the fact that Steven has no insurance so the urgent care visit, pain pills, and antibiotics were all out of pocket - the pills alone were over $200 :( so we are officially poor for the time being.

Steven and I enjoying our night before the pain set in

I asked the doctor if I needed to keep Avery away from Steven but the doctor said that Steven has been contagious since Monday which is friggen awesome. Avery has been in our bed every morning this week and Steven sleeps shirtless :/ The doctor said there is no point in keeping them separated because at this point she's been exposed to his Shingles for nearly a week. Steven and I had to call Mitch and Kristen because their kids were at our house this week and therefore also exposed. We had no clue Steven had Shingles but that doesn't make me feel any less awful about putting their children at risk of chicken pox :/

The weekend was a very difficult one. I picked up Avery on Saturday afternoon and the three of us spent the day watching the first season of Breaking Bad and having a Harry Potter marathon. Steven was in a LOT of pain which was tough to watch. I stayed up crying most of that night because Steven was whimpering in his sleep. Any time I actually fell asleep I had a nightmare that Steven had a really high fever so I kept waking up to feel his forehead, it was a rough night.

Sunday was no better, Avery woke up really early. I wanted Steven to sleep as long as possible so we did quiet activities until 10 am when Avery asked for a nap. I went back to bed after she went down and thankfully we slept until 1 pm. When I woke up I realized Steven was gone and freaked out. He came home a few minutes later, he had managed to go to the store for food, but admitted that it was a huge mistake. It turns out diet plays a big role in Shingles pain - anything fatty or sugary increases the pain experienced. Steven got some healthy snacks to munch on to try and reduce his pain level.

That day Avery was being way too rambunctious for us. Steven had a horrible migraine, I was exhausted, and she had cabin fever - it was not a good mix. Yvette came by and picked up Avery for a sleep over. Yvette has a little two-seater truck so she took our Durango for the night. Avery and Yvette went to Steven's grandparents' house for dinner them back to her house for the evening.

Steven and I spent our evening on the couch. Steven's migraine was only getting worse and we discussed going to the ER. I had Steven lay down on the couch, kept the room quiet and dark, and put an ice pack on his head to try and relieve the pain. I sat on the other couch watching his every move and feeling completely helpless. The doctor informed us that most people who receive antibiotics within 48 hours of a Shingles outbreak will experience pain for 3-5 weeks. Steven didn't get antibiotics for a week so the doctor said it could be months before his pain completely disappears. I'm not sure I can watch him suffer for that long :/

My poor husband

Avery Quinn - 19 months