What a week

Exactly one week ago we took Rohan to the doctor to check whether his cough would require antibiotics, and the doctor immediately checked his ears. This has always felt like an empty ritual to me, checking children's ears no matter what the initial complaint, probably because in Appu's case it never led to anything. However, to our great surprise, it turned out that Rohan indeed had an ear infection. It was even more of a surprise because he was as cheerful as usual and the doctor herself couldn't believe it.

We went home with our bottle of antibiotics, feeling that this continuous sequence of colds and fevers and the like was rather vexing. S himself was still suffering from a dragging mix of running nose, headaches and general feeling of having been run over by a truck. The late night spent with the jet-lagged kids had not helped.

In such spirits we still were when on Saturday morning Appu woke up with a fever. There had been some cases of Hand Foot And Mouth Disease at daycare, so I immediately looked it up online and found with a sinking heart that the virus could bring 7 to 14 days of vomiting, aches, intestinal problems and general misery. I was therefore almost happy when I realized that I wasn't feeling that good myself. Could Appu and I have something completely different from the dreaded HFM?

Then it turned out in an exciting twist that I had appendicitis. Appu's fever wasn't forgotten, but he seemed better the next day - albeit troubled by my hospitalization. I had surgery and it went well, so we were happy. We were still giving Rohan his antibiotics, but not quite remembering why anymore.

I had a hard time feeding Rohan and ended up pumping milk to be given to him in a bottle for most of his meals. The first two nights where rough, but after a couple days I was able to sleep next to the children again and this was a huge improvement for everybody. I am recovering very fast, although unfortunately I am still unable to care for Rohan by myself because I cannot lift him or hold him AND he has a habit of kicking my belly :) Thankfully acchamma is here.

Then, today morning Appu woke up and threw up yesterday's dinner. My first thought was: "Great, now he can't go to daycare and he will be miserable here at home". That's because a mamma unable to pick him up, roll with him on the bed and have random collision around the house has been a big challenge for Appu - and a big source of frustration for mamma. However, when he vomited again, and again and again, we started being a little more concerned.

We went to see the doctor and she concluded that scary things are to be ruled out. It is most likely food poisoning or a virus (probably the latter). We are to watch for changes though, because you never know. In the meantime we have an interesting night ahead - will the antiemetic work? - and we can look forward to a new wave of barfing flu - who is Appu going to give it to first?

Anyway, I don't really think we are unlucky. That would be insulting to people who have actual big health problems. But it's not fun either.