It's often said, especially this time of year, that if you don't have your health, you don't have anything. This is one of those cliches that is easy enough to understand, but difficult to fully appreciate until you experience the theory yourself.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with much illness in the Kilian household. It all started a couple of days after Stephanie returned to work. Abby caught the "bug" first, coming home from school with a little cough and a runny nose. We chalked it up to one of those midwinter colds the kids bring home from school -- No big deal. About one week into the whole thing, Steph called me while I was at work to report that Abby had come home with some mild redness in her left eye and a yellow colored discharge. By the following morning, Abby had full blown redness and drainage in both eyes; Momma was pretty sure that our little miss had developed pink eye. A visit to the good doctor was in order, so I made the appointment first thing when I got home from the firehouse. As we expected, Abby was diagnosed with conjunctivitis, or pink eye, and an upper respiratory infection that was most likely viral in nature. So we were given some eye drops and sent on our way. I kept both kids home for the rest of the week in hopes that they would get healthy with a little rest. Over the course of that weekend, Abby continued to grow more ill, vomiting in her bed a few times and running a pretty high fever for a couple of days. By the time Sunday evening rolled around, Abby was starting to feel better, but now Aidan and Steph were starting to develop some of the same symptoms that Abby started out with.

Stephanie called me at the firehouse once again on Monday night when she got home from work with the kids to report that Abby had developed a rash on her legs and tummy. She described signs that were consistent with Chicken Pox, so we made another call to the doctors office. Expecting to be told that we needed to prepare ourselves for oatmeal baths and Calamine lotion, it was the surprise of my day when the doctor told us that Abby has Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP). Despite my medical background, especially in the area of emergency pediatrics, I have never heard of this disorder. The doctor said that it is a fairly rare condition, stating that he only sees a couple of cases per year. We were obviously concerned, but after talking to my old friend Google and doing a little research, I have concluded that Abby's case will most likely resolve with little, or no, complications and that she will be just fine in a few weeks. We have to take her back to the doctors office at least once a week for the next 4-6 weeks for blood pressure checks and urine samples, as the most dangerous side effect of this disorder is Renal (kidney) failure. I will post updates as they become available.

As for the boy, he was evaluated by the doctor in the same visit that Abby was diagnosed with HSP and it was determined that he was getting the same viral infection that Abigail had. The doctor said that there wasn't anything we could do for the little guy and the infection would just have to run its course. So we left with office with only a few answers and no treatment for all that was ailing us. Starting that night, Aidan was only able to sleep for about a hour at a time because of the congestion and discomfort he was experiencing. This pattern continued throughout the week and by the time I got home from the firehouse on Saturday morning, Steph and I were both so exhausted we wanted to collapse. Just like his big sister, Aidan was starting to get pink eye. Deciding that we had "let the virus run it's course" long enough, I called the doctors office for yet another visit. This time, a different doctor told us that Aidan had developed a double ear infection and he ordered up an antibiotic. The doc said that the little stinker's fussiness was most likely a result of the pain and discomfort he was experiencing from the ear infection. After just a day-and-a-half on the antibiotic, and the baby is already showing signs of improvement. He was only up once during the night last night and he has had a fair amount of sleep through the day today. Hopefully we are turning the corner on this stuff...

In addition to the kids being sick, Steph came down with the same crud last week. She was wise enough to not mess around with it and she wasted no time making an appointment with her doctor. The doc told her that she was most likely running around with the same viral infection that the kids were diagnosed with. Despite the viral infection, the physician thought that it might become bacterial and so he prescribed her a dose of antibiotics. She too said that after just a couple of days she was feeling better as well. Other than being a little run down and tired, I think she's on the road to wellness.

So the Kilian household has been something of a science experiment of late. Remember growing samples of bacteria in petri dishes in school? That's the way it's been around here....I get the heebee
jeebee's just thinking of it -- Yuck!

I have a spot available on the couch in the living room for anyone who would like to visit. Any takers?