Strep. Yippee!!

Snow day for 3 of my kidlings today. They go to a small charter school, the principal is from someplace down south. . . he's not used to Midwest weather. So 4-5 inches is cancel-able weather in his book. :-) I love Southern principals!!

Since the kids were homeschooled until this year, this is their first snow day ever so we should be celebrating. But we're not. Instead we're cleaning and disinfecting now that I'm home with older brother (who, being at another charter school, didn't have a snow day) from the Dr's office. This doodle is the one who catches every single bug that comes around. Not that he's sickly -- but when he gets sick he gets SICK. I mean, running 103-104+ degree temps for 5-10 days sick. When it doesn't include a sore throat, I don't worry too much. But blinding headache, severe sore throat, neck pain, swollen glands, and aching knees? That's a trip to the Dr's office, my dear.

And even at 12, the strep culture process is traumatic for him. He has autistic tendencies and has always been super sensitive to touch. Clipping his toe nails was a process that usually included hubby holding him down while I did my best to trim them, right up until he was 8 or 9 and old enough to clip them himself. Rubbing his back? Not happening. So someone sticking a swab down his throat? About 5 minutes of psychological prep time and 4 tries, including smacking the nurses hands three times and knocking his head against the wall. Thankfully she was very sweet (and reportedly has a terrible gag reflex herself so was understanding.)

Now we get to keep an eye on the rest of the kidlings (and my preggo d-i-l since they're living with us until their house is finished.) My son is pretty worried about passing it to sister-in-law but she's not that worried. She'll get it or she won't, and staying away from him at this point isn't going to make much of a difference. But what I'm worried about is the way it tends to cycle around and around through the kids. Sometimes they've gotten it 2 or 3 times before we finally eradicate it. Fun. I hate January for this reason. My kidlings always get sick in January.

Oh, and loved the Dr's response when she looked in his throat: "Where are your tonsils?!? How do you have strep?!?!" Umm. . . had mine out at 1 1/2 y.o. and ended up with life threatening strep/scarlet fever at 16. Remember when Jim Hensen died? Yep. He and I? Have that particular rare strain of strep in common. His turned into pneumonia, mine into scarlet fever. I was one sick puppy for a long time. Lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks. Hmmm. . . . Wasn't I just saying the other day I could go for that diet again? Maybe this is Fate! Come here and kiss me son! I need me a debilitating case of strep.

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And in bonus good news today -- I'm 8 lbs down from my last Dr's visit in December. Or November? Whenever. But he upped my thyroid meds then, and I've been feeling a little better. AND I started following the Weight Watchers point system this past Monday and seem to be doing really well. Not doing meetings yet -- don't plan to unless I see I'm not able to do this myself so I don't know where I started on Monday weightwise, but my face seems a little less puffy with eating healthier. And? I can take my pants off without unbuttoning them. Had to move my belt in one notch, too. I have about 67 lbs to go, but I'm excited about this start. With all the things made that are Weight Watcher's friendly because they're adding fiber (hostess mini-cupcake three pack? ONE point! How awesome is THAT?!?) this might be easier than I thought.