Of Broken Noses and Cold Cereal Dinners

Summer is ending and what a ride it's been!  Although it's been fun, I hope we are never this over-busy again.  I would like to have some time to just be bored.

Gymanstics, Parkour, piano lessons, art camp, art lessons, soccer games, soccer camp, family visits, scouts, Eagle project, swimming lessons, marathon, half marathon, 10K, and (hopefully) a triathlon, lawn mowing at Grandparents' properties, putting in a playhouse, putting in a paver pathway , scout camp, cancer camp (Jeff's the camp doc), bike races ("rides")...am I missing anything?

I wish I could recount it all, but it'd take too long.  I haven't even blogged about our Ukraine/Paris trip!  That's on my to-do list.  

Last week we hosted two great guys (Nathan & Rhys) from Wales who had come to coach our kids (and other kids) at an all-day all-week soccer camp.  They were easy to have around and were very gracious.  While they were here, my kids were either recovering, in the midst of, or getting sick with flu-like symptoms.  The day the coaches left, the disease hit me. Hard. Four days later, still with my fever, aches, chills, cough, laryngitis, and an excruciatingly painful sore throat and ears, Jeff left for the week to float the Salmon river with River Discovery - a camp for teens w/cancer.  We dropped him off Wednesday at 11am at the Idaho Falls airport, to be flown by a private pilot who is part of Angel Flight (they volunteer their plane and piloting time for things like this).  My kids, especially Oliver, have been badgering me all summer to take them to IJump, and indoor trampoline park in Idaho Falls.  Since we were in Idaho Falls already, I figured I could sit and watch them in my fevered state, so we went.  Within five, maybe ten minutes, disaster struck.
 Sam was showing me a double front flip into the foam pit, and he sort of went in wrong, and came up with a panicked and shocked look on his face - and a whole lot of blood.

We got to the bathroom sink to clean it up and spent another 10 minutes holding his nose to make it stop bleeding.  I texted Jeff, who must have been in the air by then, who sent me contact information for Dallin, a very good friend and PA that works with Jeff and was in the Idaho Falls office that day.  Dallin said to bring Sam in, so I gathered the kids off the tramps and into the car, found the office (my first time at Jeff's IF office, and Jeff wasn't even there!), and managed to explain to Dallin in my croaking laryngitis fevered state what had happened.

Dallin checked the nose, which was too swollen to really tell what was going on, gave Sam some ibuprofen and ice, and said to bring him back the next day when the swelling would be down (and Dallin would be in our Rexburg office).  

Back at home that night, Sam was doing better, I was doing worse and when I went to ask my dad for a blessing he was too sick himself to even talk straight.  My poor dad has been as sick as me.  So I called our neighbors for help and was given a priesthood blessing to assist in healing.  I loved the words in the blessing that I would "eventually" get better.  Well, that's better than the alternative! Better than never getting better!  :)

Yesterday (the next day) I took Sam back to Dallin.  He looked at it again, then said he'd like to call me back later after consulting with an ENT doc.   When he called later, I could barely talk through my sore throat and laryngitis.  We managed a conversation and decided that although it's most likely fractured, we wouldn't do anything since Sam's nose is still straight (we opted not to get an x-ray since it wouldn't change our treatment - ice and ibuprofen).  While on the phone, Dallin suggested he call in an antibiotic prescription for me since I wasn't getting better and was actually getting worse.  I thanked him for filling in for Jeff and he said Jeff would do the same for him.  It's so nice to have good people around.

My kids have been so good to let me sleep as much as I can.  For someone who normally gets up to workout at 5:30am, it's been an adjustment to drag myself out of bed at 10am just to go back for a nap at noon!  No working out, that's for sure.  I'm a little concerned since I have a triathlon next Saturday.  I think I'm getting better, but I've said that every day this week.  The real test is evening.  Hopefully I really am getting better.  

My neighbor and friend brought me bread and homemade jam (bless her!), and my sister-in-law Jill has offered repeatedly to help (thank you!) and my mom has taken the kids so I can sleep (I can't thank you enough!), but other than that I've been self-quarantiened and am beginning to feel the loneliness of it all.  Maybe I am getting better, because when I'm so sick I don't even think about anything except if I can manage pouring milk for our cold cereal dinner and letting the kids have cookies for breakfast and being thankful for television.  Meanwhile we've continued going to soccer games (thank you, ibuprofen and tylenol) and mowing lawns (one more to go today).  I even made a trip to the store (kind of hard to pour milk for cold cereal dinners when you don't have any milk).  

Jeff comes home Tuesday (I miss him!).  By then I'm sure I'll be well again.  I told a friend that we always get sick (or someone breaks their nose) when Jeff's gone.  Honestly, I don't plan it that way, but that's what happens.  He's out of cell phone range, which is for the best - there's nothing he could do and there's no point in worrying him.  It'll all be a dim memory when he comes home.  And if I delete this post, even I may forget this whole week ever happened.  :)

Addendum:  It's a few days later.  Jeff came home from camp yesterday and diagnosed me as having parainfluenza followed by secondary pneumonia.  Well, it's validating to know I felt/feel awful for a reason!  But I'm now on the mend and just so relieved Jeff is home.