When it rains, it pours...

It's be an interesting last few days here in the Marks household. Wednesday morning I took Ben into the pediatrician's because his cough had gotten so bad that we could hear wheezing and even a bit of crackling - not a good sign. Sure enough, he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and an ear infection to boot. I was sent home with a nebulizer compressor, and prescriptions for antibiotics for his ears and albuterol for the nebulizer to help open up the air sacs in his lungs. Ben has to use the nebulizer every four hours, day and night until his appointment next Wednesday. It takes about 10-12 minutes each session for the medication to be vaporized. He's been a real trooper using the nebulizer and I am very thankful for that - it would not be fun to have to struggle to keep the mask on him for 10 minutes at 2 in the morning! =) And on top of all that, he's currently teething and just had one tooth poke through this morning.

That would have been plenty enough for my plate, but it was not to be. Wednesday evening I got sick, vomiting and having diarrhea. Not too long after the kids went to bed, I was going through another round on the toilet when my hands started to tingle. Within five minutes the tingling spread through my arms, my feet, my chest and even around my mouth. I was feeling faint. My hands started hurting bad, went numb, and I couldn't even move my fingers. My hands were completely paralyzed in a contorted and painful position. Kevin helped me off the toilet and onto the bed, but I could barely walk as my feet were numb and beginning to paralyze like my hands. Kevin called my mom who raced right over to stay with the kids as Kevin and I left for the ER.

I was scared. Nothing like this had every happened to me and I'd never heard of anything similar happening to anyone else. My mind was going in circles with thoughts about paralysis, stroke, heart attacks, etc and also hoping it was nothing major and was perhaps just some weird fluke. Although part of me knew it was probably no big deal, part of me also thought it would be a good idea to make sure Kevin knew how much I loved him and the kids in case the worst should occur. Kevin was a wonderful, calm support throughout the ordeal, but later told me he was just about as scared as I was.

As we checked into the hospital, I slowly regained partial movement in my fingers only to have a second episode of temporary paralysis about a half-hour later. Several times I almost fainted, I was more exhausted than I can ever remember, and at times I felt like I was in a fog and it was hard work to even get my words out. They hooked me up to IVs to hydrate me and to give me some anti-nausea medication. And then after waiting around in agony and suspense for what seemed like forever, the doctor diagnosed me with gastroenteritis (stomach virus) and hypokalemia (a condition of low level of potassium in the blood). Apparently, potassium is very important and extreme low levels can even result in cardiac arrest in the most severe cases.

They gave me potassium through the IV over a period of two hours, and when they did another blood test my potassium level was back up and I was good to go home, all tingling and paralysis gone. Fours hours later, Kevin had to go crabbing, but thankfully my mom stayed with me and the kids. I still had the virus to kick and spent the next day mostly in bed (and in the bathroom) and feeling very sore and exhausted for the whole ordeal. As of this evening, I am now feeling significantly better and hope to be back to my old self soon.

And not to be excluded, Abby began complaining of stomach pains last night, developed Ben's nasty cough over the last few days (thankfully, it's not into her chest though), and now has a fever. Hopefully, whatever illness she has won't develop into anything worse. Both kids are pretty fussy and are needing a lot of attention day and night. When I talked to Kevin last night on the phone, he thought he would be home around 8pm tonight, but I haven't been able to contact him all day so who knows when he'll actually arrive. Hopefully it will be soon! =) And hopefully we'll have no more "interesting" happenings around here for awhile...