Sunday, May 10, 2009

Cough, cough, sniffle

There are some definite benefits to being married to a family doctor. Free birth control pills. Twenty-four hour access to a medical opinion. The hilarity of watching one of your brothers ask him to take a look at "this one spot on my" whatever at family gatherings.

But ever since H started seeing patients every day, and especially after he finished building his practice - over a year ago now - Will and I have been getting sick. A lot.

It started last June when she had a terrible deep cough for more than a week. She ended up on two different puffers and an antibiotic for an ear infection. My cough got so bad I had to use the puffers too.

This fall I got strep throat for the first time ever. Again, the benefit of the family doc husband is that he could bring home the rapid strep test. The downside? Strep throat really hurts!

At some other point in the fall both Will and I had such deep coughs and wheezing that we even went for chest x-rays - which showed nothing - but back to the puffers we went.

I know all of this exposure to different illnesses is actually building Will's immune system, so I guess in the long run it's a good thing. But enough is enough. There is nothing more pitiful than a toddler waking up in the middle of the night crying, "nose! nose!"

I am also absolutely certain these upper respiratory tract infections are contributing to Will's sleep issues. Every time something starts to work well, the coughing/sputtering/congestion wake ups start all over again.

I am grateful for one thing. (I feel like I should whisper this, so the fates don't hear.) We haven't yet been hit by a terrible stomach bug. I'll take another cold virus over dealing with vomit any day.

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