What a lovely week

[Melaine]

Last week was my birthday. That morning I woke up with a bad cold that immediately seemed to go to my ears which still have not cleared from the EI I had two months ago (or longer?). Then I get into my horrible endless coughing cycle. 10 days later I am still coughing up junk and have not recovered sleep-wise at all. I also had days of stomach pain that finally ended over the weekend that I assume was a cyst that finally popped or whatever.

DS spiked a fever yesterday and because of his history of UTIs I took him to get checked. Turns out he has hand foot and mouth, which makes perfect sense because our "vacation" (I use that term very loosely because we won't be relaxing or having fun most likely) starts tomorrow.

This morning I packed everyone up, sick kid and all, to get the girls to their last day of VBS. Only to have them refuse to go and turn around and bring them home. Now instead of having a few hours of time to clean up and have some peace, I will be dealing with them both in a bad mood.

I am either having bad carpal tunnel or have sprained my right wrist. Everything I do with it hurts and with a pre-walking 14 month old I am abusing my right arm pretty much all the time.

Today is our 10 year anniversary and we won't be going out or doing anything special. Next week for DH's vacation he is planning to mostly work on the yard. That is if we all don't come down with Hand Foot and Mouth.

I had a heartbreaking encounter with someone at the ped. yesterday. I don't want to go into it because I feel so emotional about it. If you are reading this, please pray for Isabelle; I will be haunted by this conversation for a long time.

Mainly, I'm just so discouraged that we are STILL NOT HEALTHY after a total of 6 months of so much sickness. If we go a week without a sick visit, it is unusual. It's officially summer and we desperately need some healing time but just keep getting sick again and again. I'm really depressed about it and am wondering what I need to do to get our family healthy again.

[TwinFoxes]

I'm so sorry. It sounds absolutely draining. Sending you healing thoughts, and P&PT for Isabelle (and thanks for not sharing something that disturbing!)

[AJP]

Hugs and P&PT for Isabelle! Hope you're all healthy again soon!

[hillview]

Oh Mel I am so so sorry. You cannot get a break. Sending PT to you and Isabelle as well.

[elektra]

You guys have had such a horrible time with the sickness. Hopefully you are all inoculated to every sickness known to man at this point!

[speo]

That's awful. I hope it ends soon for you and you can have a healthy summer. I know this is a bp ... but with DS2 I got carpal tunnel. He was a big guy. Anyways I switched to my other arm for carrying him and it went away. I was really careful also about not bending my wrist back. It was really awkward at first!! Anyways, many hugs. :)

[MamaMolly]

Oh Mel I am so so sorry. You cannot get a break. Sending PT to you and Isabelle as well.

Just what I was going to say. Hugs, all!

[marymoo86]

Re: wrist - is it inside near thumb? Had it in both wrists with DD and very painful. Took a couple of cortisone shots to resolve it.

There has to be some trigger going on in your environment. It just isn't normal to be so sick. Is there any possibility of mold?

Hope you get better!

[Melaine]

Re: wrist - is it inside near thumb? Had it in both wrists with DD and very painful. Took a couple of cortisone shots to resolve it.

There has to be some trigger going on in your environment. It just isn't normal to be so sick. Is there any possibility of mold?

Hope you get better!

Thanks guys. Yes, it is on my thumb side. I am just guessing about CT....it just hurts! The possibility of mold is definitely on my radar. It's on my wish list of things to check if we can just get to a baseline of sanity.

[infocrazy]

Lost a longer post but look up mother's thumb.

P&PT

[twowhat?]

Thanks guys. Yes, it is on my thumb side. I am just guessing about CT....it just hurts! The possibility of mold is definitely on my radar. It's on my wish list of things to check if we can just get to a baseline of sanity.

de Quervain's tendinitis. I had it and have known other moms (particularly of infants/toddlers) to get it because they are constantly lifting babies. Hurts.Like.Hell. I was prepared to go the steroid shot way to resolve it, but the doc I saw (bless his heart - he was just the doc on call but was so awesome!) gave me one golden piece of advice - use the "scoop" method to pick up the babies. Imagine that your thumb is attached to your hand (like when you make a "stop" sign) and keep it against the side of your hand when lifting a kid - in other words don't put any weight on the thumb or torque it in any way!!! It takes a bit of practice but is easy enough to do. He even said to tape it to my hand if I had to in order to remember. After a few weeks of using the "scoop" method which allowed my wrist and the inflammation to heal, the tendinitis resolved itself, thank goodness.

As for all the other stuff, just sending lots of P&PT!!

[Melaine]

de Quervain's tendinitis. I had it and have known other moms (particularly of infants/toddlers) to get it because they are constantly lifting babies. Hurts.Like.Hell. I was prepared to go the steroid shot way to resolve it, but the doc I saw (bless his heart - he was just the doc on call but was so awesome!) gave me one golden piece of advice - use the "scoop" method to pick up the babies. Imagine that your thumb is attached to your hand (like when you make a "stop" sign) and keep it against the side of your hand when lifting a kid - in other words don't put any weight on the thumb or torque it in any way!!! It takes a bit of practice but is easy enough to do. He even said to tape it to my hand if I had to in order to remember. After a few weeks of using the "scoop" method which allowed my wrist and the inflammation to heal, the tendinitis resolved itself, thank goodness.

As for all the other stuff, just sending lots of P&PT!!

Thank you so much for this advice! DH keeps telling me it's the computer but I honestly don't type that much, I swear. I will absolutely try scooping!


DD2 has a fever now. Looks like our "Staycation" really is going to consist of staying home. I'm super mad. :-(

[newnana]

de Quervain's tendinitis. I had it and have known other moms (particularly of infants/toddlers) to get it because they are constantly lifting babies. Hurts.Like.Hell. I was prepared to go the steroid shot way to resolve it, but the doc I saw (bless his heart - he was just the doc on call but was so awesome!) gave me one golden piece of advice - use the "scoop" method to pick up the babies. Imagine that your thumb is attached to your hand (like when you make a "stop" sign) and keep it against the side of your hand when lifting a kid - in other words don't put any weight on the thumb or torque it in any way!!! It takes a bit of practice but is easy enough to do. He even said to tape it to my hand if I had to in order to remember. After a few weeks of using the "scoop" method which allowed my wrist and the inflammation to heal, the tendinitis resolved itself, thank goodness.

As for all the other stuff, just sending lots of P&PT!!

:yeahthat: so sorry you are going through all this. Totally agree with this assessment and recommendation. Had the same issue and DD's pediatrician said the exact same thing about scooping. Took a week or 2 and ibuprofen, but changing the pick up to be the scoop method absolutely made all the difference for me. Same for picking up anything during that time, not just DD. and I let DH open all new jars just for good measure. Good luck!

[brittone2]

Yes, DeQuervain's is quite common in moms. I had it in my working days really, really badly. I have small hands, and when working as a pediatric PT, I always overstretch my hands. Stretching kids, holding kids on therapy balls, you name it-lots of strain on the tendons of the wrist and thumb. It is very painful if that's what you are dealing with. If you decide to pursue an evaluation, a physical therapist should be able to get you some relief and rule out anything else. I had it flare up after having my DS1, but it wasn't too bad with subsequent kids.