New Year, New Experiences...

2009 started off with a bang. Well... maybe it was more of a "blah" than a "bang." As most of you know, Payton was hospitalized with a dangerous strain of strep throat. It started off with symptoms similar to a stomach virus, and since we knew several of our friends had been hit with a similar virus, we thought he would turn around fairly quickly. However when he couldn't keep down even a tablespoon of water, we knew he needed to be rehydrated... and quickly.

We headed to our local Children's Hospital emergency room where they quickly got us set up in the ER with IV fluids and medicines to help bring down his fever. But after 2 bags of fluids and several doses of medicines, it was clear that it was more than a stomach bug. He was still very lethargic and could barely keep his eyes open. So, they decided to admit him to the Children's Hospital.

Thank God (literally) that we decided to go ahead and stay the night at the hospital because his fever came back with a vengeance that night and didn't go away. Then, he broke out in a terrible rash all over his body that made him itch like crazy. So the nurse went ahead and gave him a strep test - even though he NEVER had a sore throat, or even a very red throat for that matter.

The strep test came back positive and they immediately started him on some heavy-duty IV antibiotics. After about 12 hours on the antibiotics, he started to turn a corner and his fever finally broke. After three days in the hospital, we were finally released to go home.

I tell ya... nothing can prepare you for seeing your child laying in a hospital bed hooked up to IVs with a serious illness. It was awful. But at the same time, the hospital staff were amazing. They were so nice are caring. I can't really remember much about the doctors, as they were in and out in just a couple of minutes. But the nurses were incredible.

So... after that adventure, we are happily enjoying our normal little life again. Payton was finally able to go back to school this week, and all of us are healthy again... for the moment at least. :)

P.S. Sorry for the poor picture quality... they were taken on Brian's camera phone.