Happy Ending!

Happy ending, indeed! Yes, my ice cream sundae was a "Happy Ending Sundae" at Friendly's this evening, but my blog post title means so much more than tonight's dessert. The happy ending I am referring to is a good part of what has kept me busy for the past week and a half.

The day after my last post, David woke up feeling achy and by mid-afternoon he was dealing with the chills. After about a week or so of fighting off a cold - a "run of the mill cold", or so we thought, we just figured that David was just coming down with the flu. Late in the afternoon I took Madeline out to run some errands so that David could rest in a quiet house. David was still in bed when we came back home several hours later and so I thought, for sure, that David was coming down with the flu. When I checked in on David he told me that he had terrible shoulder pains that ran into his arms as well well as lightheadedness and sweats. Since these symptoms are also symptoms of a heart attack I was quite concerned! David assured me that he was fine and he proceeded to rest the remainder of the evening. At about 2am I awoke to David groaning in pain with the same symptoms, along with a severe headache. Despite David's arguments that he didn't need to see a doctor, I climbed out of bed and dragged his butt (and Madeline's) to the emergency room.

While at the ER, they performed an EKG, a chest x-ray and a blood test. The EKG and the chest x-ray came back fine! That was a relief, however David was still in a lot of discomfort. The white blood cell count came back very high which meant that David was probably trying to fight off some type of infection. After scratching their heads, the ER released David with some pain pills and told him it was probably a virus. Of course after telling us to check in with our own Dr. on Monday they gave us all the worst-case scenarios....meningitis, lymphoma and leukemia.! And then as we were leaving, I kid you not, they told us "Good Luck". After being in the ER until 6am with a sick hubby and a sleep-deprived 4-year old, I was happy to climb back in bed when we got home but I was quite worried nonetheless about what was going on with David.

By morning, I could literally hear gurgling as David exhaled and wondered how in God's name could he *not* have pneumonia! Still worried about David's WBC counts, I called my brother Chris (who is a doctor) in New Hampshire. I played phone tag with Chris and left a message with him to call me back. A few minutes later the phone rang.....although I thought it was Chris, it was a doctor from the hospital. I was told that another look was taken at David's xray and that, yes, David had pneumonia! Wheeeeww!!! How bizarre, pneumonia can be serious but after all the worst case scenarios, I was actually relieved to get that news. Shortly afterward, Chris called me back. I expressed my concern about how in the world that was missed the night we were in the ER and Chris did tell me that does occasionally happen. He explained that some pneumonias are subtle on the x-ray and could be missed by an ER doc. The radiologist is probably who caught it in the AM however David's WBC count should've been a key indicator that should have had them take a second look that night (or at least listen to his lungs again!) Okay...

SO, pain pills and antibiotics....we can handle that! Yet, David's headache was so severe that even when the pain pills should've been at their most effective, they barely made a dent. This of course concerned me. The pain made David so sensitive the to light that he was now on day 3 in bed with the shade drawn, lights off and even the light from the TV was too much for him to handle. WHAT was up with this headache??? My poor brother, Chris....I hounded him in New Hampshire with endless questions. Also, David wasn't happy about this but I dragged his butt to our doctor's on Monday evening. After him enduring a nauseating ride with an excruciating headache (and a 4yr old that was still recovering from a sleep deprived night on Sat night), David was given stronger pain meds and anti nausea drugs that in turn, I think, allowed his body to concentrate on healing and letting the antibiotics do their job. Slowly David grew stronger!! Finally, we began eating dinner together as a family again. Actually, Madeline wanted to say grace one night and she said, "Dear God, thank you for making Papa stronger, stronger,stronger....now please put hair on his head!!" Okay, that gave us a good laugh, but seriously, I was very worried about my hubby!

David ended up losing a week of work as a result of his illness. The week off was due to doctor's orders. The doctor did warn David that he may not feel up to going in the following week (this week) although David vowed to work a lighter week. So where is he now?? It's 10pm and he is entertaining clients at the hockey game. Granted, this was a last minute fill-in on David's part (and why Madeline and I ended up going to Friendly's) but I am sure under the circumstances David's boss would've done fine with out David's assistance.

So, happy ending?? Yes, that was my ice cream sundae tonight. Happy ending?? Yes, of course, we are all so grateful that David is well and getting stronger everyday. Happy ending?? I think tonight it means that the happy ending will be if I don't kick David's butt for working 14+ hours today when he should still having lighter days and easing his way back into chaotic work demands. Seriously, David!?!??!?!?