Mastitis Update

The good news is that I survived our company, both on Friday night and today. The bad news is that I really am not any better, and I certainly wasn't thrilling company. In fact, I had to go upstairs a few times to lie down today. But hey--no one is coming to see me, right?! They want to see Anna, and fortunately she is just fine! Last night at the Bible study potluck, Christine told me she had mastitis with all 4 of hers, so she couldn't believe that I hadn't canceled! We all have to eat though . . . As we were talking, she noticed I was shivering, and she ordered me to bed! We compromised, and I lay on the couch under a blanket. How ironic that on what must be one of our busiest social weekends of the year, I am feeling my absolute worst! I'm not planning on going to church tomorrow either. How funny--I went to church 5 days after delivering, but mastitis 3 weeks later is keeping me away.

The problem is that I can't keep my temperature down. I'm taking 800 mg of Motrin about every 8 hours or so, with 1000 mg Tylenol midway, but my temperature keeps coming up after about 3 hours. I get a huge headache, chills, etc., and I end up in bed in my fleece nightshirt surrounded by warm rice bags in an attempt to stop shaking. Eventually I fall asleep, and then some time later, I awaken absolutely drenched in sweat with the fever broken. I'm still pretty sore, so my guess is that the antibiotic I'm taking is just not working very quickly. Since I am allergic to penicillin and am nursing, that really limits what I can take. I've played around with the intervals between the Motrin and the Tylenol, but I can't stop the fever. Frustrating.

We had a great time (well, those of us who were well!) today with Bob's sister Ann, her husband Wally, and their adult daughter Christi. Bob and the boys played Power with Wally, everyone played Skip-Bo, and of course, Anna was passed around whenever she was awake. Christi won Jonathan's heart because she tirelessly read tons of books to him and Caleb. After all our days of sunshine, today it poured down rain pretty steadily. I had hoped people could go outside some, but that didn't happen! I'm hoping that they, as well as others in Bob's family, come back again soon to visit when I'm feeling totally healthy.