Our Family Nemesis: Strep!

Uggh…strep, how I loathe thee. Strep has yet made another round of victims in our household and this time I think I just about lost it. For those of you who aren’t up to date on the battle of strep vs. Ouimette family here is a quick recap. Although I think this outline is just as much to help me process what we have been through. Warning: This may be a looooong post.

May 26- Olivia stayed home from preschool with a sore throat and fever. Fever broke within 24 hours so never went to the doctor, mistake #1!

May 28- Olivia’s last day of preschool’s family picnic- Note on door that said, “Your child has been exposed to strep.” I remember thinking, “Hmmm, that must have been what O had, but she seemed to fight it off pretty quickly and easily. Good for her. Must have been a mild strain.” WRONG- This should have been when I ran to the Dr. to get a culture because this strain, even when symptoms are gone will live in the back of the throat at least 2-3 months.

May 29- E very sick, extremely high fever, talking incoherently, dehydrated- goes to dr. tests strep +

July 3- Arrive at fabulous ranch with family and E gets sick again, high fever, sore throat, etc. Dr. visit in Panguitch, UT confirms yet another strep. We think that perhaps the first antibiotic didn’t kill it, so gets a stronger one.

July 24- Weekend with the Cox family, after our visit their girls get sick and Ashlyn was confirmed with strep.

Aug. 7- E very sick again. It’s on another weekend, decided to wait to Monday morning to go to Dr. But by Monday am he is feeling much better and decides not to go.

Aug. 24- Playing with the neighbors a lot and then they get sick with yup, you guessed it, strep.

Aug. 25- Starting to think all this strep around us is too weird. O and S are showing no symptoms, but take them in for a culture anyway. Dr. thought it was a bit strange that I wanted a culture since strep usually takes care of itself if not treated with antibiotics. But she is quiet when the results show they are both +. They had been reinfecting Erik and others. Another round of antibiotics.

Aug. 26- Decide to have myself cultured just to see. My test was -. Phew, improvement. E was in Orlando for training, we talked on the phone about him getting cultured when he got home, but when he returned life got busy, no culture completed…another mistake.

Sept. 15- O home from school with fever and sore throat, but she tests negative for strep.

Sept. 23- S sick with croup like cough. Strep doesn’t usually come with a cough, so just did the nebulizer and got better in a few days. He did have diarrhea and so we thought his sore bottom that started around the 26th was a result of irritation from loose stools….yet another mistake.

Sept.29- L sore throat and fever. Dr. reveals + strep result.

Sept. 30- Take O and S in for cultures again. O still -, Soren’s strep was all throughout his colon and now coming out of his bottom in the form of mentioned above. Another round of antibiotics please.
I have a theory that E had strep in the beginning of Aug. and perhaps reinfected the family so E goes and gets culture. Quick test is negative. Guess I was wrong…

Oct. 1- Phone rings, it is the Dr. the 24 hour culture for Erik showed that he was strep positive. He hasn’t had symptoms for nearly 2 months, so the strep was still living back there all this time allowing it to spread to the rest of the family. Perhaps my theory was correct this time...

Oct.1- Call Dr. to see is Anya should be cultured. Strep in babies is very uncommon, but not impossible. She says if she develops a fever, then we will culture her and to keep an eye out for yellow/green mucus and a fever.

Oct. 2- Anya’s nose begins to run, sleeps horribly. I am thinking that she has strep for sure and take her temperature every hour, but never a fever.

Oct. 3- Anya wakes up with her first tooth, runny nose stops and returns to sleeping normally. Hmmm, must have just been the tooth, or not?????

One of the many hats a mom has to wear is that of a nurse, but I am feeling like a pretty lousy nurse these days. All this strep has not only taken a toll on our family physically and financially, but it has started to attack me on a more personal level. I have been humbled by doctors questioning our living environment and hygiene habits. I promise I really do sanitize the house weekly and my home doesn’t resemble those of hoarders. I throw toothbrushes away each time, which is another expense that is adding up since we use an electric toothbrush. And yes doctor, each round of antibiotics was taken correctly and completely.

My philosophy prior to this incident was one of letting the kids’ bodies fight for at least 24 hours, unless they were absolutely miserable, and then consulting a doctor if their little bodies needed some help. But looking back, if I would have just taken Olivia to the doctor at the end of May when she was sick, this whole thing would have been avoided. Instead, it came in to our family and has ping-ponged back and forth. My main job right now is to take care of the family, but I just can’t seem to get this one licked. I have sanitized ever surface I can think of, including ever tiny Lego, soap dispenser, knob, etc. I made chicken noodle soup last night in efforts of enhancing immune systems. Now I just pray that strep will leave this family alone and health can be restored…now, time for my antibiotic.