House of Ill

Things have been rough around here on the health front. Addie has had some serious eczema from the dryness up here (Sean and I have regular bloody noses-ah, radiator heat!). Sadly, she didn't get that gorgeous Charbonnet skin. Nope. She got freckly, fragile, crow-feet ridden Irish skin. So, soap irritates her skin, and moisturizer irritates her skin (even 98% natural Burts Bees baby lotion). So, we had to do steroid cream for 2 weeks to get it under control and now we slather her with Aquifor twice a day. The doctor said to "bathe her less than once a week if possible." She also said that we already clean the part of her that needs to be cleaned eight times a day. Touche.
In other news, Gillian and Addie got sick the night before we left for our trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. In usual fashion, Gillian was miserable (at least physically) during our entire trip. I can honestly say, of all our travels to visit Nonni and Grandaddy, Gillian has been well exactly once. It started with congestion and progressed to coughing, then to vomiting and nausea. Just to be generous, she then passed it along to the rest of us (and by "us" I mean her own family + two others). Sean threw up all day Thursday of last week, and Thursday afternoon at work, I threw up on the floor of the lobby when I was on my way to catch a cab home (trying to get home before the inevitable flat didn't work). If you doubt how serious my concern that I might be dying, consider that I paid $30 for a cab ride home when I have a free train pass. Of my own money.

Addie threw up a few times Friday morning and her weird listlessness freaked my bean. I was stressed about dehydration. But, all in all, the vomiting was short lived- Gillian threw up for 18 hours, Sean for about 6, Addie for 1, and me just the once. The nausea persists for all at the moment. The doc said it is likely an adenovirus, known for starting in your eyes/nose/throat and working it's way down. All I know is that is was the most aggressive onset of any illness of my life that wasn't food poisoning. Thankfully, it wasn't worse, and no needed IV fluids or died. I have read about the joys of families passing bugs around and now there's four of us to share the love.