The ICK.

I'm SO TIRED of the ICK!

Today we brought Emma, Micah, and Brianna back to the pediatrician to retest for Strep now that they're just finished with 10 days of Omnicef, a strong antibiotic. Guess what?

EMMA IS NEGATIVE!! WOO HOO! This is the first time since August that she's tested negative! Which is a good thing because we now KNOW she's not a carrier. Unfortunately, it means that every time she tested positive in the last 4 months (4 times!!) she really DID have strep and really WAS sick!

Micah and Brianna, however, both tested positive. I'd say this gives us an answer, but it doesn't. Not at all. Brianna did NOT just do an antibiotic. And both have runny noses and coughs. So even though we know that they just finished anti's and SHOULDN'T have Strep unless they're carriers, it's possible that they both really DO have it and that the last anti just didn't kill it off for Micah.

So now what? Now we do another 10 days of antibiotics for both of them. This is the FIFTH TIME that Micah has been positive for Strep since August!! The third round of anti's for Brianna. *sigh*. We're trying something else and adding another drug on the end of the antibiotics to see if that will help. I forget what it's called, but we'll try it... It's supposed to reduce Strep even in a carrier.

In a month we'll go back and have these two re-tested again. That is, assuming that they don't show symptoms and end up back in the office before then. And at that point if we're still showing trouble we'll be putting in a call to the ENT. It sounds like unless this disappears very soon, Micah and maybe Brianna too will bee losing their tonsils. Brianna's already had her adenoids out.

For now, we'll enjoy the antibiotics and know that as long as they're on anti's they shouldn't be contagious! So we can enjoy the Christmas festivities with family without the fear of sharing the love :). Here's hoping no one else gets it!!

Oh, and a few things I learned-- A carrier CAN still spread it. Wasn't sure on that one. But often they don't treat a carrier... In our case, it is a BIG DEAL to get rid of it even in a carrier because the other kids are obviously catching it and we can NOT have the kids all constantly sick! And even if they remove the tonsils and adenoids, it's not a guarantee that this will get rid of Strep. It can hang out in the larynx and other places in the throat too. But in my opinion... the tonsils are a pretty good place to start if we're trying to get rid of it! As much as I hate for the kids to go through another surgery :( It's still got to be better than being sick constantly.

One more thing. If it doesn't go away even after the surgery, the other suggestion is to pull them out of school. If they're healthy while they're home, then there's likely a carrier at school that they are in close contact with and that they keep catching it from. Since both kids are in the same class, this isn't that far fetched of an idea. I hate to pull them from school since it really is a great program and I love their teachers, I will if that's what it takes to get them healthy and to STAY healthy. We could also change classes within the school if we'd be allowed to. That might be something we look in to.

For now, off to more antibiotics, and we'll spend our Christmas break trying to kick this ick!!

(PS. they've had 3 different types of antibiotics and this is round #5. We did one twice, then a different one, then another different one, and we're back to the 2nd one again with some other 'added' drug whose name escapes me and we have to get insurance prior approval for... no idea...)