Thanksgiving Day

We had big plans for our Thanksgiving at home. We had brunch plans, dinner plans, and dessert plans with friends and neighbors. Elsa and Ava were so excited because they were going to be at each of their friends' houses throughout the day. Unfortunately, none of these plans came to fruition. Wednesday afternoon Elsa started complaining that her head "felt funny." When I took her temperature, it was 103.8. An hour later, her face was pale and her eyes were sunken in. She had a similar fever the week before that passed in a couple days, so I thought it was a reoccurring viral infection. It was much worse. Elsa was up throughout the night in misery. We called the doctor's office first thing the next morning and found that NO med clinics were open on Thanksgiving. Our only option for immediate relief was to take her to the ER. I didn't feel like her pain warranted an ER visit. I have a friend who is a nurse practitioner and called her. She offered to take a look at Elsa right away. She quickly dismissed an ear infection, but thought it was likely to be strep. She couldn't be positive because she didn't have a throat culture at her house. However, we got Elsa on antibiotics and she started feeling better right away. Regardless, we stayed home for the day so we wouldn't infect anyone. Both girls were sadly disappointed to miss out on the festivities. I took Ava to brunch for a little while and then came home to make our portion of Thanksgiving dinner. We then did a food exchange with the Stokers (their kids had the flu the night before). It was a little pathetic. Elsa laid on the couch moaning, Greta was sleeping, and Ava was playing with toys and didn't want to join us for dinner. So...Brian and I sat down at the table and ate our dinner together, which still tasted great. It would have been better had we been with friends, but these incidents always seem to happen with little ones. We sure missed being near family, and friends too for that matter. We are grateful for family, medicine, and overall good health. Days like these remind you of the things that matter. We hope everyone else had a happy turkey day.