You. Will. Not. Belieeeeve. This!

If it doesn't rain it pours, isn't that how the saying goes? With Brooke and Elisa finally over their chicken pox, we thought we were on the home run. Then Brooke started coughing yesterday, which very quickly turned into rattly breath sounds and increasing difficulty breathing. We persevered with it last night, though we were awake most of the time, and took her into the Emergency Clinic as soon as they opened this morning. She has Bronchiolitis - inflammation of the airway passages in her lungs. Her oxygen saturation levels were lower than they should be, so she got given a Ventolin nebuliser with oxygen, repeated a second time when her breathing didn't improve quick enough. Once that was in her system she was much happier, but had absolutely no energy. All the coughing last night has left her with sore stomach muscles and a sore throat too. The doctor says this is a side effect of the Chicken Pox, and he's seen a lot of it lately. The chicken pox virus lowers the immune system, and makes especially the lungs more susceptible to inflammation. Dr said she should bounce back pretty quickly from this (e.g. within 3 days).

Yvette dropped off Logan at the clinic while we were there. (I said I was still happy to have him today since he'd be a good playmate for Elisa).

Now here's the hardcase part.

As I was sitting there with Brooke on my lap, I'm looking at Elisa sitting next to Logan on the examination bed thinking "Why are her cheeks so red? That's not a normal flushed appearance. Before my eyes, I could see a blotchiness appear that was out of character. I leaned over and lifted the front of her shirt, and hello.........a big red rash covering her torso, that was NOT there half an hour ago. Excellent - just what we need. I got the Dr to have a look at it, and he says (since she's fully vaccinated) that it's a measles-type morbilli form rash. He didn't go so far as to say it WAS measles, but the rash is the same, just of a milder form. She didn't have any other symptoms. He advised isolation for the next 5 days, and gave us a patient management pamplet. He was such a nice Dr - I would totally go see him again. At least Elisa had the good timing to come out in the rash when we were already at the clinic.

So........I had to call Yvette and arrange for Logan to go home. I was happy to keep him, but the choice was hers. (He may or may not catch the rash from Elisa - nothing is certain). Yvette got Annette to come get him, and while Elisa was a bit upset that Logan wouldn't be staying the night as planned, it couldn't be helped. Both girls are asleep now, and I've a mind to go catch a few winks as well - it was a long night. I'll leave you with these pics from my DST gallery: