In Sickness...

This has been our life the last 2 weeks.
I have no deep thoughts or reflections yet.

Being sick stinks.  A couple of weeks ago I got hit with a virus.  I was in bed for a solid 2 days, and the third day I didn't move much.  All I wanted to do was sleep.  And cough.

Then the joint pain hit. I have a new appreciation for my friends who suffer from chronic pain.

There was/is no place in our home with ergonomically correct furniture.  To my Albanian friends -- I'm sorry, this is not a criticism of you or your beautiful country, but you do not have very comfortable furniture (or at least not 15 years ago when this apartment was furnished).  Everything is angular and firm. What we would give for a recliner! The only place I could be without tears or moans was to lie flat in bed.

Then Ellie got it.  She had a fever for four days.  Our usually energetic, sparkly girl sat or laid around with a dull expression on her face.  You parents know how it makes you feel to see your kids unwell.  Even though she didn't complain, it didn't take an expert to look at her and know she wasn't feeling good, so we kept things quiet and waited for the virus to pass.  We basically didn't leave the house for about a week and a half.

48 hours after her fever passed we busted out and went to Tirana.  We felt like we had been set free into a world where spring had arrived.  It was glorious.

Then it hit me, again.  I shouldn't have been surprised. I really didn't think I had been pushing myself too hard, but I had heard from others who had been afflicted that this could happen (and recur for up to another week or two).  I napped more than four hours yesterday and still managed to sleep all night too.

Now today I feel better (the joint pain lingers, but is getting manageable with Aleve or ibuprofin).

A few months ago when Reni was sick with something he had picked up at Kopesht he asked, "Why did you bring us to this place to get all these weird sicknesses?"

Oh sweet boy.  Yes, we have contracted things here we never expected like scabies, worms, and scarlet fever... but we can get sick in America too.

We are grateful that Reni and Nathan seem to have been spared this time.  Nathan has been a saint in all of this and carried more than his fair share of the workload.

To those of you who pray for our family -- thank you for lifting us up in sickness and in health. We are thankful for your partnership knowing we are not alone, even when we are too sick to share our needs.

P.S.  We will probably never know what exactly we were struck with since we didn't consult a doctor nor have bloodwork done, but we do know that there was a confirmed outbreak of parvo in Tirana and our symptoms matched everything we read from the CDC. Yes, people (not just dogs) can apparently get this disease.  Add it to the list, Reni... :-)