Feeling Discouraged?

Feeling discouraged? Get comfy, grab a cup of coffee and lets chat. At the beginning of November, I got a horrible stomach bug that landed me in the ER for dehydration, then the next morning, Kevin woke up with the same bug. The next week, Kevin got a sinus infection and Brooke got her very first ear infection. Two weeks go by of Brooke being on antibiotics, and she is still tugging at her ears, so we go back to the doctor, only to find out that she still has an ear infection. And, Kevin is still trying to get over his sinus infection. Brooke is placed on more antibiotics and she starts battling a runny nose and cough that sounds like a grown man.

This continues through December. In January, we rush Brooke to the doctors office with a 104 fever, are told it’s too early to tell what is wrong but that she still has an ear infection as well. She is put on more antibiotics. Then, less than a week passes and Brooke is still miserable, so we go back to the doctor and find out that she has RSV (which was the cause of the high fever). We are told that RSV can last for over a month. Oh, and Brooke’s ears are still bad. She ends up being on antibiotics the whole month of January.

As February begins, we are determined that no more antibiotics are going in her system. We meet with an ENT about Brooke’s ears. He says her ears looks horrible and that she should get tubes put in. While all this is happening, we are also heavily concerned that she is not making a lot of developmental progress. We decide to go ahead with surgery the next week and Brooke gets ear tubes. The ENT says her ears were some of the worst he has seen in a long time. Within a week, she is crawling, rolling everywhere, pulling up on everything in sight and extremely happy. No runny nose, no fever, no cough.. it feels amazing. She goes in for her two week check up and the ENT says her ears look great.

Then, two days later, Brooke starts tugging at her ears, and we know all too well what that means. She goes to the doctor and we are told she has another ear infection, but that her ears are draining correctly and we can treat it with ear drops. Oh, I forgot to mention, I have a sinus infection during all of this and am feeling pretty crappy for two weeks. A week goes by, fluid is draining from Brooke’s ears, her nose is running, and her eye is oozing. We go back to the doctor. He gives us slight relief that her ears look good, but gives her antibiotics for a sinus infection to hopefully clear everything up. (This was last Wednesday). Brooke immediately shows improvement with the antibiotic and everything clears up. Then, Friday morning, she wakes up at 3am with fever. Sigh, I guess it must be teething, give her tylenol and she falls asleep. However, she wakes up Friday with high fever and we battle it all day. It got up to 103.4 and we were extremely torn about what to do. We decided to continue to give her Advil and Tylenol and wait it out. Her fever finally broke on Sunday night. Sigh. Thats a lot.

9 doctor appointments. 2 ENT appointments. 1 Surgery. – All for Brooke

4 Stomach bugs (2 each). 2 Sinus infections for Kevin. 1 Sinus infection for me. (End long rant)

We are so extremely ready to all be WELL. To say that I feel discouraged seems like an understatement. On top of all of this, we have been extremely busy every weekend and work has been insane for both of us. Are you saying Amen right now? Can you sympathize? Discouragement.

As we were laying in bed the other night, Kevin was praying for us, and he started thanking God for a full list of things. At that moment, I felt a huge weight come off of me. I was so lost in a sea of discouragement, I felt like I was drowning and he gave me a breath of fresh air. He reminded me to be grateful. Just that small encouragement and positivity did so much.

I want to encourage you to do the same. Thank God for the good things in your life, and think about your blessings. Overall, despite all of the sickness, we have a healthy, beautiful baby who is full of life and laughter and is about to be one. We have great jobs that provide for our family and amazing family that supports us. Let me tell you from experience, you aren’t made to carry all of the weight. Give it over to the Lord, and focus on thankfulness.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. – 1 Peter 5:7