Thankfulness ... Day 5

I am thankful that Hannah has the H1N1 flu ... right now.

Thankful because it is this week and not two weeks ago! Although she is a very sick girl and has spent the last five days in her room in almost complete isolation, it appears that she has turned the corner.

In a moment of concern and/or panic, I sent Chris to Patient First last night with Hannah at about 9:45 PM. Her chest felt tight and she complained that she was short of breath. Thankfully her X-ray came back clear as well as a swab for Strep. The swab for H1N1 came back positive which came as no surprise to us.

Looking back it appears to have started with a sore throat at the end of last week but we assumed it was allergies because the fever did not show up until later on Saturday. Hannah is almost never sick so this has really gotten her down emotionally as well as physically. The worst part is the loneliness that has come from keeping her quarantined and it has brought each of us to tears more than once. Seeing Benjamin stand at the bottom of the stairs and yell up for his "Nanna" is just about more than I can stand :(

Still, I am so very grateful! God is gracious and His timing is perfect. Had she picked up this nasty bug just two weeks ago, she would have not been present for the arrival of sweet Clara and I would not have been able to care for her. In addition, His perfect provision allowed for me to have the opportunity to be immunized while I was in the hospital (which I almost did not do) but since I did, I have been able to care for her better without the fear of getting sick myself.

Our house smells like hand sanitizer and Lysol and my poor big girl is in desperate need of social interaction! She has watched about 10 movies on her laptop and lives for the interaction through her cell phone ... but these sort of days are not commonplace for us and I am grateful to be rounding the bend.