Happy Easter morning to you! The children are heading out side to make the Easter moss garden, with crosses on the hill and at the bottom of the hill a rock rolled away, showing the empty tomb! I'm not sure there are any spring beauties blooming yet to add to the garden this year. They wanted to do this on Friday, but it was raining all day, then yesterday it was so cold!

      We must have been to the doctor's office more in the last month than we normally are in a year's time! And I will mention that they have been nice enough to simply call in antibiotics numerous times without us making a visit, saving us a pile of money. The most recent visit was actually not because of strep throat, but to get the doctor's opinion about Jason's abdominal pain, pointing to appendicitis.  Thursday night  2:00, I was up with Jason , checking on-line for him the symptoms of appendicitis . I had suddenly woke, and found him laying on the bathroom floor; I woke him wondering if he had thrown up or something? He'd had a low fever before he went to bed. He hurt so bad he laid down on the floor and then fell asleep there. So Friday we made an appointment, and as we figured, Byler recommended we get it checked out. We went home for nap time for the little ones, and I tried to get some house work down, and do laundry! It was supposed to be my 'catch up day' from feeling behind most of the week for some reason! Although we hated to take the children to the baby sitter, (still being on quarantine) Jason sister watched them for us, and we went in to  Aultman Orrville. We were there nearly five hours. Results showed a somewhat enlarged appendix, but not signs of infection. His pain lessened and the fever left. Something very similar happened a few years ago....pain at the same location, but we never got it checked, and it resolved on it's own. We are so grateful that it didn't require surgery. I will say it was hard for Jason, wishing we could've avoided all that time and expense.

       He is at church today, sharing a message that I'll have to listen to later. I never would've thought at the beginning of March that we would miss Easter Sunday. We can still make it meaningful. The moss garden is turning out so beautiful, and the children are having a lot of fun creating it! I used to make it myself while they watched and helped! :)

       I was so hopeful toward the end of last week that we would not have any more cases of fever and sore throat! Reality set in then when Eric started to run a fever. We were advised by Byler to stop with the antibiotics .Lehman was in on Sat. morning, so I went in with Eric. His rash was terrible then, but I think I made it clear that I was more concerned about the fever. I told him of all the joint pain Eric had on Friday. He cried about his neck, his knees, his shoulder...and he kept his arms and wrists tucked inward, because it hurt to unfold them. Although he had run a fever of about 100.8 all day Fri. at the office he wasn't really running a fever, and his throat looked pretty good. I was expecting him to find an infected throat, although Eric never complained about that.  Doctor sent us home with steroid medicine to control the inflammation, telling us to let them know if he gets worse. In a way I was concerned  that we were not replacing the antibiotics with a different kind, so I prayed we would know what to do.

This was the point in this long month that Jason found me crying, feeling helpless as ever. Eric's hands and feet began to swell, and his fever started to climb again. He wouldn't walk because of his knees, and the rash began to look less like hives. Marnita had told me about some pictures she'd seen on-line about a rash called erythema marginatum (rheumatic fever rash) and wondered if there was any similarities. When I finally got to look it up, we agreed that it couldn't look more like it! I also realized that a sore throat is not a sign of rheumatic fever. Eric had three of the six main symptoms that doctors use to diagnose it. Fever, rash, and joint pain and swelling, following a strep throat infection. Or two, in Eric's case. I called the office and let them know that his fever had gone up, and at that point Lehman called in a stronger antibiotics, just in case the one he was on had caused a reaction. Nothing improved it seemed until after his first dose of antibiotics, which I didn't get till Sun morning. I had waited to give them time to get it ready(we had a problem before, so I always call the pharmacy before I run into Massillon) and they closed earlier being Sat. night. My fault, and I felt bad, but there was nothing to do but wait till it opened the next morning!

It was amazing to see him improve after that. By noon on Monday he was walking, the fever was gone and so was the rash. I was anxious to talk to our doctor about how he was over the weekend, but he wasn't able to call back till Tues. It didn't seem to take much convincing for him to agree that it was very likely rheumatic fever, and was able to offer more information and support.

Basically we are doing all we could be at this point, and we need to be very careful that he doesn't get exposed to strep again.

Jennika had a sore throat by this time, her second time without a noticeable fever...so we put her on another antibiotics, not sure if her rash had been scarlet fever rash (I am more inclined to think that) or a reaction to the antibiotics! For the first time I asked her to stay in her room till she was on medicine for a day. It was almost funny how much Jen and Ciara missed each other. I had a hard time keeping Ciara out of the room. Mostly I was wanting as little contact between the one with sore throat and the little ones as possible. Bradyn had drank out of Ryan's water bottle when he was sick, and the result was exactly what you could expect! A very sick little boy! How  do I know I am stressed!? I am talking to myself an awful lot...and yes, I keep writing letters to my family. Thank you for your time once again, I do find it a way of relaxing I guess! :)

       So this is where we are at now, waiting to see if over the next few days we stay healthy, free of fevers! In about a month, our doctor will see Eric again to check his heart. We will pray till then that it was protected though this time. I finally found the percentages of effects on people that have rheumatic fever that I was looking for, and will share them with you .

Fever is present in pretty much all cases 100% ?

The erythema marginatum rash is 5%!

Joint inflammation is 45%

Carditis (heart valve damage) 60% (sometimes you read in half of the cases-maybe 50%)

Painless lumps under the skin 2%

Muscle disorder 30%

         Jennika will turn nine this Thurs. her golden birthday! We know we will have to wait to celebrate with other people, but everyone seems excited about it anyway! Ciara and I sewed her a night gown a few weeks ago. It seemed then like her birthday would be soon, but the weeks are going by a little slowly for us!

          It has been fun to teach Eric kinder garden. He is starting to read and spell. He is here in the office with me (was in a fight with the others, what else is new? sigh!) he is spelling words like fish, shark, and bark. How can that be, I thought he only knew short vowel words, and none of the consonant blends!

         I will end my letter with one bit about Venesa and Bradyn. About a week ago we had a strawberry dessert with our supper.

Venesa showed me her tongue and asked what color it was. I said it was pink. Upon hearing that, Bradyn stuck out his and said "Is mine blue?" When I laughed he said, "Is it green?!" He was trying to find boy colors. He knows she always chooses the pink play doh, and gives him the blue!  He sure learns a lot from her...even how to tell me if he has to go potty. I was happy if Venesa gets fully trained before new baby, but if he wants to also, that would be alright! :)

                                         Love to you all, Chris

P.S. The girls did find some tiny flowers for the garden and Ryan lined a stone path leading to the tomb with them. With trees and bushes and ever so soft moss, it is a pretty scene. Can't wait to show their dad their completed project.