Bad things happen to good people, children

Having a large extended family is great on holidays and birthdays.  The horrible part of having such a large extended family?  Their deaths.

My dad has 8 siblings, and my mom has 13.  Each of my aunts and uncles have healthy amounts of children of their own, who in turn have 5+ children each, like good procreating Catholics.

Leo Saavedra, 4-years-old

This morning, I received a 5 am wake-up call that my 4-year-old nephew passed away from asthma complications. He had fluid in his lungs and they couldn't do anything to save him.  Over Easter, my 25-year-old cousin kicked the bucket suddenly.  These things come in threes, so I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Who's next?

Sometimes, I wish I didn't have feelings.  It would make going through life a heck of a lot easier.  Maybe then events such as these would not affect me so much.

When bad things happen to good people, it makes me sad.  When bad things happen to children, I just lose hope.

Winter Flu

When my kids fevers broke last week, I thought this flu stuff was over.  Of course, it was too good to be true.  It turned out my son also had strep throat.  Oops.  Then the flu started kicking my butt...

All weekend I was feeling pretty shitty, but Monday it was starting to hit me pretty hard.  Like every mom out there, I work through whatever hits me because there is just too much to do.  So while I was sneezing, coughing, snotting into tissues and gasping for breath, I kept on chugging.  Fever up and down? Psshh, whatever.  Night sweats?  That's what showers are for. 

By Thursday, I felt like I was dying.  Every breath I took was leading to a coughing fit.  I just could not breathe.  When I did breathe, it just hurt.  I finally admitted defeat and headed to the doctor. 

If you have asthma, you know my pain.  Apparently, my bronchial tubes were inflamed and not letting air in.  I was breathing heavy and not getting enough oxygen in.  I got to breathe misty stuff out of a little tube and got pumped full of antibacterial meds, steroids and some cough medicine with codeine. 

Yes, I feel a thousand times better.  I'm normal-coughing now and that is A-OK with me.  As long as I can breathe and coughing doesn't hurt, well, I can hang with that.  Back to work tomorrow!