Snakes and Lizards and Chameleons - OH MY!!

For more than a year David has been asking for a chameleon and/or snake as a pet.  In fact, he had a choice during his last birthday whether he wanted a guinea pig or snake/chameleon, surprisingly he chose guinea pig.  Anyways, my son is Obsessed with anything snake (or cheetah) on Animal Planet.  We watch Call of the Wild Man, Gator Boys, and Swamp Wars whenever possible.  David says that he wants to take care of snakes when he grows up - he knows that it's called a herpetologist. 

This week I learned that Portland was having a Reptile Expo, so I looked up the info and off we went.  FUN!!  I'm not afraid of snakes at all, in fact, just before we were married, Matt and I had a Burmese Python.  We held snakes, chameleons, and lizards.  We saw a cobra up close (enclosed in a glass cage) flare it's hood and got to pet a 5-6ft alligator!  It was a lot of fun.  Once Nibbles "goes", I told David that he can get a snake/reptile.  I'm guessing if he's still interested this time next year...what the hell, we'll get a "new" pet. 

Enjoy the pics!!  I can't believe that I didn't get a better picture of David holding a snake nor did I get one of him holding a chameleon. :(  SNAKES ARE COOL!!!

I'm Not Dead, But I Got a Cough'in

UGH!  I'm sick....like ill sick - everyone knows that I'm already the "other" kind of sick. On Monday, I went to work and started a cough.  As the day progressed, so did the cough.  By that night, the body aches started.  OMG!  I got the flu.....NOOOOOOOOOOOO cuz I just got the flu shot.  Too bad it was only 10 days prior to this cough.  The Dr's say that your body needs about 14 days to develop the full antibodies needed to fight the flu.  DAMN!!

I barely slept on Monday night because of the coughing.  I sent my manager an email stating I was going to stay home, sent David off to school and I poured myself onto the couch.  Cough cough.  Dozing most of the day, increasing my fluids and just feeling miserable.  By Tuesday night, I was in it DEEP!  The body aches were horrible! Coughing was worse.  I was up most of the night. 

Wednesday morning didn't bring much relief at all - in fact, more misery because now David was sporting a slight fever.  Now it's me and the kiddo home.  I decided I was just too miserable, so I went off to the Dr.  I need some drugs to help me sleep.  GREAT NEWS - I DON'T HAVE THE FLU. YAY!!  Just a very nasty upper respiratory cold. Booo! 2 prescriptions later for strong cough meds (1 with Codeine to help me sleep), and we were on our way home.  David acted fine all day.  Didn't sport another fever.  I can barely take care of myself, so I asked M if he'd take David overnight to give me some much needed rest.  I got a text from M that night saying that David had a fever, bad sore throat and bad cough.   I was up all night coughing - that's awesome that I got Codeine cough meds that don't work!!    I planned on heading to the store early the next morning to get soft foods for David and new OTC meds for him.

Thursday morning, M dropped David off and said he didn't sleep much. David walked into the house with a fever (thanks for giving him meds), he coughed, gagged and threw up all over the floor.  GREAT!!  Once he was upright again, I gave him some meds and within 30 min, he was feeling SOOO much better.  I dumped him into the bathtub, he hasn't taken a bath in a couple years, but he loved it.  He said that it soothed his achy body.  Is this kid 77 or 7?  Anyways, I kept him medicated throughout the day.  I worried most about him sleeping that night. 

I
Need
Sleep

Someone slept all night - that would NOT include me!!  I got 4 hours straight sleep, but then I was up multiple times and just gave up totally at 4:45am.  So, it's Friday.  David is in the full throws of this cold.  Has asked to take 2 baths already today.  He also coughed, gagged and threw up again.  Poor guy.  I'm not doing much better.  I'm so tired, but can't lay down because the rattle in my chest just gets bigger and bigger and puts me into a huge coughing fit!  A friend of mine suggested that I call the Dr and get a new prescription of Hydrocodan Syrup instead.  It's a form of Vicodin in liquid cough meds form.  Well, I have some Vicodin remaining from my surgery, so I'm going to try taking a pill and my prescription cough med (not with the codeine) and see how I do.   If it's not any better, I'm off to the clinic tomorrow to see what else they can do for me. 

The Dr. told me to expect the cough to linger for 3-5 weeks...fan-freakin-tastic....NOT!  UGH, I'm DONE with coughing.  I'm done feeling like crap.  I'm done, done, done!!  It's a 3 day weekend for me, so I have 4 days to feel better before thinking about returning to work on Tuesday.