When Joseph gets sick, he gets really, really sick!

Last year about this time Joseph got an ear infection.  We took him in to the doctor and got him a prescription.  The first day he seemed really difficult, he was quick to get angry and when he got mad he threw things around.  We thought he was just tired from his sleepless night with an ear ache. The second day, Richard and I went to Idaho Falls to do some shopping and we got a phone call from Adrienne who was watching the kiddos.  She told us that Joseph was being really mean and violent.  We dropped everything and hurried home.  He had torn his room apart, all his bedding was on the floor, toys were strewn everywhere, it was a disaster, more so than usual!  We hurried over to the doctor's office with Joseph and asked to talk to the PA.  She came out to see us and we told her we were worried about Joseph having a bad reaction to the amoxicillin.  She said she had never heard of that before, but quickly gave us another Rx.  He took that one and settled down immediately.  Later that night Richard and I were talking and we remembered vaguely a similar experience when Joseph was just a couple of years old.  He was given amoxicillin and became crazy.   I decided to blog about this experience so we don't ever forget that Joseph cannot take that when he is sick. Funny, this is not listed as a possible side effect of the drug!

We took Annalina out to dinner for her Birthday this year.  When we got home Joseph got pretty lethargic.  Over the past week he had been waking up with terrible nightmares and he would come climb into bed with us.  He has vivid bad dreams, but I hoped it was a passing thing.  Well, on Annalina's birthday he went to bed early but came upstairs 45 minutes later. He was incoherent but was trying to talk to me.  It was obvious he was still asleep. He finally was able to tell me that Daddy was mad and kept yelling at him.  I explained that Daddy was not even home and that is when I realized my little guy was not waking up.  It had been a long few nights of having Joseph crawl in between us, so I made up a bed by the Christmas Tree and put Joseph to bed there. I sat in the love seat reading until Richard came home.  Several times Joseph sat up shivering and crying that people were yelling at him and they wouldn't stop. It was heartbreaking to see him so scared and not be able to help.  Each time I did my best to wake him up and explain I was there with him.  Then I put him back down and sat with him until he was asleep. When Richard got home, we took his temperature and sure enough it was about 102.  Poor guy.  We brought him to sleep with us again and he only woke up one more time shivering with bad dreams.  We kept him home from school the next day and then he seemed to be doing much better.  The dreams have subsided for the most part.  I am sure it is just a matter of time before he has another.  It seems when Joseph gets sick, he goes ALL out!  I am hoping 2014 will be a healthier year for him!