Herpetic Gingivostomatitis, Tuesday June 6- Friday June 19

 Tuesday night June 6th, Jane started feeling sick. She got a fever and a sore throat that night. Wednesday it was the same, her throat was burning now all the time and she also had a couple of small sores appear on her lip and in her mouth.  She continued to have the same symptoms Thursday and Thursday night we noticed a sore on her uvula. I figured it might be strep throat, which we've never had, and so Friday morning I took her into the doctor. She continued to have a fever of around 100 and everything was mostly the same. They gave her a strep test, which was pretty awful as they stick a long qtip thing down your throat which makes you gag and then they have to swipe that area back there. The first attempt was failed as when Jane gagged, she also hit the swab away. So we had to do it again. This time she was more prepared, and I helped to hold her hands in place. Success. We found out soon after that it was negative. The doctor who was in that day (he wasn't our primary care doctor but another one in the clinic) said it was a enterovirus of some sort (like hand foot and mouth) that would go away on it's own and sent us home after he'd sent in a prescription for magic mouth wash that would numb her throat. 

Jane was miserable and hadn't eaten hardly anything in days. Even water hurt going down. So we were anxious to get the. mouth wash that might provide some relief as all she'd had to help so far was ibuprofen and Tylenol which weren't doing much. Her 5'2" 100 lbs body was losing weight at about a pound a day, and we needed something to help. The doctors office called after a couple of hours and said they sent the prescription to a different pharmacy after getting it back from the one they sent it to because they didn't make it there. So I went in a couple of hours later to pick it up. and it wasn't there. They hadn't received the prescription. So while I was at the pharmacy counter I called the doctors office. They apologized for not having sent it yet and said that doctor was currently at lunch and theyd' have him sign it as soon as he got in. The pharmacy took my number and said as soon as they got it they'd fill it and give me a call. Well, they never called back that night. And the pharmacy was closed Saturday and Sunday. So we would have to wait until Monday. Monday her throat was started to feel better and I was able to pick up the prescription and get her started on that which helped. At the same time, the sores in her mouth and on her lips got much, much worse. Her gums were also red and inflamed, one of her front gums was receding and another back gum felt loose. I took a picture and sent it to the doctors office and asked if there was anything more we could do to help this. Another doctor was in the office that day (mine was on vacation), Dr Langston, and she said she thought it was Herpetic Gingivostomatitis. she'd seen it before many times. It's basically cold sores caused by HSV1. She said it was too late to start a treatment that would help, but if we'd like to get her tested to be sure, we could do that and then if it came back positive, we could get medicine for when/if it shows up again as it tends to do that (like when there's a lot of stress etc).  

I said yes so we took her in Tuesday morning and she was tested for HSV-1. The results came back Wednesday and they were positive, so Dr Langston was correct and it was Herpetic Gingivostomatitis. By Wednesday Jane's fever broke. Her gums were still inflamed and she still have lots of sores on her lips and mouth. By Thursday her moth was less painful and her energy started to increase. By Friday she was eating more and each day after she seemed to be a little better. She was hoping she'd be all better by Monday as she had FSY, and she was. Her lips had returned to looking pretty normal by then. 

We took a few pictures of her lips/mouth over the weeks. Also, our sweet back neighbors, who she was supposed to babysit one day during her sickness and had to cancel because of it, brought her this sweet card and some chicken noodle soup and tea. It lifted her spirits. 

St George, A Cruisin, N soccer camp & FSY

We started the summer out with a bang! June 4-7 we stayed in St George at the Ludwigs home while Annabelle took off on a cruise with her friends (and a few parents went along as chaperones). 

We watched the sunset at Dixie Rock, 

I climbed the Tech Ridge stairs in the morning, 

Nora brought her friend Sienna along. We did baptisms at the temple together. 

It was in the low 100s which meant the pool wasn't super cool, but it was cooler than being in the heat so we still played in the water. 

And we got some yummy foods. 

We usually eat a meal at Angelica's Mexican restaurant when we're in town. We love the street tacos. 

June 6-11 were the dates Annabelle was gone for her cruise. They rented a big van and drove to CA. 

This was Annabelle's first cruise experience. She had a really good time and they made some new friends on the boat. She was so happy that Sadie was able to join; originally there were about 6 of them going but they were able to add several friends, and Sadie's one of her dearest friends so that was nice. 

June 8-11 Nora attended a high school soccer camp at USU Price campus. 

She had a good time and was definitely sore when she got home. 

Here's Penny on a normal afternoon. She follows me around and then finds a good, cool spot on the tile to sleep. 

I drove Tays and Elisabeth to the Provo airport one afternoon (they were heading to CA for Emily's wedding) and on the way home, I stopped at Pink Box in American Fork to get a couple of donuts to bring home, since that's the closest location and it's far enough that we never go. I took a pic of the box and sent it to Scott who immediately called and said he was working at the Lehi office and asked if I'd like to stop by and have lunch with him. Did I ever! We went to Spitz, a greek restaurant and got some really tasty food. Just thinking about it makes me want to go back. 

On a Saturday morning, Scott and I went for a hike up Bells Canyon to Lower Falls. This is a good beginning of the season hike as it's not as long as some of the others we go on (this one is less than 5 miles RT) and the water fall is much more lively at the beginning of summer than at the end. 

It was beautiful as always. Although we left a little later than normal and didn't start hiking til around 9am which meant it was already getting hot when we started and it also meant there were more crowds of people. 

June 15-20 Nora went to FSY at University of Utah with Megan. They had a fun week together. The house was pretty quiet with both Nora and Annabelle gone so much. Jane got pretty sick and so we were having to spend a good amount of time helping her and figuring out what was going on and going to doctors appointments etc. More on that in the next post. 

 I have a goal to finish my book this summer (third book I've finished; hopefully the first I'll actually publish). I have lots of quiet time with the girls at work and camps and me not working over the summer, so I'm hoping, with the Lord's help, we can make this happen. 

Graduation Day- June 3

Annabelle has officially graduated high school!!! Here's a pic of her on her first day of kindergarten and then on graduation day 12 years later. 

Tuesday, the night before graduation, Annabelle had a sleepover with a bunch of her friends at our good friends/neighbors family cabin. A couple of days before, Becca, the mom of her good friend (and she's my good friend too) invited me to come along. We made dinner and breakfast for the kids, went on a sunset walk with them, and a morning walk while they were still sleeping and I taught Becca how to play Splendor. It was a fun night! 

Wednesday June 3 was graduation day! Elisabeth and Tayson came out and stayed the night. Annabelle and Sadie! (Becca's daughter and our sweet neighbor)

Sadie, Annabelle, Tray and walking together at graduation.

Annabelle decorated the top of her cap. It made it a little easier to find her in the crowd. 

May- 2nd half

I love doing house projects! And so does Scott! We've redone a couple of our closets (mine and Annabelle's plus a linen closet) and the goal is to do Jane's and Nora's as well. Jane went on a trip over a long holiday weekend and Scott had an extra day off, plus Ikea was having a holiday sale on their closet shelves, so we decided to surprise her and redo her closet while she was gone. Scott and I worked on it over a couple of days, and were able to get it done! Friday night we took dimensions and figured out what to buy and I started taking everything out of her closet. Saturday morning Scott filled in the holes on the walls where we'd taken out the shelves, I painted them and we went to Ikea and picked everything up and that night we watched a movie while we put the rolling shelves together. Monday Scott and I spent a couple of hours putting the shelves in, and then we spent a couple of hours putting all her clothes and things back into the closet. It was a labor of love. And it looks SO much better than before and the space is much more usable now. 

 

Elisabeth and Tayson also came to stay the night that weekend which was fun. We used one of Scott's gift cards he got from his soccer team and took the family out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. 

Sunday we played some pickleball after church and just hung out. 

The following Sunday we were able to have Leia and Pepa and one of Leia's friends from The Other Side Academy over for dinner and games. We always like when they come to visit, and she only gets a couple during the year. 

Later that evening we attended Annabelle's seminary graduation at our church building. The time is sure flying. 

Charles has been in the same area for several transfers but is doing well. On this particular day they took a field trip to a monkey sanctuary and they all had these matching black collared shirts they were given to wear. In Africa he's always got people to teach which is nice; although it's harder to get those people to come to church. Sometimes they work, sometimes it's far, and sometimes they just don't come...I know change and doing new things can be uncomfortable and scary in the beginning. It makes it so much nicer when you have a friend doing it with you. 

President and Sister Boateng in the middle of the picture. The missionaries love them and we're so grateful for their service. 

Apparently this picture of Charles and his companion is AI generated. I had no idea. It looks just like Char...I just thought he got a haircut.