Center of the disease universe

Salem Woods Elementary seems to have had every contagious disease converge upon it. It is the petri dish of Monroe disseminating it's goods with the help of hundreds of cute and lovable little germ carrying sponges. Or maybe it is just that time of year and, now that I am subbing regularly, considered "fresh meat". My uninitiated immune system is a literal "new guy" and is in need of a little initiation. I seem to have battled through about four rounds of bugs since the end of February. The boys and Cheryl have also fallen victim to the microscopic attackers suffering from flu-like symptoms, fevers, strep throat, and flowing of body fluids. BRING ON SUMMER!!

On to the latest and the source is questionable. I developed a fever last Thursday while just hanging out at the Sultan FD. It came with a free dose of headache and blurry vision. After a drive around town it was apparent I was unable to drive home safely. I wheeled back to the FD and requested the guys take my vitals and get an IV for hydration. Yup, 100.99 degrees. the IV helped a bit and I was able to drive home. I spent the next 20ish hours sweating off the fever. By late morning it broke and I was below 99 degrees. Good thing because I had a catering job Friday night and I was looking forward to the work. One thing was odd though, the top of my head was puffy. Kinda swollen. I had double-bonked my noggin a couple days back, nothing out of the ordinary. A double-bonk would be a scrape and then a second scrape in the exact spot removing any healing and producing a fair amount of blood and aggravation. I thought it was just the wound reacting to the fever. By the end of the day, time for the catering gig, I had a red puffy skull cap and a partially swollen face. The top of my head was red and hot. Something was not right but I was controlling the pain with Vitamin IB. Buy the next morning I looked like a different person, at least from the neck up. My head had developed into a nice round dome, losing the distinctive ridge. My eyes puffed up, my "side-burns" were bulging (see left side on photo), and my jaw was starting to change shape. I was wearing a 1/4" liquid helmet. I decided to visit the walk-in clinic to get checked out.....1 hour wait and several diseased clients later I was essentially told to "put some ice on it, take some benadryl and shake it off". The Doc was wrong. I was inclined to call my family doc at home for a 2nd and she ordered me to visit. Within seconds of walking in the door and with a complete history about the cut on my head she diagnosed me to be suffering from cellulitis. (see link) It must have entered the cut days earlier at track practice when I was doing gymnastics with the Pole vaulters in the wresting room. (Did I mention I am coaching track at Sultan HS?) She was calm but stern in stating the scrip must be filled and taken prior to leaving the pharmacy and again at minding and again at 8am. then twice a day until gone. Little did I know I was really close to developing Meningitis, GREAT! She is going to meet with the clinic doc and chat.

In other news......Baseball is in full swing and both of the boys are loving their teams. Gabe is in his first season of machine pitch and Jon is in his first season of kid pitch. This week is spring break. I will be riding in the Desert 100 Poker Run this weekend, Cheryl is staying busy with the Cascade Women's Retreat follow up and searching for the perfect 2nd hand store sale.

Here is a vid Chery's Mother emailed. It is cool, get tissues.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ervaMPt4Ha0&autoplay=1

See ya, Tony