Does it get any better than this?

I live in Northern New Jersey. We just had one helluva storm this past weekend! I'm not trying to compare it to places who get hit with natural disasters all the time, but we had such a huge wind and rain storm after one of the heaviest snowstorms two weeks prior...all I can say is it looks like Armageddon around here. You cannot go down two blocks without seeing at least one one-hundred-year-old tree in the middle of a street (sometimes with a car underneath) and power lines mangled underneath as well.

I guess the trees were so water-logged from the heavy wet snow (where we lost almost an entire Magnolia tree) that the heavy winds were just too much for the trees so they are EVERYWHERE!


Both of my kids' schools have been out the past two days due to lack of power.  Most of our neighbors are still without power.  Or water.  Or cable (god forbid!!!)  We lost power for 24 hours, but we now have everything back.  We did go an hour south of here for the second night (just before our power came back) to stay at my in-laws.  It's nice to have someplace to go...but I'm sure we won't be welcome back anytime soon!  Why, do you ask?

Yesterday my husband and I both woke up with sore throats.  I thought it might be allergies, but wasn't sure, especially since I just finished having strep throat two weeks ago.  Our 4 year old daughter started acting really funny complaining about her stomach in the afternoon and our almost 6 year old son has been very weepy for the past week and has had a very sensitive stomach as well.  Again, I could have attributed these stomach ailments to my mother-in-laws cooking.  They ate it, I didn't.  But last night the 4 year old kept sitting up in her sleep crying out loud.  We knew something was wrong.

This morning, we woke up and our throats still hurt.  So, my husband went to work and made a doc appointment for him and me and I took our 3 kids to the pediatrician's office.  I told them they were all getting strep tests whether they liked it or not...then the doc gave one to me (and my son held my hand so I wouldn't cry).  Fifteen minutes later, we ALL had tested positive for strep.  I kid you not!  Then, I got a call from my husband that he, too, has strep.  Is this a joke????  And this is why I wonder if we'll ever be invited back to my in-laws house!

I guess I was never fully cured from my original strep and then kindly gave it to the rest of my family, but hopefully we will all get better at the same time.  I guess it was good that I was proactive this time and took everyone to the doc together!

I had to postpone my Herceptin treatment, which was scheduled for tomorrow, not because the Herceptin will hurt me with strep, but I could infect patients with compromised immune systems waiting for their chemo treatments.  I just feel badly that I was sick the past week, and didn't realize it, and I was at different doctor's appointments for the nipple reconstruction surgery I had a week ago.  I may have been sick around those same people with compromised immune systems...well, I hope not!


Honestly, as long as I can still go to my follow-up plastic surgeon's appointment in two days, I will be fine.  I just need to know that my nipples really are healing well, 'cause everytime I look at them, I want to barf (but the nurses have insisted that everything looks great).

So, this has not been a great couple of weeks.  I couldn't get out of bed on Saturday because I was so depressed over all of the recovery, having my period, not being able to shower, still feeling sick and not knowing why...but now I know why - I still had strep!