What the Strep?!

Strep throat has recently been a big mystery to me. My sister's family of 9 had about 29 cases of it in 9 months (for real). They're way out in Utah, so we're not directly involved in any of it, though her youngest got his tonsils out last summer when we were there. I hear about most of the times someone gets it, usually someone who has already had their tonsils taken out, and think it's a crazy weird ailment they've dealt with. Well, our family has finally gotten to experience strep throat. We never have before this January. Jason doesn't think he ever had it. I think I might have had it one time when I was little, even though my sister had it quite a lot, even way back when.

The first week back at school after winter break, Austin developed a rash. When he said his throat hurt and then developed a fever, I knew something was up. He had scarlet fever, strep throat with a rash. I actually didn't realize what scarlet fever was until then. I also have always looked for the white spots in the tonsils that I've always heard about with strep. He didn't have any. While he was sick, I worked very hard to keep everyone else healthy with essential oils. Jason and I even started taking Airborne, something that doesn't surprise me about him, but about myself. I was feeling extra tired and could feel my body trying to fight all the winter sick germs that go around here.

About 10 days later, Jason came down with strep throat. It was going around at Ford, according to the rumors. The girls had slight fevers and sore throats that one weekend, but the never had strep. Jason had it pretty bad, with a temperature getting up to past 103 at one point, higher than I' even seen him have since we've been married. He had the white spots and was shivering like crazy. As he was recovering from that, he got slammed with a cold. So he was congested and coughing like crazy until just recently. All this was after he had finally gotten over his cold from Thanksgiving!

I was relieved when they were better and Erik and I still hadn't gotten sick yet. He kept thinking he was sick, since everyone else had been. I can't blame him, I felt like I should have been too. the two of us would drag around the house when everyone else was back at school and work, tired. The weather is always gray outside this time of year, so that never helped. I kept wanting to blog about their being sick, but never felt ready to do it. I think it's because we weren't done yet! Last week, I enjoyed the sunshine with my friend as we went for a couple walks a few different days. On Wednesday after coming inside from our walk, it was an unusual 52 degrees outside, but I felt cold. Well, turns out I had strep 2 1/2 weeks after Jason!

The mystery to me is, how did I really get it? The doctor says I didn't get it from Jason, since it's only contagious 24 hours after being on antibiotics. I had scoured our house for the second time, after Jason recovered. The doctor said I got from someone else really close to me, but there isn't anyone else! I don't go to work or school. I thought maybe the grocery store, but since coughing and sneezing aren't signs of strep, something I didn't think about until I had it, how would strep germs get on a grocery cart handle? Plus, there's the fact that I use hand sanitizer immediately after getting in the car. I do know that it's still going around at schools here. I couldn't even get an appointment for Thursday because they had none that day by 10am! I had to go Friday! The weather being like spring one week and winter the next, doesn't help either, but I still don't see how I got it, nor how someone in my sister's family always gets it, even though they use the same precautions that I do.

Maybe a I should do a study on it...