it's that time of year

The sick bug has been hitting the zoo hard lately.

For baby Carmen it's been ongoing for over a month. Poor thing is terrified of the doctor's office. It started at the beginning of February with an ear infection that quickly turned into some respiratory problems. A lot of wheezing that just would not go away. Such a little girl should not labor so much to catch her breath and that was when she was just sitting still. Antibiotics, breathing treatments....none of it seemed to help. She was the happiest sick baby though. I kept saying she is sick, but not sick. It wasn't keeping her down too much.

We went through a series of tests to make sure there wasn't something bigger going on. Chest x-rays, a nasal flush & blood draw...all within a few hours. That poor child has no veins what so ever. The tech poked her about a dozen times in one arm before giving up and poking her another half dozen times in the other arm. It took them 10 minutes to complete what should have taken 60 seconds. And poor mama had to hold her down the whole time & endure her suffering as well.

When all those tests came back clear we tried another round of antibiotics which finally help clear her up. For about a week, one whole glorious week, she was healthy. I just took her to the doctor again today. She had been running a 102 temp for 3 days now with the only relief coming from Tylenol. Turns out she has a bad ear infection in BOTH ears. She also has a very bad cold, but that is due to teething. All those fluids are clear and have not settled into her respiratory system.

That is just one animal that has been sick. Earlier this week a stomach bug hit Mandy & Brianna. Brianna woke up miserable on monday. My initial reaction was that she was still going to school. No fever & no vomiting means they still go to school. I went with my mama gut instinct though and relented & let her stay home. Later that day she spent a lot of time in the bathroom getting sick. What I wasn't expecting was a hour or so into school, I get a call. Mandy threw up all over the school hallway. She spent the rest of the day & next at home sick as well. Brianna got over the stomach bug, but was still having some other issues so I took her to see the doctor. Turns out she has a bladder infection. None of the animals have ever had that before. Dr. said we caught it very early.

So far the zookeepers have been healthy. We'd like to keep it that way. It's crazy enough taking care of the animals & keeping them healthy.