(no subject)
I have nothing substantial to write today, nothing earth shattering or of importance to anyone other then me. Regardless, I did feel the urge to engage myself in a good old fashioned gripe session. Consider yourself forewarned; read on at the risk of your own boredom.
I'm sick of being sick, and I'm sick of the kids being sick. We took Ethan and Tatiana to our family doctor on Monday morning because we've all been sick for a good two weeks now and Ethan got much worse overnight from Sunday evening to Monday morning.
Our family doctor cultured Tatiana's throat, and though she didn't have the results immediately, she thought it was pretty safe to assume that it was strep throat; historically, Tatiana gets strep throat every year around this time, sometimes two or three times over the winter. So, antibiotics for Tat - simple enough.
Ethan was another matter; she admittedly didn't know what to make of him. His respirations were rapid and labored, his pulse elevated, he had a fever, and was exceedingly lethargic. However, his lungs sounded clear, and his tummy was soft and pain free to the touch. His throat looked fine, and his ears were not inflamed at all. She didn't know what to make of it, and so she sent us to Phoenix Children's Hospital to have them rule out a UTI, as well as atypical presentations of pneumonia or meningitis. The drive to the hospital was nerve wracking, to say the least.
Well, wouldn't you know it - we get to the hospital and Ethan perks right up. They kept him in the ER for a little while to observe him, but opted not to do any invasive tests because overall, his condition had improved considerably. They told us that they suspected that he had the flu and sent him home with orders for plenty of rest, fluids, and tylenol for his fever.
He was better yesterday; we spent the day over at Andy's house. He played all morning, but then got a bit more irritable in the afternoon. He complained that his tummy hurt and he was restless. The kids and I went home to our house last night. It was a pretty uneventful evening. They had some dinner, watched a movie, and went to bed. Ethan woke up every hour or so for a drink or cuddles, but went back to sleep quickly each time. When 2 AM rolled around, he woke up crying. He was burning up. He was moaning and telling me his tummy hurt. Congested, coughing, rapid shallow breathing and just plain uncomfortable. He outright refused to take any Tylenol - then of for the rest of the night. So, from 2 until about 7 AM, he tossed and turned, moaned, fussed, slept a little at a time, and made sure that I was right next to him the whole time (well, except for the four or five times that he kicked me out of the bed). Needless to say, neither of us slept a whole lot. He watched PBS this morning and then napped for about an hour mid-day. He finally took some Tylenol too. He seems to be feeling a little better right now - he's up and playing and wreaking havoc as usual - he's just a bit grumpier than normal.
The part that I hate most about the whole thing is feeling like I really don't know what's wrong with him. Last night, I found myself thinking back to the time that my step-son Alex (at around the same age)had a fever on and off for two or three weeks straight - the doctors blamed it on a virus, but they really had no idea what was causing it. They ran every conceivable culture and test after Alex's fevers got so high one night that he had febrile seizures and was rushed to the hospital. Thinking back, Andy and I always saw a correlation between this unidentified illness and the change in his behavior that came thereafter. It was a only a few months later that we took him for psychological testing for his extreme behavioral problems and he was diagnosed as ADHD. That turned out to be an incomplete diagnosis, and after conferring with several other experts, he was finally diagnosed some time later as mildly autistic, ADHD, and what the child psychiatrists think may be early onset bipolar disorder (even though the DSM IV does not allow for this diagnosis before adolescence, it's been seen at increasing rates in young children). Perhaps it's completely unrelated, but I always wondered about the damage those darn fevers could have done to his still developing brain...
Yeah, so last night was a flashback to that time for me. I debated more than once overnight about whether or not to drag both kids out of bed and trek back out to the ER but decided to wait it out. Like I said, he seems a little bit better now. Still, I wonder how many more sleepless, anxiety ridden evenings before this thing runs its course. Yeah, maybe I worry too much. But _crap_ it's a scary thing when your baby's sick and you're not really sure why.
I'm sick of being sick, and I'm sick of the kids being sick. We took Ethan and Tatiana to our family doctor on Monday morning because we've all been sick for a good two weeks now and Ethan got much worse overnight from Sunday evening to Monday morning.
Our family doctor cultured Tatiana's throat, and though she didn't have the results immediately, she thought it was pretty safe to assume that it was strep throat; historically, Tatiana gets strep throat every year around this time, sometimes two or three times over the winter. So, antibiotics for Tat - simple enough.
Ethan was another matter; she admittedly didn't know what to make of him. His respirations were rapid and labored, his pulse elevated, he had a fever, and was exceedingly lethargic. However, his lungs sounded clear, and his tummy was soft and pain free to the touch. His throat looked fine, and his ears were not inflamed at all. She didn't know what to make of it, and so she sent us to Phoenix Children's Hospital to have them rule out a UTI, as well as atypical presentations of pneumonia or meningitis. The drive to the hospital was nerve wracking, to say the least.
Well, wouldn't you know it - we get to the hospital and Ethan perks right up. They kept him in the ER for a little while to observe him, but opted not to do any invasive tests because overall, his condition had improved considerably. They told us that they suspected that he had the flu and sent him home with orders for plenty of rest, fluids, and tylenol for his fever.
He was better yesterday; we spent the day over at Andy's house. He played all morning, but then got a bit more irritable in the afternoon. He complained that his tummy hurt and he was restless. The kids and I went home to our house last night. It was a pretty uneventful evening. They had some dinner, watched a movie, and went to bed. Ethan woke up every hour or so for a drink or cuddles, but went back to sleep quickly each time. When 2 AM rolled around, he woke up crying. He was burning up. He was moaning and telling me his tummy hurt. Congested, coughing, rapid shallow breathing and just plain uncomfortable. He outright refused to take any Tylenol - then of for the rest of the night. So, from 2 until about 7 AM, he tossed and turned, moaned, fussed, slept a little at a time, and made sure that I was right next to him the whole time (well, except for the four or five times that he kicked me out of the bed). Needless to say, neither of us slept a whole lot. He watched PBS this morning and then napped for about an hour mid-day. He finally took some Tylenol too. He seems to be feeling a little better right now - he's up and playing and wreaking havoc as usual - he's just a bit grumpier than normal.
The part that I hate most about the whole thing is feeling like I really don't know what's wrong with him. Last night, I found myself thinking back to the time that my step-son Alex (at around the same age)had a fever on and off for two or three weeks straight - the doctors blamed it on a virus, but they really had no idea what was causing it. They ran every conceivable culture and test after Alex's fevers got so high one night that he had febrile seizures and was rushed to the hospital. Thinking back, Andy and I always saw a correlation between this unidentified illness and the change in his behavior that came thereafter. It was a only a few months later that we took him for psychological testing for his extreme behavioral problems and he was diagnosed as ADHD. That turned out to be an incomplete diagnosis, and after conferring with several other experts, he was finally diagnosed some time later as mildly autistic, ADHD, and what the child psychiatrists think may be early onset bipolar disorder (even though the DSM IV does not allow for this diagnosis before adolescence, it's been seen at increasing rates in young children). Perhaps it's completely unrelated, but I always wondered about the damage those darn fevers could have done to his still developing brain...
Yeah, so last night was a flashback to that time for me. I debated more than once overnight about whether or not to drag both kids out of bed and trek back out to the ER but decided to wait it out. Like I said, he seems a little bit better now. Still, I wonder how many more sleepless, anxiety ridden evenings before this thing runs its course. Yeah, maybe I worry too much. But _crap_ it's a scary thing when your baby's sick and you're not really sure why.