A Change of Plans

I have been home for the past two days.  I had taken a PTO day for Tuesday.  I thought I'd get some work done at home and go have lunch with Eler Beth at school as a surprise.  But about midnight Monday she crawled into bed with us complaining of a headache.  She was burning up!  I took her temp and my thermometer read 102.5.  I got her some Motrin and some juice and sat up with her for awhile.  She was hot one minute and cold the next and her headache just wouldn't go away.  She finally fell back asleep with me rubbing her head.

Needless to say Tuesday didn't go quite as I'd planned.

Her fever would not stay down.  But she had no other symptoms.  She was achy and headachy, which could just have been from the fever.  No stuffy head, stomache-ache, sore throat, coughing or sneezing.  But her neck was stiff and sore; so that worried me.

So I took her to the docter.  The rapid Strep came back negative, but they took a second culture to send off.  Her throat was a little irritated, but not too much.  Her ears looked fine and they could find no congestion, neither chest nor sinus.  They did a urinalysis and it came back fine.  So the doctor said, "So I'd like to check her blood count, just to be sure."  "Okay," I said, but inwardly I was thinking, "Oh, well, shoot!  It's going to be next to impossible to get her to sit still for this!"  I didn't say anything about what was coming, but when the nurse came in and started getting everything out, Eler Beth grabbed my hand and scooted closer to me.  "Mom, what's that!" she quavered.  "We're just going to have to prick your finger and get a little blood, that's all," the nurse said.  Yeah.  Right.

It took a few minutes and a threat to call Dad to get her to unclench her fist.  My little drama queen!  "It will be over in just a minute" was countered with, "Mom, you just don't understand!"  "Remember "M" (her cousin with diabetes, two years older than she is) has to do this every day" was met with "I don't care!"  "If she can't get it all this time she'll just have to do it again" got "No she won't!"  Finally it was done.

Her white count came back fine, but the type of white cells indicated a bacterial infection, not viral.  So it probably is strep throat.  But the doctor said if the stiffness in her neck and shoulders worsened at all to get her to a hospital.  She wrote a scrip for Amoxycillin just to be on the safe side, and I'm still giving her Motrin.

It took until about 11:30 this morning for her fever to go down and stay down.  She was finally able to eat a little applesauce this morning, and she's napping right now.  But she was up and down all night, restless, so consequently so was I.  I should know by Friday if it is strep.  The stiffness is better, but she is still achy.  I was able to take another PTO for today, but I may see if someone can stay with her tomorrow.  Hopefully by Friday she can get back to school. 

As for the things I wanted to do around the house -- oh well!  I did manage to get some laundry done.  I guess the little projects I wanted to do will just have to wait for the weekend.