Strep Tease

Wednesday night Patrick felt a little warm and feel asleep on the couch before bedtime. We gave him some Tylenol and brought him up to his room. An hour and half later I checked on him and he felt like he had just gotten out of the pool. His hair was drenched. His sheets were soaking. We could have melted cheese on his skin (ummmmmm, raclette). He was ridiculously feverish, you see.

Thursday my mother arrived for a long weekend and Patrick slept. He took a three hour nap in the morning, woke up for some more Tylenol and then crashed again. I asked him if anything hurt and he said, no. His throat? No. His ears? No. Stomach? No no n.. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. So I decided to just let him sleep. My mother kept giving me incredulous aren't-you-going-to-take-this-poor-sick-little-boy-to-the-doctor looks coupled with you-are-the-mother-and-I-am-not-going-to-interfere-but sighs. She made dark and repeated mention of my childhood hamster, Maxwell Montague, who went to that great squeaking wheel in the sky while under my loving care (he was old! he was, like, TWO!)

I consider myself a savvy, veteran parent. I no longer race Patrick to the pediatrician every time I notice his ears attach a little higher on one side than the other. I have realized that each time I take Patrick to the doctor when he is sick it winds up being just a virus and the pediatrician puts a switchblade (courtesy of Merck) to my throat and threatens to cut me if I so much as even think about asking for an antibiotic to treat a virus. And I'm all, no no, I wouldn't dream of it, I didn't know it was only a virus, don't cut meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. So it is a wasted trip and to top it off Patrick usually picks up some sort of auxiliary disease while we are in the office thus prolonging everybody's agony. This is to say: I try to avoid taking the child to the doctor if I possibly can and I did not see any reason to change this policy despite the fact that we were using the back of his neck to toast s'mores.

However

It wasn't Patrick's high fever or his inability to stay awake for more than ten minutes that moved me in the end, nor was it my mother's patent disapproval of my Marquis de Sade parenting. It was when I noticed that his lips were swollen and his eyes were bloodshot and he kept sucking his fingers and you could see the veins in his ears. Not so much because these four things are familiar warning signs to me, but because they seemed so disparate and strange. Kid with a high fever: normal. Finger-sucking kid with a high fever looking like he had an enthusiastic Botox job while blood is trying to escape his body via osmosis: weird (go ahead! play web md! diagnose him! I'll wait).

When the doctor came in Patrick was cuddled on my lap with his arms and legs in the air like an up-ended turtle. He righted himself. He uncorked his fingers from his mouth. He looked at her with obvious relief and said, "My throat hurts."

His throat hurts? Hadn't I asked him that about a zillion times already? Hadn't he already told me no? I guess you don't give your sworn statement to the crossing guard... jeez what a snob this kid is.

She took a look at his throat and whistled and said, "I can see that! Your tonsils are very big and bright red. You must have been feeling pretty sick for a while, huh?" She looked at me accusingly. My mother looked at me accusingly. Patrick probably would have looked at me accusingly but he was too busy staring with adoration at the pediatrician.

"It's probably strep. I'll take a culture."

"OK," I said, "but it is never strep. We have had him tested for strep five hundred times and it is never strep. But fine. Culture it. Please. Go ahead. But it is not strep."

It was strep. He was sucking his fingers because his throat hurt because he has strep. His lips were swollen because his entire mouth and throat were inflamed because he has strep. Blood vessels were visible in his eyes and ears because his body was struggling to cool itself because he had a high fever. Because he has strep.

Two days of amoxillian and he is sparkling around the house again. I, however, have slipped to a third-rate power.

Pregnancy feels quite normal. So far. For what it is worth. Tired, vaguely nauseous, sacroiliac joint killing me on the left side, breasts need forearm support when going downstairs in my pajamas...  five weeks and change normal for me.

I have been pondering the hcg levels and have reluctantly concluded that we can deduce nothing from the sudden upswing. I notice quite a few of you started chanting twins! twins! twins! with triplets! and quads! booming as a round composition (like Row Row Row Your Boat or, if you are feeling more sophisticated, your favorite fugue). I dunno. Maybe. I originally thought twins, just because, well, this sounds silly but I have always believed we would one day have twins. Cross my heart, true story. I psychically intuit twins. Oh, right, and the 80 mature follicles I had. Those too. Then the hcg levels were so... average that I thought no, not twins. Now I am back to maybe. We'll see. My mother leaves tomorrow and Steve returns (he went looking for property in Iowa this weekend. you know, a safe house. because I beat him. hahahahahahahaha) and then ultrasound on Monday. I am, um, if I say I am optimistic will you laugh at me? I know it is foolish to think this one might turn into an actual baby but there it is. I cannot shake the optimism.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Comments

[EmeraldMarketGirl (aka Chookooloonks)]

Girl, go with your optimism, dammit. There isn't enough optimism in the world. Hell, I'll join you -- I'm optimistic, too.

And happy Patrick is feeling better.

K.

[SpaceMom]

Poor mommy. I understand the "why take them in unless it is serious" theory...

Good luck on Monday. I'll be thinking of you!

[Mayberry]

Aw, poor Packy. Glad the drugs are doing their job. For the record, when my kids are sick, I am a doctor-staller too. I always figure it will blow over in a few days and it pretty much always does.

Anxiously awaiting Monday with you.

[Trish]

Nothing wrong with optimism. Myself, I have an ultrasound on Tuesday and am innately filled with pessimistic dark thoughts. Eh, we'll see!

[Jill]

You weren't optimistic last time, so I'm not going to argue with your intuition.

The doctors always tell me it isn't strep, and all 4 times it was. I pride myself on batting 100%, while they are 0 for 4. But at least the kid told me his throat hurt!

[Julie]

Be optimistic, be positive. I'm hopeful right along with you and all the rest. Thrilled, actually.
And glad Patrick is doing better.

Is it Monday yet? :)
Optimism is good. I will go with you and the optimism.

Sorry about the strep. My daughter had it this past spring. Took a few days to diagnose, and it blew. Glad to hear the little guy is on the mend.

[Lisa V]

Optimism seems about the right diagnosis at this point. My nephew works for Merck. I'm always begging him for samples. He never gives me any. Sigh.

[melina]

Oh, how lovely it would be if this all worked out. I would be unreasonably pleased.

[Laura]

First I thought twins, then one, now I think twins again.. I really, really hope this time works out!

As far as Patrick goes.. I think every mother has a story like yours. In my case, I took my 2 year old (slightly ill) son to a Braves game. He grew increasingly worse throughout the night and, by the ninth inning, was looking pretty bad! He was dx'd with pneumonia the following day. He was my first child, so I figured I had learned my lesson.. Um, maybe not..

My other "Mother-of-the-Year" story was when we FINALLY took my 6 month old (fourth child) to the ER. He'd been sick but not too bad throughout the day but then seemed SO MUCH worse. They didn't even let us sit in the waiting room, we were admitted immediately and spent the next five days battling RSV & pneumonia before going home.

My point is,, you can't tell. You can't tell the difference between sick and scary-sick until they cross the line!!

I'm glad to hear the little guy is feeling better.. I'll definitely keep you guys in my thoughts and prayers on Monday!

[kathleen999]

So glad to hear you are doing well, and that Packy is on the mend.

Twins, I think! I hope both remarkably healthy and with no balanced translocations. I hope soon you are posting frantic messages wondering how you will cope with twins. Even if you suspect it might happen and you want it to happen, it is still a shock to the system when you find out.

[jenB]

i am always optimistic and hopeful for you. i always feel like THIS IS IT! so i am not sure I am help at all. but i am totally hopeful and optimistic!

oh Patrick. he can count by twos and tie his shoes, but not admit to a sore throat. geniuses are notoriously fickle. :-)

[Marsha]

Why try to shake optimism?

Now, the step? That's something to shake.

[J]

Laugh? Never. I am grinning at your optimism, because I am happy and hopeful for you. I'm also testing my refresh button this weekend in anticipation of Monday's news.

I'm glad Patrick is feeling better!

[Katie]

We've also had an undetected strep incident. My 4 year old and I both got sick at the same time. My throat hurt because of the nasal yuckiness. I have had strep several times, and I knew it wasn't strep - it just didn't feel like strep. So when my 4 year old said his throat hurt, I explained that it was just the nasal drip. I got better within a few days, but he didn't, and his fever continued. My husband finally took him in a week after we first got sick, and he had strep. A day or so later he was feeling great. Oops! I guess we made up for it though, because when our 2 year old got a fever a couple days later, we went for the antibiotics, skipping the culture. I am typically anti-antibiotics. This was the first time our 2 year old has ever had them. It had been at least 3-3.5 years since the 4 year old had them.

[Deb]

Oh sweetpea!! All Mama's miss this stuff sometimes, you DID ask him about his throat, little turnip!

I say optimism is a FABULOUS thing and you deserve to enjoy each and every moment of it. I believe in your intuition and second you the optimism.

[Vix]

A mate of mine carried on taking her son to swimming practice for a week after he broke his arm! When I was the 'teacher who did first aid' at the same school where my nieces and nephew were I sent the nephew back to carry on playing basketball with a broken toe. The problem with kids is that its difficult to know whether they are being stoic about something serious or wimpy about something trivial.

Optimism is never wrong!

[Elaine]

We once went off on a family trip when I was sick with what turned out to be viral pneumonia. That was my fault -- I didn't tell my mother how sick I felt because I knew my dad was really looking forward to the trip (and I was QUITE a bit older than Patrick and definitely no genius, as is perhaps self-evident).

I ended up running a 103 fever every day. Weirdly, we didn't shorten the trip, and I got sicker and sicker. Of course, viral pneumonia is quite infectious, and after eight hours in the car everyone else got it too. Not a pretty event in our family history.

[Michelle]

Sorry to hear Patrick was sick, I can't believe he wouldn't tell you his throat hurt. I hope you don't catch it, it can't be good for the pregnancy.

[Chickenpig]

I'm glad that Patrick has his antibiotics and all is well.

I also thought through most of my young life (before infertility...before I even wanted children)that I was going to have twins. My best friend and I used to joke about it all the time "When you have twins you won't be able to strap the carseats into the VW you want" (I also always wanted to fix up an old bug) Well.....I now have twins and a '73 Superbeetle convertable :) Never discount that little inner voice. I also always thought that I would end up with 3 children if I ever had any. We'll see how that turns out....

[Bonnie]

Strep is one nasty bug. When my daughter was 3, we went through a spring where every few weeks she would pop out with a case of strep whose only symptom was projectile vomiting (all. night. long.). We kept treating her, and it kept coming back. On the third go-round, I grabbed my 6 year old son and insisted they test him, too. Yup, Typhoid Mike was the culprit. Treated them both, and it never came back.

And no, we would never laugh at your optimism. Frankly, I am in awe of your amazing strength.

[Katie Kat]

Don't you just HATE the waiting part of pregnancy? It's all HURRY UP AND WAIT! But, we're waiting here with you and we are encouraging that little bundle of cells to be one, two, three or WHATEVER, just BE A HAPPY, HEALTHY BABY FOR 10 MONTHS!!!!!

Hang in there sweetie!!!

[emil]

Additional hint--now that he's well/still on antibiotics, throw away his toothbrush (some say run it through a dishwasher cycle) and get a new tube of toothpaste. When number two and three (now who's optimistic?) arrive make sure their brushes aren't all standing together in the same cup/toothbrush holder and each has their own, marked with Sharpie, tube of toothpaste. Embarassing to admit how long it took us to figure this one out! Oh, and you can look in his throat (and ears)--if you can't see anything it doesn't mean yes or no but if you can see something, then you know.
emil=ml=marylee

[Erin]

I'm glad Patrick is feeling better! In terms of intuiting the twins -- don't laugh too much. When we found out I was pregnant after IVF (and got the fairly "normal" HCG results), I had a FEELING! I NEVER have FEELINGS like that. I felt it would be ONE baby, and a boy. I was right. My whole pregnancy (a very short one due to a very ealy baby), I KNEW I was having a boy.

Of course, I did have a 50/50 chance, but still . . .

You could be right!

Fingers crossed for you.

Erin

[anne]

Hope Patrick feels better. I believe in optimism. And with twins running about? I have a suspicion you'll need that kind of mindset :^)

[christina]

Sorry about Patrick & the strep situation...and fingers crossed and overly optimistic about the possibility of baby/s.

I just love how you tell a story, btw. Always tossing things in as an aside--i.e. Please explaine IOWA. :)

[e]

I always *knew* what gender baby I was having. I even 'saw' my son at the age of two once, when I was still only 6 months pregnant. The kid was actually fairer in real life at the age of two, but otherwise very similar to my vision.

[grumpygirl]

my dad was a doctor so we NEVER went to the doctor except for check-ups...(and it wasn't like he was checking us out all the time, he just refused to believe we'd ever get sick. )

i had strep twice: the first time i was three and he took me into the hospital once my fever hit 104... the second time i was so sick that he brought the stuff home to take the throat culture himself.

personally, with the exception of the GYN, i rarely go in for anything but check-ups. my last boyfriend had bronchitis and after 4 days went to the doctor because he didn't know why he wasn't getting better and then the doctor, obviously a giant moron, gave him antibiotics. and of course he started feeling better because all colds/etc never last more than a week. and because bronchitis is VIRAL. idiots.

however, i rush my cat to the vet everytime she so much as sneezes.

[Pamplemousse]

Hoping with you for an actual baby at some point.

[Amy]

Heh! I had the almost exact experience but my mother was most frieked out when we took the formerly very ill child, covered with a rash from the strep, to a festival a day or two later. (He was fine! I swear!)

[rachel]

optimism is good!

and I had a kid get suddenly much sicker than normal-sick. she was OK, until suddenly she wasn't (sat quietly at the DMV for an hour not ok). She ended up in the hospital for 5 days on IV abx. gah. and she's my 2nd kid, so you'd think I would have known. FYI - get abx for any puncture wound from an animal. period.

Glad Patrick's better now!

[thora]

I haven't anything original to say - I, too, avoid taking my daughter to the doctor when she is sick - hell, my mom NEVER took me to the doctor, despite the FEVER BLISTERS covering my mouth, seven days of vomitting, and dilerium... much dilerium - meh.

Good for you for being optimistic - I am VERY optimistic here - reading your blog - hoping you get a *shiny-new* baby to love.

[Lisa]

At least you didn't discount chicken pox as "Oh, that's just a couple of mosquito bites!" and then take him to Vacation Bible School with 100 other kids. Funny how mosquito bites spread on their own indoors, huh?

Not my shiniest mommy moment. . .

[Lisa S (et al, aka Stolidoli)]

I'm all for optimism. I'm feeling optimistic too for you - so congrats on the pregnancy.

And if it makes you feel any better, Bella never complains about what is bothering her when she's sick, and we never know when she is. She had an ear infection once where her eardrum actually BURST OPEN before we took her to the doctor. Did you know they could do that? Me neither.

[Heather Ann]

I second or third the toothbrush thing. We had strep as a family after Christmas, and then I had it two more times on my own. No sharing glasses or drinks. So sorry Patrick was so sick. I thought I was going to die in January. Thank God for antibiotics.

[Pam]

I remember hearing from a doctor that if it IS strep, its always better to treat it later rather than sooner. I don't remember why. But it sure helps you feel better knowing you did the very BEST thing, right? Of course you did. And you (almost) always will.

[meg]

My father the doctor's rule is, if both sore throat *and* a fever are present, test for strep. If just one or the other (assuming the fever isn't EXTREMELY high), wait it out a week to see if it's a virus (non-life-threatening viruses usually go away in about a week). Of course, given that Patrick denied having a sore throat, you were, in fact, following those very instructions.

I have a weird feeling that you will see three on the ultrasound and end up with two take-home babies. My weird feelings are usually wrong, but there you have it. Good luck!

[Emily]

Ummmm...raclette.

[Lisa]

Wanna hear my strep story? My daughter felt sick and she did have a fever so I kept her home. Next day, she seemed better - but didn't want to go to school ... I sent her anyway. Next day she threw up and her fever was up. We were leaving on a trip (to Africa!) in a few days, so I took her to the ped - just in case. It was strep. At school they had to put these public health "some idiot sent her kid with a very contagious illness" notice in everyone's cubby. Ack. At least she was better for the trip!

Will be refreshing furiously tomorrow. :-)

[Susan]

We have had strep so many times in the past year (no, I will not count them for you, it's THAT depressing, particularly since I have had it the most of ANYONE)--we have had strep SO MANY times that now my six-year-old assumes ANY sore throat, even the kind you get from spending three hours at the pool YELLING at the top of your lungs because it is FUN is strep. And my four-year-old thinks that EVERY visit to the doctor includes the Q-tip swab.

Hope Patrick feels better, and that you don't succumb.

[Toni]

I'm optimistic as well...and I hope that it's many in there...many... :)

[Laura K.]

Good luck tomorrow!!

glad Patrick is feeling better, too. :)

[sozzled]

Iowa? IOWA?!?!

[Pam L]

I always got it wrong when my kids were little, taking them to the Dr. when they were fine, not taking them when they were sick and only finding out later they were really sick. Once we showed up for a regular visit to find out one had an ear infection and had never made a peep about it. My younger son had a broken collar bone and now thinks anytime something hurts really bad it's broken. He will also describe symptoms to me that make no sense and has at least one inexplicable pain or ache per day, hardly ever in the same place. So what do I do? Usually wait and see , and usually nothing comes of them. At least he tells me where it hurts, but that doesn't always tell me what to do about it. Luckily he is my second one and the first one was healthy as a horse most of the time. If this one had been first I would be riddled with self doubt and guilt constantly and know I was the worst mommy in the world for not having the intuition I was supposed to have.

[Jen]

I'm optimistic too! Glad to hear that Patrick is back to his old self!

[Barbara]

I'm all for optimism. Can't wait to hear (well, read) what the ultrasound show.

I'm glad Patrick is responding to the antibiotic.

When I was six years old I had a raging sore throat for three days and didn't tell anyone. I must have finally had some other symptoms because Mom called the doctor and he came to see me. They made housecalls in those days! He took one look at my throat and said accusingly to my mother, "She has had strep throat and now has scarlet fever!"
Poor Mom! She was mortified. But I had to have penicillin shots for the next three days, so my punishment was a sore bottom!

[gkk]

You want optimistic? I'm hoping like mad you'll have a fabbo u/s, get home and post all about the twins before it is bedtime in Australia :-) Fingers crossed.....

[Amanda]

I hope gets back to normal very soon.

Glad you are feeling good. I am praying for you and having good thoughts for this pregnancy.

Take care

[Amanda]

I hope Patrick gets back to normal very soon.

Glad you are feeling good. I am praying for you and having good thoughts for this pregnancy.

Take care

[terri c]

I have had strep a number of times, and quite frankly would much rather have strep than a virus b/c with strep you can take antibiotics and feel drastically better drastically quickly whereas with those nice viruses you get the three-week Awful Cough. Hoping YOU get good news today.