Sickies

I never thought of us as a family of sickies but it seems like every fall and every spring we go through a round of illness that just lasts forever.

Lyla came down with a fever last Sunday. We kept her home on Monday and took her to the doctor because they had strep at her new preschool (Steven's old school). Diagnosis was a virus and we ended up keeping her home for two more days with a fever. Funny thing was, she was fine. She was happy and played hard all day but still had a fever that made us keep her home from school.

Finally Thursday came, both kids at school, parents full day at work and plans to go to Science Night at the zoo. I picked up Steven and all hopes for ending the week strong were cancelled. He had a fever of 103.5. Fortunately earlier in the week Tommy's director had granted a free vacation day on Friday, so neither one of us had to take another half day from work.

Steven's fever continued on Friday and Saturday. Saturday night he woke up several times with a barking cough and wheezing. At one point I took him in the bathroom to steam him but he wasn't having it. Sunday morning I called the pediatrician and they ordered us to bring him to urgent care that afternoon.

Urgent care resulted in a chest xray and blood work to measure his white cell count. He did great with the xray; they gave him a little lead apron to wear to protect his lower half - he thought it was hilarious. The tech had to take about six shots before he figured out how to stand still. Then came the blood work. I made the mistake of telling him what they would do in the waiting room. He was screaming bloody murder by the time they sat us in the chair. But immediately when it was done he stopped, got 7 dinosaur stickers and happily returned to the exam room.

Resulting diagnosis ... virus. Argh. Can't we just get something to stop the coughs and wheezing?