Fever

Last week was my most challenging one as a mother yet. Kenny and I both started feeling a little sick on Easter Sunday; we had sore throats and some head congestion. I ran a fever on Monday afternoon and was generally miserable for a few hours. My doctor ended up prescribing a Z-pack for me, which seemed to help, but it took about a week for me to feel like myself again. Kenny is also luckily doing much better.

If it had just been us, it wouldn’t have been a big deal at all. But then Riley came down with a fever on Tuesday night before he went to bed. And that fever didn’t go away until late on Saturday night.

At its highest Riley’s fever measured 104.5. So, so scary. He mostly handled it like a champ, though: still wanting to play with his trucks, watch Mickey, etc. He didn’t want to eat as much as usual, but that’s understandable. He did keep drinking his juice, though, so he stayed hydrated. He also woke up in the middle of the night a few times crying, which just broke my heart.

I was in touch with his doctor’s office all week, and they told me to just do what Kenny and I had already been doing: getting him to eat when we could, keeping him hydrated, and alternating between acetaminophen and ibuprofen to keep the fever down.

Dr. N thought at first that Riley could have roseola, a very common childhood disease. She said she expected his fever to go away on Thursday and for him to break out in the telltale rash shortly thereafter. But when he woke up on Friday still running a fever, she told me to bring him in so she could see him before the weekend.

Leaving Rory with Nola, I took Riley to see Dr. N on Friday just before lunch. This was when his fever measured the highest, but that could have been because we hadn’t given him any medicine since he had woken up that morning. I wanted Dr. N to be able to evaluate him without any outside influences. Probably not the best decision on my part.

He was so not himself while we were at the doctor, and I got really, really worried about him. He was burning up, snuggled into my chest, and so very lethargic. The polar opposite of my healthy Riley-bean.

 

Dr. N looked him over and said she thought it could be one of three things. She still thought it could be roseola, in which case his fever would be gone and the rash would appear by Saturday night. His fever was the most obvious symptom but she also said his throat was very red, which could indicate tonsillitis, and had a couple of raw patches in it, which could indicate herpangina.

The tricky part was treating for all three possibilities. She said to continue the acetaminophen and the ibuprofen. If his fever hadn’t broken by Saturday night, roseola was off the table, and we were to fill a prescription for an antibiotic (Azithromycin) to treat for tonsillitis. If the antibiotic didn’t work, then it was most likely herpangina, which is viral and would have to go away on its own.

When he was still feverish on Saturday after his nap, I went to get the prescription filled, and we gave him his first dose just before dinner. His fever finally broke sometime after he went to sleep, but who knows if it was just good timing or if it was because of the meds. All I know is that I was so thankful he was finally starting to feel better.

Kenny went into his room three times on Saturday night to give him more fever meds in an attempt to keep it down. The first time was when he discovered the fever had likely broken, but only because he could not wake him up for anything and resorted to stroking his head and rubbing his back in an unsuccessful effort to do so. The boy was so tired from being sick for four days that he had completely and utterly passed out. But since he finally felt cooler, Kenny didn’t force him to wake up. He did get lots of unexpected Sleepy Bean pictures, though (on both Saturday and Sunday nights).

  

However, Riley woke up on his own, crying, around 4am. He settled very quickly and Kenny gave him another dose of medicine. He slept until 7:30, ate a good breakfast, and played around the house most of the morning.

It was around 11am that we made a big mistake. We let him go outside for almost two hours. The good part is that he had lots of fun after being cooped up inside for so long. He napped well, I brought him over to Nola and Nopsi’s for a bit afterwards, and he ate a decent dinner. But he started feeling a little warm when we left Nola’s. And sure enough: when Kenny took his temp right before his bath, he was running a fever again.

We let him do too much too soon, and it totally backfired on us. I cannot stress how much relief I felt when his fever had finally abated, only to have it come right back less than 24 hours later, which made me feel awful. However, he woke up yesterday morning with a normal temp after having slept soundly through the night. My plan this week is to take it really easy and keep him inside until whatever he’s got is good and gone.

The only saving grace throughout this whole ordeal is that Rory somehow escaped catching any of the germs flying through the house. THANK. GOD.

I must give incredibly huge thanks to both Nola and Grandma. I’m not sure Kenny and I would have survived the week and retained our sanity were if not for the two of them. Thank you so much for being there for us and for helping us as much as you did. We are so grateful.

I hope we don’t have to deal with sickness again for a good long while. Because I’m pretty sure I aged an extra few years last week. And I’m not sure my heart can take more of that kind of stress right now.