Friday, January 4, 2013

Chubby Cheekers...One Sick Dude

So last Friday I had to take Chubby Cheekers to the doctor.  He had a snotty nose and a pretty wet cough since Christmas, but when a small fever popped up I called the nurse line.  They wanted to see him.

While sitting in the waiting area I couldn't believe we were there.  He was crawling around and chatting it up with everyone in the waiting room.  The nurse calls us back and he's just waving and smiling.  We get to the room and she takes his temperature.  It was 101.3. Okay, so it was up a bit more. Maybe we did need to be here.

The Nurse Practioner walks in and checks his lungs first.  Super clear.  Then she tries to get a good look in his ears.  Welp, apparently homeboy has an issue with ear wax in his left ear because she had to remove a chunk about the size of Connecticut before she see.  I was thoroughly grossed out.  She said possible start to an ear infection.  Great, let's get some antibiotics and get out of here.

Just as I thought we had solved the problem, she tells me she wants to run a flu, strep, and RSV test.  What the what?  Why in the world do we need to do that???  So there we are holding down a baby who doesn't appear to be sick so she can get a good sample of snot, and a wonderful swab of the throat.  I was so impressed with Chubby Cheekers.  He didn't even cry.  Such a man of steel.  In fact, the nurse practioner made a comment about how laid back he was. Psh!  I knew he was putting on the ultimate show. Little Stinker.

We sat there for a good 20 minutes and little by little the results rolled in.  RSV...positive.  Flu...positive.  Strep...positive.  I am not lying.  I felt like the dirtiest mom alive.  Seriously.  How does a 10 month old get all that?  So we walked out with a antibiotic script and Tamiflu script, both of which taste like butt and cause diarrhea (antibiotic) and nausea (Tamiflu).  Perfect.  Just what we need.

Fast forward a week, and Chubby Cheekers is still behaving normally.  He's done with the Tamiflu and half of his antibiotic, and I'm still wondering if there were false positives.  I can't imagine a baby as young as him being diagnosed with so much and only running a 101.3 fever for half of a day, then BAM!  No more fever.  Eating fine, sleeping fine, playing fine. So weird, right?

So medical professional, enlighten me please.  Do you think the tests were accurate?  Did we just catch it early?  Do I have a super baby?  Is there such thing as false positives?  I'm a bit curious.

On a totally unrelated note, Chubby Cheekers has been toying with the idea of walking.  I would love for him to be up and about now.  I'm tired of his hands being all over the floor.


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