So after ten months of fantastic health, my little guy has caught his first nasty virus. He, along with the rest of the family, did have a bout with the flu back in February, but he seemed to weather it better, and just had a wee bit of fever for a day or so and was done with it. This, in contrast to Jordi and myself, who spent the better part of five days battling high fevers and exhaustion, along with chills and lots of moaning and groaning.
Yesterday morning, as I picked him up out of his chair after a less than successful breakfast (which is unusual for our champion eater), he felt a bit warmer than usual. After a quick thermometer up the bum, it was confirmed that he did have a bit of a fever at 37.7 C (99.8 F for those of you playing at home). Not a biggie, though with all of our issues with Mati and fever seizures it is still hard for me to adjust to the fact that life can carry on a bit better when Keane falls ill. We went on with our plans for the day, but around lunchtime, I discovered that along with the low-grade fever, he had also developed a bit of a rash.
So, off to the doctor we went, to find that due to the holiday schedule of the doctors, there was only a pediatrician in the mornings, and we would have to see one of the doctors that catered to adults. She gave him an exam and pronounced that he just had a heat rash. Really?, I thought, thinking that the body temp was a bit higher than normal to be considered a heat rash, but both she and the pediatric nurse on duty did not seem terribly concerned, and so kept my thoughts to myself.
Fast forward to last night, after the temperature shot up to 39.3 C (102.2 F), Keane throwing up his dinner, and being generally much crankier than usual (as he is the sunniest, most content little guy you are likely to meet - why else do you think I flew twice to the US, by myself, with him) and the heat rash theory seemed to be obviously inaccurate.
The fever raged through the night, and unlike his sister, it has been discovered that Keane does not enjoy the taste of orange-flavored Dalsy, the brand of children's ibuprofen available here. When trying to administer it at around 5am, he promptly vomited all over my jammies, his diaper, and our pillows. Nice. So had to dilute it with water and drip it on his pacifier (and on the bed, new jammies, and self). He was not pleased, but the fever did start to drop.
Upon awakening for the day, I sent Jordi in search of suppository Ibuprofen and Paracetamol (Tylenol, for those of you still playing along from the States). He returned with just the Paracetamol, saying that the pharmacist was flummoxed that he didn't like the flavor of Dalsy, and that it didn't come in an up the bum version. Paracetamol doesn't seem to do much for this fever, and Keane was again most displeased with the bum method, so we did battle once again with the Dalsy, along with some wet cloths, and the fever has been gone for a few hours now. Let's hope another fever spike is not part of this evening's agenda.
The rash is persisting, and I can't quite figure out what he has, though Jordi reminded me that Matilda had something very similar a few years ago. Most bugs that come with a rash (Roseola, Fifth disease, Measles) typically have the rash appearing after the fever, not on the same day the fever starts.
Who knows? It will be nice to have my baby boy all better again, eating well, and filling back out to his normal chubby self. It will also be nice not to have to stick things up his bum and hope that he doesn't shower me with vomit after every meal as well. Joys of parenting, right?
No comments:
Post a Comment