Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The "Daycare Curse"

That is what Dr. O diagnosed Graham with on Monday.

This past weekend Graham and I went to Texarkana to welcome Uncle Steven home. On Sunday, Graham was so hot and fussy so I took his temperature and it was 102. I started freakin out because in all of the material that I read, it says if they have a fever of 101 or above to take them to the dr. and of course it's Sunday, no doctor and only ER's are open. and I'm in Texarkana. Texarkana is my HOME but not really MY HOME. if that makes any sense. I've lived in Little Rock for almost 6 years now and to me, it's just home now. So I felt so out of my element and I was just so discombobulated and didn't know what to do. So I gave him Tylenol and Mimi and Poppi gave Graham a bath to soak in and his temp ended up dropping and he took a good nap so I decided to just go ahead and come back to Little Rock and see how he was doing when I got home.

by the time we arrived in Little Rock (around 430pm), g was doing fine. he was happy but still had a fever and it wouldn't go below 101. so i called the emergency after hours line and the nurse told me to just give him Tylenol and to keep monitoring his temp. and to take him to his pediatrician in the morning but if he starts breathing fast to take him to the ER.

So, i put graham in bed with me and we put daddy on the couch. graham didn't sleep well at all. plus his temp spiked all night long and at one point was almost 103 and he cried and whined and then would laugh, smile and play...everything but sleeping. so the next morning, i took his temp again and it was 100 so I went ahead and sent him to school and I went to work for a bit and made graham a drs appt.

We went to see Dr. O at 11:10am and after assessing Graham (no ear infections, no pneumonia, no bronchitis and NOT teething and again, NO RSV) he told me that Graham has the "daycare curse" and there is really nothing that can be done about it and i shouldn't be too concerned with it no matter how terrible he sounds when he is breathing, coughing, hacking, etc. He told me to be concerned about his cold/congestion/respiratory infection IF he starts breathing fast as in 40-60 breaths/minute or isn't eating or gaining weight. If those two things are to occur, then we have a problem that should be addressed. Also, concerning his fever, the dr said if it's a one or two day fever, no problem. Just give him Tylenol. If it gets to be 3 days or more, then that needs to be addressed as well.

I also asked him about Graham's spitting up and sometimes it's even PROJECTILE...like straight out of The Exorcist and it seriously freaks me out. he said that some babies are just spitters and it could be because he is on straight formula now. and again, nothing to worry too much about unless he's not gaining weight. but he went ahead and put graham on Reglan and Zantec and for me to try it out for a week and if there isn't any improvement, to stop the medications and maybe I could try switching his formula to ones that are for babies that spit up.

So that is where we are at now. Dr. O did make me feel a lil more comforted about g's cold stuff. maybe now I won't freak out so much when he's rattling and wheezing. I just hate it. I hate my baby being sick and there's nothing to do about it.

G's fever kept jumping up and down all day Monday and Tuesday but by Tuesday evening all was fine. He stayed in between 98 and 99. and is still as happy as can be! The only time he seemed really pitiful was when we were in Texarkana. I think it may have just been really hot in Mimi & Poppi's sunroom (really the only place we all hangout at in the house now that they have it finished) with all of the windows and sky lights and then the heaters were on as well. So that could have made his fever spike even MORE.

Please still keep him in your prayers.

I can't wait for Spring to get here.

3 comments:

Lea Liz said...

I can't wait for spring either!!
Sorry your little man has been so sick, I will hate when Brody gets high temps I know I will get so scared and nervous!! I hope that he gets to feeling 100% better soon!!

Amanda said...

I hope he feels soooo much better soon. And yes, isn't it funny how mom always knows best?! You guys are in my prayers.

Lucy said...

I really hope Graham feels better very soon! Isn't it the worst when your little one is sick because you would do anything to have it be you instead of them?? You are such a wonderful mother Stephanie, and you are taking excellent care of Graham.