More Medical Adventures With Judah

Judah was sick with a fever this past week.

We assumed he was just fighting off the same flu-bug the girls I babysit for had recently.



Isn't that so pitiful?

His fever ran for about three days or so, peaking in the afternoon and in the middle of the night.

This, of course, wreaked havoc on my sleep. I don't know about all you other moms out there, but I tend to sleep with one ear open whenever my kids are sick, and just don't get good sound sleep.

Especially when there is the slightest bit of congestion or concern over a possible middle of the night puke detail.

Judah had pitiful glassy sickie-boy eyes and wanted me to hold him a lot more than usual, but he still found the energy to play with his toys and was cooperative in drinking plenty of fluids.

Waiting on sick children kind of throws a wrench in your usual routine, so needless to say, it was a very, very long week.

Made even longer by trying to keep him seperate from the rest of the fam to try and prevent the rest of us from getting the same bug.

When he finally started feeling good again and hadn't had a fever for 24 hours, we invited the girls I babysat for to come over again.

And that evening was when he broke out with red spots.

All over his torso, back and front.





Naturally I thoroughly freaked myself out by looking up pictures and symptoms on the internet but was very proud of myself for deciding to just take him in and let the doctor tell me what it was and not worry in worst-case-scenario for nothing.

It was a small victory, really, not running into the clinic as soon as it opened this morning thinking my kid had smallpox or some other dread disease.

Nope, I was a good girl this time.

But because a recent bout with Scarlet Fever and Hives and an ER visit weren't enough to worry his poor mom (not to mention the full-time babysitting schedule that another family is depending on us for) we now have a new childhood illness to add to the list:

Roseola. Baby measles.

And oh, joy...it's contagious to other children.

Even if the doctor did say it's pretty much just a viral infection that manifests in a rash and not particularly worrisome.

Thankfully, Jericho was already immune, having had it at 18 months while we were on vacation. Unfortunately, hard as I try to not 'share' our germs with other people when we're sick, this one kind of broke the rules on us.

I just love (sarasm intended) having to be the bearer of such news to other parents, "Oh, by the way...while they were over here yesterday, your children was exposed to ______."

Because it's not exactly the kind of news a parent says, "Thank You!" for.

Especially when it renders their kids cranky, contagious and more or less out-of-commish for a week.

Not that we could help it or anything...we took every possible preventative measure, but still, kind of embarrassing.

While at the clinic, the doctor detected a slight heart murmur.

One which wasn't detected by several medical personnel when Judah recently had his nickel removal procedure.

And speaking of which, that little emergency procedure to get "da money" out of our boy turned out to be quite spendy.



Yep, that would be 2 digits in front of the comma.

Thank God for good health insurance!

Our portion of the bill came to "only" $100.



Or $99.95 if you subtract the nickel.

*sigh*

Some folks worry about their boys eating them out of house and home with their 'growing boy' appetites, but for us it's a matter of being nickeled and Dimed by all the visits to the Doctor and the E.R.

And I ask you, does this look like a kid who has been sick all week?



Personally I think he's growing to enjoy being waited on hand and foot and is milking it for all he can.