Thursday, February 23, 2012

viral upper respiratory infection

In other words, Audrey has her first cold! Why do doctors do that anyway? Diagnose in such a scary way when there's a simple way to say it. Like hemangioma. When Audrey was born and they told me she had a hemangioma, I freaked out! Just say birthmark for goodness' sake! Anyway, I digress...

Monday, she didn't quite seem her active self, but she didn't seem sick. Monday night at dinner, I noticed she was shivering, so I took her upstairs and she had a low grade fever of 100.3 degrees. Monday night was rough. She was in bed with us all night battling the fever. Tuesday was more of the same. We would give her Motrin or Tylenol and the fever would come down, but as it wore off, it would come right back up. So we took her to the doctor.

Audrey's doctor, who we LOVE, didn't have any appointments available so we saw another doctor in the practice. He said her ears looked fine, but that her throat was very red and she had her first "viral upper respiratory infection." He said it tends to last about 10 days and that the runny nose, congestion and cough would be on their way.

This doctor also made a comment that the reason she hadn't been sick until now was because I stayed home with her instead of putting her in daycare, and that "her kindergarten teacher will only see her a month out of the whole school year," because she'll be so sick. This really made me and my husband mad. We won't be seeing this doctor again, I don't care that he's been a doctor since I was a child. I would rather take my daughter to the Emergency Room. He made it seem like I was harming my daughter by staying home with her! First of all, you know nothing about my daughter except the symptoms I just told you has has now. And just because she isn't in daycare doesn't mean that we never leave the house! She is exposed to germs and people and other children. And maybe the reason she hasn't been sick yet is because she was breastfed for 13 1/2 months and has built a strong immune system! Grrrrrrrrrr... I'm not surprised at all that her first cold came right after we finished nursing for good.

Anyway, rant over for now I guess. Wednesday brought the constant runny nose and today she started with the cough. Her fever seems to be gone, but you can tell how much her throat hurts because her normal, awesome appetite is lacking! She is drinking okay, but it is a struggle to get her to eat anything but yogurt. I guess that's better than nothing, but it's just not like her.

So we're on day 4 and hopefully she starts to get better soon. Did I mention that all 4 of her molars are also coming in right now too? Poor baby! She does seem more like herself now that the fever is gone, but she's extra cuddly. I wish I could just make her better!

4 comments :

Sara @ Domestically Challenged said...

Whatever to that doctor. You do what is right for your family! He can't be certain of her being ill all of kindergarten!

Sonya said...

I don't mean to disagree with you but the doctor is probably right. You may notice that Audrey is sick more when she starts school. Being around 20-30 other germy kids all day tends to wear on ones immune system. I do not think that you are harming her in anyway by staying at home with her and I am sure that was not the doctor's intention when he brought up the fact that once she is around a bunch of other kids she may get sick more often. My sister in law is a kindergarten teacher and she can attest to kids being sick quite often the first half of the school year. It just happens when you are stuck in a room all day with a ton of other people.

I breastfed Lauren for 10 months and she was still sick during that time from being around germ carrying kids at daycare.

Sonya said...

I also meant to say I am sorry that Audrey isn't feeling well. Having a cold is never fun especially when you can't take any medicine. We do tylenol and ibuprfen, saline in the nose, and a humidifier and I feel like I am constantly suctioning their noses out but it seems to really help. Hang in there!!

Sara said...

I agree that germs spread easy in school and kids get sick. However, he was saying that she will be more sick than kids who went to daycare, and I disagree. Just because she's not in daycare does not mean she's not around other kids and germs. She is exposed to germs and is building a healthy immune system. Yes, I'm sure she'll get sick when she's in school. Every child does! Just like I'm sure she'll get sick again before she starts school. What bothers me is that the doctor was rude about it and implied that not putting her in daycare was harming her.