Anyway he went off to bed at his usual bedtime. Flash forward a few hours, and we've got 5 couples over for a "serious" poker night (read: kick the wives out of the game), when I hear a sad little cry coming from his room. He was BURNING UP (read: he had a fever of some sort, which to me is cause for alarm). Well, emergency, clearly! So, obvi, sent my husband out to the pharmacy (on foot, because parking is that bad in our neighborhood), along with four of his poker buddies for a midnight pickup of some children's tylenol and Ibuprophein (new apartment, medicine cabs are still bare). Its funny, because I can remember a few short years ago when midnight runs were for something entirely different...but I digress. Anyway, despite the "poker timer" (what is that anyway? Like, really?), the mission was accomplished and fueled with a little meds, the fever reduced and he went back to bed.
Sadly enough, he did wake up the next day "sicky" as we call it, so date day was squashed. He started to get a bad cough and the nose was not a pretty sight so today, after hours lying in front of the TV watching Dora and refusing food I took him to the doctor.
Now, I procrastinated because it went down exactly as I expected. We sat in the Dr's office for a good hour and half. In that time he shifted between coughing everywhere, crying (I wouldn't let him play with the babies) and falling asleep on my arm in a weird position for the duration of our wait. I kept thinking to myself, as I listened to the chorus of sick children with hacking coughs and sneezes flying, if a kid wasn't sick when he walked in there, he was guaranteed something when he walked out.
When we did get to see the Dr, he ran the usual tests and came up with "its not Strep or ear infections, so its something viral". What's the treatment, doc? You guessed it...Tylenol and Motrin! and 4 minutes later we are out the door, with a quick stop for stickers at the Nurse's desk and to shell out some cash for the visit.
Its hard to feel helpless, when you're the one in charge. But, its part of the gig. We just do the best with what we have. After day 3 of sicky (and here's hoping its also the final day of sicky), I've compiled a little survival kit for getting through "something viral":
1. Good ol' Tylenol. I don't give medicine a lot but when I know my child is in pain, running a fever and its making him feel awful, its simply a necessity.
2. Saline is awesome. Two spritz's in each nostril, and all the gross stuff comes dripping right out. It is, however, battle-inducing in my home. Sadly, it requires two of us, one for distraction and one for the stealth move (a.k.a. The Spritzer). Nonetheless, its a must for a child with a cold. Its also something I travel with, because when I clear out my son's nasal passages on flights, he doesn't cry from ear pain during take-off and landing.
3. Boogie Wipes are great for when you lose the saline battle. These super-soft wet wipes contain saline, so they clean out the, um, boogies well.
4. Copious amounts of your child's favorite cartoons - in our case its the purple dude and the bi-lingual adventuress. Usually, I am all about turning the TV off but when toddlers run a fever, much like us, their energy is zapped. Sometimes, a kid just needs to veg. And if you are an Amazon Prime member than you may not realize you have access to a ton of great TV shows and videos free! Amazon Instant Video has got entire seasons of shows like Dora the Explorer and Barney and Friends, free to watch for Prime members.
5. Fluids! Its okay if your child goes through a couple days of a poor appetite but they must get in those fluids or more problems will occur. So keep the cup/bottle filled and right by their side, maybe propped up next to the blanky and pillow in the comfy spot on the couch ;)
I'd love to know - what tops off your list?
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