Sicky

Aaron has been off and on sick since just before the first of May.  And I have to say, it's getting old.  I feel so bad for him!  He started getting a fever just before Grandpa Farnsworth's birthday.  The fever eventually died out after several days but the runny nose persisted and he had a cough that nagged him at night.  Then last Friday night the fever crept up again.  At first it hovered around 101 but when it reached 104 on Sunday night we thought it was time to visit the doctor.  At the walk-in you rarely get to see your usual doctor so we saw another one in the practice.  She seemed nice and checked all that she could... throat, ears, lungs.  Aaron was crying most of the time and she could not hear very clearly.  She told us to listen to his lungs later and if John thought he sounded some crackles to call back.  (This is only since John is an ICU nurse and knows what to listen for.)

Later that afternoon, his temperature spiked to 105.1.  I had to give him a tepid bath as he screamed as if I were severly hurting him.  I almost cried too.  He had been on Children's Motrin and Tylenol for several days.  So I gave him another dose and snuggled until he calmed down.  He's a funny boy.  When the medicine kicks in he acts as if nothing is wrong.  He goes on playing and laughing and carrying on like everything is fine.  Then the medicine starts to fade and he reverts to cranky, clingy, I-want-my-blanket, boy.  It's very sad.  He doesn't always want to snuggle and sometimes he ONLY wants to snuggle with daddy.  I savor my rare mommy lovin' moments.

Somehow, it was noted that his lungs sounded just fine when we went in on Monday and when John called to say he thought he heard crakeling when he listened to his lungs, they told him they couldn't take his word for it and they would not prescribe anything since his check up was "fine."  Completly annoyed and with little other option, we took him to Children's Mercy on Wednesday, as ordered by the pediatrition's office, to get a chest x-ray.  They concluded that it is Bronchitus.  But is it viral or bacterial?  We were told to wait it out and call back if the fever and cough persists...  This must be their favorite line.  It seems to me that we are no better off than when we started.  The cough has gotten much worse and though we have times when his fever is low-grade or almost normal, it always creeps back at night.

It is now Thursday night and he went to bed with yet another 101.5 fever.  As has become normal for the last several days, he woke up coughing and crying.  When will this end?  Apparently it is a very serious thing to give kiddos antibiotics anymore and the doctors must be positive that they are needed before prescribing them.  I appreciate the concern and do not want to give medicine that is not needed either.  HOWEVER, if it is in fact bacterial than I would really like to get it all cleared up before we go to Oklahoma!!  Do colds with this kind of fever pattern really persist for over 3 weeks?