Illness & Children

So, a few weeks ago, I shared with you that we were going to go to a huge indoor playground for Lauren's third birthday. We did, and we were able to share her birthday with about 150 other kids, over half of which I am sure were carrying one form of virus or another.

That was a Friday. By Monday, Bree (4) was complaining of a sore throat. Great, here we go...another reason we stay home. When Bree gets sick, she gets cranky and feisty. She picks excessive fights with her sisters and parents and has frequent meltdowns. That is tough to deal with. But at least you can set her in another room, and she can melt there.

Last week, Lauren came down with this cold. She is my ultra-sensitive child. Her first response to the sniffles? Let's run a fever of 104. That is always fun. And let's not let it go down, unless mom wakes every three hours to administer different forms of fever reducing medications. We did this Wednesday through Saturday night. She stopped eating on Wednesday, and was taking only water through this time. Sunday, she decided she was done with everything, medications, water, juice. I had to beg her to eat a jelly bean Sunday afternoon when the nurse on the nurse line told me I needed to bring her in, but our insurance didn't really think ER visits are necessary. The nurse told me we could stay home if I could get Lauren to take one ounce of caloric substance every 15 min. HA! One ounce to a petite 30-pound, fever-running, completely lethargic, won't get out of my arms child is unheard of! Let alone every 15 minutes. I begged her to eat pudding, drink pop, juice, cookie dough truffle, I didn't care, as long as she would eat SOMETHING!

I was able to keep her out of the ER, and made it to urgent care first thing Monday morning. Let me explain how our insurance works. We do not have a co-pay for doctor's visits. We are each allowed three "free" visits a year. Free, however, does not include x-rays or labs. Basically, you can say hello for free. On your fourth and subsequent visits (or ER visits), you must pay for the entire cost, until the individual deductible of $1000 is met, then it is covered 80/20.

The nurse we see checks her out and finds that she has an ear infection in her right ear. Great. Can an ear infection cause my daughter to be so extremely sick? She tells me that if she doesn't eat or drink in the next 24 hours, then bring her back tomorrow and they will do labs (visit two of three) and then if her cough doesn't go away in 2-3 days, then bring her back again for x-rays. February, and our free visits for Lauren are gone. I insisted, due to the fact that my husband had to use a day of vacation to help--I just do not have enough hands--that she do the tests today. She had been sick since Wednesday. Of course, test came back clear. We administered the first of five antibiotic doses, which she fought tooth and nail, but got enough in her to give her severe diarrhea. Great again! She still isn't eating or drinking, and now diarrhea! Luckily, the small amount she had taken had been enough to also get her up and moving. She agreed to take some Tylenol, and then was able to eat some Jello and crackers and then dinner, too.

She is still coughing quite a bit today, but at least she is off of my lap. Bree seems to be kicking it. That leaves Megan...my 18-month-old trooper. She just walks around with a finger in her ear. "Owie". Yep, another visit to the doctor is in order today. "Mom? Can you help??"

I should be glad only one of my four child reacts this way to illnesses--we have probably gone through this with Lauren 6-8 times in the past 2 years. It is so difficult to deal with. But with such a sweetheart, I have no problems taking her into my arms...