Unwanted house guest

We have an unwanted house guest and it won't leave. I call it the "cooties", but it goes by other names. Some of them include: fever, cold, virus, pneumonia, ear infection. I don't care what it is, I just want it to leave my baby alone.

As I stated in the previous post, Randy started daycare. His first day was Tuesday, August 4th. He began to get sick Thursday, August 6th and has been sick ever since. His only full week of daycare was the first week. He is only supposed to attend on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The "cootie" reign goes like this:

Thursday, August 6th-Low grade temp
Friday, August 7th-Runny nose and sneezing
Weekend-fevers ranging 99.9 F-102.9 F

Monday, August 1oth-temp 103.5 F, sneezing, runny nose, cough
Tuesday, August 11th-visit doc, chest xray (normal), blood (normal); called it a virus
Wednesday, August 12th-fever breaks, cough, runny nose, and sneezing persist

Tuesday, August 18th-ears start to drain; cough, runny nose, and sneezing persist
Saturday, August 22nd-back to doctor; double ear infection, antibiotic and ear drops

Monday, August 24th-cough persists; starting to sound like a bark; go to urgent care; suspect pneumonia and pertussis (whooping cough); new antibiotic and nose spray
Tuesday, August 25th-No whooping cough; symptoms continue but not as severe

Have you noticed that we are in week three of the "cootie reign". I need some volunteers for my army so I can kick this thing out of my house!!!

Whew!

It has been over three weeks since I posted. I guess that what happens when you go back to work. I started work about 2 1/2 weeks ago. It was kind of hard since I had been off for six weeks. I enjoyed going to therapy in the morning and piddling around with Randy. We both loved our mid morning naps and staying up late. But all that has come to an end.

Randy also started daycare. It has been hard. I have been debating whether or not to send him. The daycare specializes in children with special needs: developmental and medical. The staff:child ratio is low and there is a full time nurse on staff. He goes three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. He goes to his home sitter the other two days. He has started in the infant room, but will transition to the toddler room next month. There are five children in the infant room and one or two teachers.

He handled the change great. He did not cry when I left (but I did). He was happy to see me when I came to pick him up, but was ok when I dropped him off on Thursday. But one of my fears became reality on day 3; he got sick! He woke up with a runny nose. By noon, the nurse called me and said he had a low grade temp. She gave him Tylenol. This was Friday.

He began to sneeze that night and his temp crept up another degree. By Saturday morning he was coughing, sneezing, rubbing his eyes, and his temp was up to 102. He was miserable all day, and I could not get the fever all the way down.

On Sunday the fever seemed to break, but the other symptoms stayed. Monday morning he went to his sitter. After his nap, his temp soared again; this time to 103.5. It stayed elevated the rest of the day despite Tylenol.

I took him to the doctor Tuesday morning. The pediatrician hoped it was just a virus, but was a little worried about the cough and the fever. He swabbed his throat and sent him to Children's Hospital for a chest x-ray and bloodwork. The strep screen was negative as was the chest x-ray. The preliminary bloodwork was normal and the culture will be back in a week.

By Wednesday he began to feel better; and today he went back to daycare. I hope this illness is not a preview of what our winter will be. Also my second fear became a reality too. He lost weight.