Sicker Than...

Everyone in our neighborhood is either sick as hell, or recovering from being sick as hell. No exceptions at our house.

Leelo's got the worst of it. He has been ill in not necessarily the most intense but definitely the most miserable way I've ever seen him, for the past three days. He keeps getting successively higher fever waves, and is wracked by a constant, full-body cough. Very little eating during this time (meaning very few supplements). And, of course, all therapy/play sessions are off.

He's also been up for big chunks of the last three nights, mostly due to fever spikes. Our good DAN doctor assures us fevers indicate the body's natural defense forces are rallying against the virulent invaders, and, unless his temperature exceeds 102F, we should treat him by stripping off excess clothing and/or applying tepid sponge baths. No Acetaminophen (Tylenol) and definitely no stomach-ravaging Ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) unless we talk to Dr. P first.

Well, last night he raged from 1 to 2 A.M., culminating in a spike of 103.1F (thank you, lovely rectal thermometer). Seymour kept insisting that we wait it out, and that his cough wasn't that bad (extended, paroxysmal coughing spasms every 3-4 minutes?!?!). I pulled rank and got the boy some Tylenol and cough syrup. Even so we spent the next few hours trading watches with the still-inconsolable boy, until he finally crashed at 4:00.

Understandably, by this morning I'd had it and dragged Leelo to Dr. G, our traditional pediatrician. Thankfully Dr. G is skilled, and was able to detect wheezing in our boy's lungs even though the screaming never stopped. We haven't reached bronchitis/antibiotics yet, but we're only a few steps away. Dr. G is recommending Albuterol, a hardcore bronchial dilator, to prevent Leelo's reaching that point. But I don't know if Dr. P, our DAN doctor, approves of this treatment, and it's been three hours since I placed a call to him asking about it. I will only put up with Leelo howling, hacking, and refusing to talk or eat for two more hours, and then I'm picking up that prescription. Surely Albuterol is a lesser evil than an antibiotic.

Also understandably, we didn't do much this weekend except try to keep the boy comfortable and Iz from climbing the walls. I took advantage of yesterday's self-induced family quarantine to make a huge batch of Leelo-friendly chicken soup from scratch, but as always he wouldn't touch it.

And of course today is a teachers in-service day at Iz's school, which means she's off for the day. Blessings upon Ep the big softie, who left me do a dump-and-run a couple of hours ago.

This Saturday is Leelo's birthday party. Usually our parties are crazy blow-outs, but--since I haven't done a damn thing about it yet--this one should be tolerably low-key. Playgroup-goers, godparents, and family members only. Leelo loves chickens. I wonder if you can rent a chicken petting zoo for a party?