Strep. Again. Ugh.
It has been one of the longest weeks of my parenting career. Hunter had a hard weekend, and we weren't sure why- short-tempered, agitated, whiney...we just attributed it to a busy week. Saturday night, Paige came downstairs (which wasn't out of the ordinary- she had for the past couple of nights) and told me she was cold. Sure enough, with a quick touch of the forehead, we knew she had a fever. She spent the rest of the night with us and ran fever all Mother's Day. They still spoiled me with presents, breakfast, and best of all...I slept till 8! Amazing!
Sunday afternoon, as I looked at Paige's throat and heard her muffled voice, I hypothesized the dreaded strep. She had just had strep a few weeks ago, but maybe she hadn't cleared it all. I knew Peter was traveling for work Monday through late Thursday, so we decided to take her to urgent care to get a culture and have them listen to her lungs. The rapid strep came back negative, and the doctor told us that she had been seeing a lot of Adenovirus. She convinced me that it was a viral infection, and we left with the hopes that she could go back to school in a day or two. Monday she continued to run fever, going up to 103. I treated her with Motrin when it went that high, so she could be comfortable, and gave her cool rags, lukewarm baths, etc. Tuesday, she still hadn't kicked the fever. Her tonsils now were super swollen and her voice was more muffled- she just looked streppy to me. I called and talked with the nurses at the pediatrician, who also agreed it was probably viral, and not to rush in- I could bring her in the next day. She fell asleep on my bed for a bit in the afternoon as I fed the boys dinner, and when I came in to check her temperature, 105 registered with a quick swipe across the forehead. I gasped, which woke her out of her slumber. "What's wrong??"
I put her immediately in the bath, told her everything was fine, and filled a new jug of ice cold water. I couldn't give another dose of Motrin for 30 minutes, so we treated naturally until then. I called a friend, who had offered to sit with the boys, put them to bed, and we headed back to the urgent care. Even though I had an appointment scheduled with the pediatrician the next morning, I didn't feel like a 105 temperature could wait.
When we arrived, the nurses took one look in her mouth and got the swab started again. The doctor came in, did her examination, and went out to check the second rapid strep test of the week- and came back in surprised. "It's negative. I can't believe it, looking at her mouth." She told us that they had seen a lot of mono, so they did a finger prick test, which came back faintly positive. The course of treatment for mono is to sit out from activities for up to six weeks, due to the chance of rupturing an enlarged spleen. The doctor recommended doing the full blood test to get an accurate read. Paige screamed, cried, "I've been through so much already this week!" She hates to get swabbed. We numbed her arm with cream, waited another 30 minutes, and they collected the blood with a little struggle.
Day 4 we still had fever. Day 5 we still had fever. I didn't think I would ever work again, and I didn't think my sweet girl was ever going to recover from this nasty "virus."
Day 6. I called the urgent care to see if the mono results were back from the lab. No mono results (we will hopefully find out tomorrow), but the nurse informed me that the strep culture had come back, and it was positive for Strep Group A ( a small amount).
ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME????
I knew in my mommy gut that it had been strep. She presents the same EVERY SINGLE TIME. Doesn't sleep at night the few nights before, fever, and muffled voice. Plus, Hunter had been off all weekend, especially when they were seated next to one another.
They hadn't wanted to treat originally, because it is not recommended to do antibiotics if positive for mono. Since we had inconclusive results, they didn't want to take a chance.
So our sweet girl sat for almost an entire week with strep in her vocal cavity.
And hopefully that is where it stayed.
I thought back to the week Hunter first became ill. We never finished the prescribed antibiotic, due to an allergic reaction, and never started another. After that, we couldn't get rid of strep. One infection after the other. Hello, PANDAS.
Paige had to give up so many things this week- soccer games, softball games, Field Day (she was heartbroken when I told her she couldn't go on Friday), a makeover birthday party with a limo ride...the list goes on.
Not to mention she has been confined to our bedroom, and watched reruns of Jessie a few too many times. Hello, boring.
I ran tonight and just thought about, once again, how much strep has taken from our family's lives. I know it is just a party, or just a game, and these opportunities will come again...
but the simple fact that I let strep ride for almost a week without medical intervention takes away my confidence in our future.
Could Paige be a strep carrier? One of those who is asymptomatic and carries the bacteria, possibly infecting others? Am I a strep carrier? I had too many strep infections to count growing up, scarlet fever, and was treated (along with the kids) for Strep B with all of their births.
Can we ever expect a full recovery with carriers in the house?
We won't experience a second child with PANDAS, will we?
We are on a heavy duty antibiotic this round to hopefully say goodbye to strep with Paige for a long time.
Hoping everyone else stays free from the Monster who makes me so infuriated, so sad...
so scared.
Sunday afternoon, as I looked at Paige's throat and heard her muffled voice, I hypothesized the dreaded strep. She had just had strep a few weeks ago, but maybe she hadn't cleared it all. I knew Peter was traveling for work Monday through late Thursday, so we decided to take her to urgent care to get a culture and have them listen to her lungs. The rapid strep came back negative, and the doctor told us that she had been seeing a lot of Adenovirus. She convinced me that it was a viral infection, and we left with the hopes that she could go back to school in a day or two. Monday she continued to run fever, going up to 103. I treated her with Motrin when it went that high, so she could be comfortable, and gave her cool rags, lukewarm baths, etc. Tuesday, she still hadn't kicked the fever. Her tonsils now were super swollen and her voice was more muffled- she just looked streppy to me. I called and talked with the nurses at the pediatrician, who also agreed it was probably viral, and not to rush in- I could bring her in the next day. She fell asleep on my bed for a bit in the afternoon as I fed the boys dinner, and when I came in to check her temperature, 105 registered with a quick swipe across the forehead. I gasped, which woke her out of her slumber. "What's wrong??"
I put her immediately in the bath, told her everything was fine, and filled a new jug of ice cold water. I couldn't give another dose of Motrin for 30 minutes, so we treated naturally until then. I called a friend, who had offered to sit with the boys, put them to bed, and we headed back to the urgent care. Even though I had an appointment scheduled with the pediatrician the next morning, I didn't feel like a 105 temperature could wait.
When we arrived, the nurses took one look in her mouth and got the swab started again. The doctor came in, did her examination, and went out to check the second rapid strep test of the week- and came back in surprised. "It's negative. I can't believe it, looking at her mouth." She told us that they had seen a lot of mono, so they did a finger prick test, which came back faintly positive. The course of treatment for mono is to sit out from activities for up to six weeks, due to the chance of rupturing an enlarged spleen. The doctor recommended doing the full blood test to get an accurate read. Paige screamed, cried, "I've been through so much already this week!" She hates to get swabbed. We numbed her arm with cream, waited another 30 minutes, and they collected the blood with a little struggle.
Day 4 we still had fever. Day 5 we still had fever. I didn't think I would ever work again, and I didn't think my sweet girl was ever going to recover from this nasty "virus."
Day 6. I called the urgent care to see if the mono results were back from the lab. No mono results (we will hopefully find out tomorrow), but the nurse informed me that the strep culture had come back, and it was positive for Strep Group A ( a small amount).
ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME????
I knew in my mommy gut that it had been strep. She presents the same EVERY SINGLE TIME. Doesn't sleep at night the few nights before, fever, and muffled voice. Plus, Hunter had been off all weekend, especially when they were seated next to one another.
They hadn't wanted to treat originally, because it is not recommended to do antibiotics if positive for mono. Since we had inconclusive results, they didn't want to take a chance.
So our sweet girl sat for almost an entire week with strep in her vocal cavity.
And hopefully that is where it stayed.
I thought back to the week Hunter first became ill. We never finished the prescribed antibiotic, due to an allergic reaction, and never started another. After that, we couldn't get rid of strep. One infection after the other. Hello, PANDAS.
Paige had to give up so many things this week- soccer games, softball games, Field Day (she was heartbroken when I told her she couldn't go on Friday), a makeover birthday party with a limo ride...the list goes on.
Not to mention she has been confined to our bedroom, and watched reruns of Jessie a few too many times. Hello, boring.
I ran tonight and just thought about, once again, how much strep has taken from our family's lives. I know it is just a party, or just a game, and these opportunities will come again...
but the simple fact that I let strep ride for almost a week without medical intervention takes away my confidence in our future.
Could Paige be a strep carrier? One of those who is asymptomatic and carries the bacteria, possibly infecting others? Am I a strep carrier? I had too many strep infections to count growing up, scarlet fever, and was treated (along with the kids) for Strep B with all of their births.
Can we ever expect a full recovery with carriers in the house?
We won't experience a second child with PANDAS, will we?
We are on a heavy duty antibiotic this round to hopefully say goodbye to strep with Paige for a long time.
Hoping everyone else stays free from the Monster who makes me so infuriated, so sad...
so scared.
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