Nathan was doing great in the hospital. He took me on many trips to hospital's freezer to get more jell-o and ice cream! His temp the whole time had been in the mid 97's! And the last temp they took on him was like 98.8. I noticed it was going up a little. But the nurse told me that it's not uncommon for him to develop a LOW GRADE fever within the next few days, because the body's first defense when something happens to it is to heat up. Kill bacteria. But nothing over 102.5, so I thought nothing of it.But it seems that he's just been going down hill ever since he left the hospital. Which they warned me about. #1, he's not getting the anti-inflammatory steroid anymore, and #2. his doctor told me not to be surprised if day #4 or 5 was his worst day in recovery. So I kept telling myself that.
He's been taking 5 ml. of Tylenol with Codeine every 4 hours since he got home, and I even woke him up and gave it to him through the night on the first night home, on the nurse's advice. But last night I just let him sleep, hoping he wouldn't need it.
But then this morning he woke up and then just started CRYING!! He said that he feels sick. So I gave him his Tylenol with Codeine and hoped the time would pass quickly until it kicked in and took the edge off of his pain. And after a while he stopped crying. But THEN he sat up and said he felt sick, and then threw up in a nearby container. I thought that sucked that he threw up, but it was hardly anything, and I didn't see any of his pink colored medicine either. So I just kept reassuring myself in my head and went on with my day.
He asked for oatmeal for breakfast and only ate two bites, and then fell asleep. I also gave him a Capri Sun which he drank on all day, but only drank not even 1/2 of it! And mid day, we took a quick trip to the gas station for some gas, and once he sat up on the couch, he got dizzy and threw up again. And then tonight he has a spoonful fo Jell-o before he gave it away to Matthew. All day, he's eaten two bites of oatmeal and a spoonful of jell-o. So by NOW I'm becoming CONCERNED... not worried, but concerned, because he hasn't been eating or drinking all day. So I go look at my discharge papers and see that there is a phone number that I can call if I have any problems or concerns. So I call it and she pages the ENT doctor on call and says he'll call me back. I said, "ok" and then hung up.
Then I took Nathan's temperature.
102.7!!!
NOW I'm worried.So I call the lady back to tell her that the doctor hasn't called me yet and to update her on my new concern of the high fever. She said she'd call me back in 30 min if the doc hadn't called me back by then. So I went and cooked dinner, and then took Nathan's temp again, but this time in his armpit because he was sleeping, and it was 101.2. Then I called the lady back because it had been an hour, and she said she'd have a nurse practitioner call me back because she'd have better advice to give me. So she did. And the nurse told me to take him into the Acute Care Clinic here on Schofield so they could evaluate him.
But I wasn't even about to go to the ACC before eating dinner!! So I ate my enchiladas, got Nathan dressed, packed up my purse, grabbed my keys ready to head out the door, and the phone rang. IT WAS THE ENT DOCTOR ON CALL! Finally.
HE advised me NOT to go to the ACC because he said they would just call him. And since his fever was down under 102 he said just to watch him, and if it goes over 102 again we can set up and appointment for him to be seen tomorrow. But for now it hasn't. And he said that the MOST important thing is to push fluids!! He said even if he doesn't want to, we need to have him drink. Or Popsicles! Anything. And when I asked him about the throwing up he said that if Nathan takes his medicine on an empty stomach, it can make his stomach upset. So that made sense. After we hung up with the doctor, we busted out a Pedia Sure and told him to keep sippin' until it was gone. And he did.
Then I decided to go up and give him a bath to help keep his fever down, and we got to the top of the stairs when Nathan says, "I think I'm gonna frow up..." So I said, "Come here quick!". He ran to the toilet and there went alllll of the Pedia Sure that he'd drank, into the toilet. Hey... at least he made it :o) So I gave him a bath and watched him shiver the whole time, but we made it. And now he's asleep on the couch, but I'm gonna wake him up in 15 minutes to give him some more Tylenol with Codeine.
So, because of all of this, we didn't go to Cub Scout Pack Night tonight :o( I don't think Matthew even realizes it yet, or else he woulda been upset.
But on a brighter note, Natalie starts preschool tomorrow morning!
I'm down to ONE KID at home now!!! And in a week or so, after Nathan feels well enough to go to Kindergarten, it'll be back to my good ol' ME TIME :o)
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