Dear Kid Saturday – Strep Throat

Dear TJ,

You poor thing. I got a call yesterday from one of the grown ups at Vacation Bible School. She said that you weren’t feeling well and that I should come and pick you up early. I drove faster than I should have, but I got there. You looked awful, and you’d been crying because you were so upset that you couldn’t finish “camp.” You said goodbye to the grown ups and I took you to Grandma Kitty’s house. At this point, I still thought I’d be able to do some work back at home.

You threw up in the car when we were sitting at the red light in front of Wal-Mart. You were so upset and wanted to wash your hands, but I only had napkins to give you at the time. When we got to Grandma Kitty’s apaartment, she took you upstairs to get you cleaned up, and I took your yucky car seat out of the van so she could throw the cover in the washing machine. You felt a little bit warm, but not burning up. We ended up having to strip you down to your  underwear. Grandma Kitty asked if you wanted to take a bath, but you said you wanted to take a nap. You climbed into the bed in her guest room, and you were fast asleep within a few seconds!

I called the pediatrician, and the nurse told me there was a stomach bug going around. So we were following standard stomach bug protocol with a tablespoon of clear liquids every 15 minutes… after letting you sleep for an hour. I left to grab some lunch and pick up some ginger ale for you. I woke you up to take a drink when I got back.

You got up and decided you were feeling better. You said you didn’t need me there, and you told me to go home and make you some Jell-O Jigglers. So I did. 🙂 Grandma called me around 2:00 to let me know you threw up again. Then at 3:30, she called to tell me you were  complaining that your ear hurt. So I called the pediatrician again, and we got a 4:00 appointment. I met you and Grandma Kitty there just in time.

As soon as we got there, you got called in to see Dr. Joyce. (She’s a PA, but it’s easier to call her a doctor!) She checked out your ears, and they were fine. She looked at your throat… and it was all red. You protested about the strep culture, but you were such a good boy. It was strep.

On the way home, you threw up again. Thankfully, we’d taken the little bowl they gave you at the doctor’s office, so most of it (but not all) went in there. It was all liquidy anyways. (Not fun to clean up when it was 96 degrees outside, though!) Since you were covered in throw up, we went to the drive thru window at Rite Aid to drop off your prescription. Dr. Joyce said that it was actually a good thing you had strep. You can’t do anything for a stomach bug, but your  first dose of amoxicillin should fix your yucky tummy right up!

Daddy picked up your medicine 30 minutes later when he came home from work. You had a small tantrum about taking it, but once we got you to drink it, you agreed that it tasted pretty good. (It hasn’t been a problem getting you to take your other doses since then.)

You didn’t throw up again. You only got ginger ale and Jell-O last night, so I was happy that you were able to eat some Frosted Cheerios this morning. You first woke up at 4:30 this morning because you went to bed slightly early last night, but att least you let me go back to bed until a little after 8:00.

You’re feeling much better today, and you couldn’t understand when I told you that you can’t go out to lunch and grocery shopping with me today. It’s hard to explain what contagious means, especially when I’m not sure I explained yesterday about how a stomach bug is not a real bug like a mosquito. I told you that, even though you feel better, you still have a lot of germs in you – and those germs can make other people sick. Thankfully, you’ll only be contagious until dinner time tonight, so we can do our usual Sunday plans tomorrow.

I hate it when you’re  sick, buddy. But I’m so glad you’re starting to feel better.

Love,
Mommy

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Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.