Rather than being productive at work this morning, I thought I'd follow up on my "A Long Night" post. After all, what good is having your own little soapbox if you don't get on it every now and again--and subsequenty don't play with virtual concrete in the process.
For the record, Madelyn is doing much better. Of course, she only acheived this state of health and well-being through a series of small torutres administered lovingly by her parents who will do anything to try to make her better. After her trials and tribulations in the ER Thursday night, her fever continued through the weekend. It wasn't until after she got a special trip to the pediatrician's clinic on Sunday that her fever finally broke.
Nonetheless, before her fever broke she was subjected to a chest x-ray, wherein she was put into a small plexiglass "corset" which came up above her shoulders and forced her to hold her arms above her head (good scary, claustrophobia-inducing stuff there) while her daddy attempted to assure her that everything was fine, as well as a couple of blood samples (one from each arm) for good measure. Madelyn hasn't spoken to us since.
Notwithstanding her parents cruel caution, her fever did break Sunday afternoon and a lovely little pink rash blossom across her body. The final diagnosis: roseola.
So all's well that ends well, right? Actually, that's merely the end of the update on Madelyn's last sickness. This post is actually about the looming possibility of a new and even better illness coming down the line. Last night around 7 PM, Madelyn was snugged in her crib and the hospital called to inform us that during our visit to the ER we had been unknowingly exposed to measles.
Nothing warms a young, naive parent's heart more than to know that his or her efforts and exertions at providing the best possible care for their ailing child-regardless of how much said child does not enjoy the care-are only a means to exposure to a more serious disease. Perhaps next time we'll take her down to the bog-witch for treatment and see if we can't contract yellow fever or malaria in the process.
The good news in all this is that the variety of measles we were exposed to was your garden variety rubeola, as opposed to the potentially more serious rubella (aka German measles). As it turns out, Madelyn being exposed to measles will at most give her another good fever, make her uncomfortable, and provide her with a new rash. The true danger is more to Erin who is now 3 months pregnant and more specifically to the baby swimming laps inside her. While my research into the potential threats to the new baby from rubeola is still ongoing, we dodged a bullet of sorts in that we were not exposed to Rubella, which can potentially cause a variety of birth defects in a baby. If anyone reading this is interested in boning up on their measles knowledge I recommend the following site:
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/skin/german_measles.html
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/bacterial_viral/measles.html
The bad news in all of this, is that Madelyn is off for quick innoculation this afternoon. Just when one thinks their parents are done delivering pokes and prods, they roll out yet another.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Monday, June 27, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
A long night
Ugh. That about sums up our Thursday night this week. When I got home from work, Madelyn was running a temperature of about 102 F. After administering some tylenol which seemed to bring down the temperature a little, we went about our usual evening activities--dinner, etc.--and Madelyn seemed to be doing okay; she was still groggy but generally still smiling and being a little goofy. We got her to go to sleep around seven-ish and thought that would be the end of the story.
Around 9 o'clock or so, Madelyn woke up and this time she really had a temperature going; she was up to 103.7 F. We gave her a little more Tylenol and Erin and I bgan looking at each other and asking ourselves the question: "How hot is too hot?" As usual, we decided to err on the side of caution and at 10:30 at night found ourselves walking into the ER. I told Madelyn that we were going to go show her the finer side of Lafayette. How right I was.
As some of you might know, there are generally two types of people who go to the ER: people who are having heart attacks, have been shot, have been in a car accident or otherwise belong in an episode of ER, and those who have no insurance and utilize the fact that by law ERs cannot refuse treatment. Guess which type of people there are more of out there.
Of course there is a third category of people in the ER; parents who don't know what to do with their sick kids after their pediatrician's office hours--namely Erin and me. After triage, registration and waiting room time, we were brought back to our own little curtain-enshrouded exam station at 11:30 PM. We immediately fell into the common theme of the evening--sit and wait. After being given a once-over by a nurse the ER doctor graced us with his presence.
Now I don't know alot of ER doctors, but I suspect that in a job like that one develops a bit of an ego. In fact I would say that a good sized ego is probably necessary to the job--if you're going to slice, dice and make julienne fries in someone's chest you'd better go in there thinking that you can do no wrong. I also suspect that a side-effect of said ego is viewing certain activities within your job as being beneath you or at the very least not worthy of much excitement and/or concern on your part. In any case, Dr. Moody certainly dd not seemed thrilled to see a baby at midnight sitting in his ER. He quickly asked us a few questions and then disregarded our answers and looked for himself. Apparently the ER sees its fair share of idiots and people should be regarded as such until proven otherwise.
I can see how one might make this assumption. Even though we had a curtain providing a modicum of privacy, we were still able to thrill ourselves with the exploits of several of the other visitors in the ER. On one side of us we had a gentleman who had been chopping wood, missed the wood and chopped his leg instead. He was there for a tetnus shot. A few stalls over was another parent with her two children, one of whom was running a fever as well. This poor kid would be the lucky recipient of a shot or two during our visit and was very vocal about her feelings concerning the shot. We found out that Madelyn hearing other kids crying frightened her and would make her well up faster than as if she had stubbed her toe. However, the true jewel of the ER was the extremely inebriated gentleman who was yelling at anyone and everything that was happening in the ER. His biggest pet peeve apparently was crying children to whom he would shout, "Shut that kid up!!" Apparently, someone had confused the ER with his room at the Hilton.
Meanwhile, back in stall #9, Madelyn, who was showing no other symptoms apart from having a fever, was being given a cathoder to get some urine for a urinalysis. Without any other apparent symptoms such as vomiting or diarreha, a urinary tract infection was suspected. With her tender and loving parents restraining her, Madelyn was "cathed" and demostrated an impressive lung capacity. The urine was sent off for analysis at about 1 AM, and Erin and I unknowingly settled in for a good long wait.
Fortunately for us, a young man was brought in next to us with his girlfriend/sister/mom and began regaling anyone who would listen about the jeep accident he had been in. It seems the jeep had flipped over several times and apart for some kind of nondescript pain, he had survived unscathed. Nevertheless, he was put on some pain medication which apparently immediately kicked in and allowed the young man to describe at length how trippy he felt and how much the overhead spotlight resembled a nipple. Erin and I hung on his every word.
Now, as patient as Erin and I am, around 2:00 AM we began wondering what the hell was going on. I opened our curtain to remind people that we were still back there, and shortly a nurse came by and asked if the doctor had been back by. She seemed a little surprised that he hadn't and this confirmed to me that we indeed had been forgotten there. Another nurse returned after another brief half-hour with a prescription and some walking-papers. No explanation of what the prescription was for, not discussion of what had turned up in the urinalysis, just a "sign here and fare thee well, and don't let the sliding door hit you in the ass on the way out". Erin pressed for a little more information and another nurse was sent over to tell us what had happened with the test--results were unconclusive and the culture would have to be examined.
So at the early hour of 3:30 AM--after a quick stop to fill the prescription-- we arrived at our apartment. Madelyn was sleeping and her parents quickly followed suit.
Around 9 o'clock or so, Madelyn woke up and this time she really had a temperature going; she was up to 103.7 F. We gave her a little more Tylenol and Erin and I bgan looking at each other and asking ourselves the question: "How hot is too hot?" As usual, we decided to err on the side of caution and at 10:30 at night found ourselves walking into the ER. I told Madelyn that we were going to go show her the finer side of Lafayette. How right I was.
As some of you might know, there are generally two types of people who go to the ER: people who are having heart attacks, have been shot, have been in a car accident or otherwise belong in an episode of ER, and those who have no insurance and utilize the fact that by law ERs cannot refuse treatment. Guess which type of people there are more of out there.
Of course there is a third category of people in the ER; parents who don't know what to do with their sick kids after their pediatrician's office hours--namely Erin and me. After triage, registration and waiting room time, we were brought back to our own little curtain-enshrouded exam station at 11:30 PM. We immediately fell into the common theme of the evening--sit and wait. After being given a once-over by a nurse the ER doctor graced us with his presence.
Now I don't know alot of ER doctors, but I suspect that in a job like that one develops a bit of an ego. In fact I would say that a good sized ego is probably necessary to the job--if you're going to slice, dice and make julienne fries in someone's chest you'd better go in there thinking that you can do no wrong. I also suspect that a side-effect of said ego is viewing certain activities within your job as being beneath you or at the very least not worthy of much excitement and/or concern on your part. In any case, Dr. Moody certainly dd not seemed thrilled to see a baby at midnight sitting in his ER. He quickly asked us a few questions and then disregarded our answers and looked for himself. Apparently the ER sees its fair share of idiots and people should be regarded as such until proven otherwise.
I can see how one might make this assumption. Even though we had a curtain providing a modicum of privacy, we were still able to thrill ourselves with the exploits of several of the other visitors in the ER. On one side of us we had a gentleman who had been chopping wood, missed the wood and chopped his leg instead. He was there for a tetnus shot. A few stalls over was another parent with her two children, one of whom was running a fever as well. This poor kid would be the lucky recipient of a shot or two during our visit and was very vocal about her feelings concerning the shot. We found out that Madelyn hearing other kids crying frightened her and would make her well up faster than as if she had stubbed her toe. However, the true jewel of the ER was the extremely inebriated gentleman who was yelling at anyone and everything that was happening in the ER. His biggest pet peeve apparently was crying children to whom he would shout, "Shut that kid up!!" Apparently, someone had confused the ER with his room at the Hilton.
Meanwhile, back in stall #9, Madelyn, who was showing no other symptoms apart from having a fever, was being given a cathoder to get some urine for a urinalysis. Without any other apparent symptoms such as vomiting or diarreha, a urinary tract infection was suspected. With her tender and loving parents restraining her, Madelyn was "cathed" and demostrated an impressive lung capacity. The urine was sent off for analysis at about 1 AM, and Erin and I unknowingly settled in for a good long wait.
Fortunately for us, a young man was brought in next to us with his girlfriend/sister/mom and began regaling anyone who would listen about the jeep accident he had been in. It seems the jeep had flipped over several times and apart for some kind of nondescript pain, he had survived unscathed. Nevertheless, he was put on some pain medication which apparently immediately kicked in and allowed the young man to describe at length how trippy he felt and how much the overhead spotlight resembled a nipple. Erin and I hung on his every word.
Now, as patient as Erin and I am, around 2:00 AM we began wondering what the hell was going on. I opened our curtain to remind people that we were still back there, and shortly a nurse came by and asked if the doctor had been back by. She seemed a little surprised that he hadn't and this confirmed to me that we indeed had been forgotten there. Another nurse returned after another brief half-hour with a prescription and some walking-papers. No explanation of what the prescription was for, not discussion of what had turned up in the urinalysis, just a "sign here and fare thee well, and don't let the sliding door hit you in the ass on the way out". Erin pressed for a little more information and another nurse was sent over to tell us what had happened with the test--results were unconclusive and the culture would have to be examined.
So at the early hour of 3:30 AM--after a quick stop to fill the prescription-- we arrived at our apartment. Madelyn was sleeping and her parents quickly followed suit.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
What's new this week...
Greetings friends, family and other interested readers,
Well, life has semi-settled back down in the wake of Grandma Bice and Aunt Sarah's visit this past weekend. The blog is now flush with pictures from their visit and I encourage anyone who wishes to post in the comments.
Madelyn is enjoying her newfound mobility more and more and has taken to doing laps around the coffee table in the living room as she continuously explores everything that is two feet or lower to the ground. Needless to say, babyproofing is going to be our number one priority for this weekend.
The rest of us--those of us in the house who exist to feed, change and generally attend to any and all of Madelyn's deepest desires--are doing fine. The pregnancy is kicking into gear and Erin is feeling more of those first trimester symptoms. She's convinced this one is going to be a boy since she's been craving lots of meat lately.
Until next time,
Jake
Well, life has semi-settled back down in the wake of Grandma Bice and Aunt Sarah's visit this past weekend. The blog is now flush with pictures from their visit and I encourage anyone who wishes to post in the comments.
Madelyn is enjoying her newfound mobility more and more and has taken to doing laps around the coffee table in the living room as she continuously explores everything that is two feet or lower to the ground. Needless to say, babyproofing is going to be our number one priority for this weekend.
The rest of us--those of us in the house who exist to feed, change and generally attend to any and all of Madelyn's deepest desires--are doing fine. The pregnancy is kicking into gear and Erin is feeling more of those first trimester symptoms. She's convinced this one is going to be a boy since she's been craving lots of meat lately.
Until next time,
Jake
Friday, June 17, 2005
Thursday, June 16, 2005
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