That's a juicy one

Last Wednesday I called-in sick because Garrett was still very sick, feverish, couldn't breathe, and he was quite needy, so I stayed home to take care of my baby instead of someone else's baby.  Last Thursday I took Garrett into his pediatrician, that same urge to help my child feel better was continuing to override my clinical sense of knowing they couldn't do anything for him, since it was probably a virus, well his doctor changed his antibiotic, increased the frequency of his steroid and decided to draw some labs...they were going to get a CBC and do an Epstein Bar Virus panel, to help rule things out.  I joked with his doctor asking him if I am weird that I know exactly which vein I would poke to draw his blood, he just laughed and said he knew just what I was talking about.  Three nurses came in to 'look', I had already picked one out and showed it to them, we got Garrett set-up on the exam table with my iPhone playing Cars 2, I held his shoulder and helped keep his attention on his movie, one nurse held his hand another his legs, the nurse "volun-told" to do the blood draw got her stuff and then she did the poke, Garrett didn't even care, not a whimper, didn't jerk, nothing...in fact after the fact when they had the band-aid on he looked down at it and asked, "why do I have a band-aid?"  He was a champ!
The next day his doctor called with his CBC results, which were normal, the other test could take 4-7 days, so we waited.
In the meantime, we had made an appointment with Dr. Kelly to inquire about taking out his tonsils.  Garrett was feeling much better at this point, but his tonsils were still impressively large, he mentioned that with the difficulty he was having breathing and other factors it would be advantageous to remove them, we scheduled that surgery (#3 in under a year) for May 22nd.
Today I got a message from his pediatrician with the results from the EBV panel: it was positive for the Epstein Bar Virus and explains his acute tonsillitis, Garrett has Mono!  Crazy, I still don't know how he got it, but he is feeling better and is running around with a much better appetite and breathing that is more his normal, loud but not labored.
Today is a week later, we are slow at work and so I put name down to be off, I was granted my request, I have to admit, I could get used to this--being home with my family during the week, not to be taken advantage of.

say ahhhh...

Garrett was the lucky one to inherit my freakishly large tonsils--the kind that get an exaggerated response from nurses and doctors when going in for even a well-child check-up...but this inherited trait is not so entertaining when you get sick with strep or tonsillitis and the large vestigial organs swell to touching.  Over the weekend Garrett's 'heavy night breathing' was more pronounced and then Sunday night he woke-up three times which was unusual for him, when he started complaining on Monday night that his "mouth hurt" it was off to the after-hours clinic for us, the doctor got a throat culture, the rapid strep test was negative but given the size of his tonsils, his noisy breathing and he had developed a fever at this point he was given Amoxicillin and steroids to help reduce the size of his tonsils.  We went to Walgreens and were told it would be an hour wait to get our meds, great, I have a sick 4-year old, very little gas in the car and you want me to wait or come back?!  I was annoyed.  We ended up going to Maverick and put $30 bucks in Von as a time-passer and then went back to Walgreen's to pick-up our meds, Garrett had fallen asleep at this point and so I carried him into the store and waited another 15 minutes until they were ready.  Once we finally got home I had to force the medicine down his ouchie throat and Scott took him into his room to get into jammies and go to bed, when I hear anguished yelps...from Scott--Garrett had thrown-up all over him.  So Garrett got a shower and new sheets and went right to sleep.
It is now Wednesday, Garrett is still not well, still has a fever, still has tonsils that meet in the middle and is quite lethargic, he fell asleep on the couch this afternoon, also unusual for him.  I called back the Pediatrician to see if the culture had grown anything, it was negative, I was told, "it is just a virus and he will have to wait it out."  I knew this, but really, the 'Mom' part of me wanted some action taken, just make my kid feel better, dang it.  The pediatrician did call me back and said, "you know there has been Mono going around, but we would need to draw some blood to see if that is what is causing Garrett's tonsillitis, and you may want to talk to an ENT if his swollen tonsils are interfering with his breathing."  Great, so we have an appointment tomorrow to get his blood drawn and an appointment on Monday with Dr. Kelly to consult on his tonsils.
All I can think of is when I got Mono my freshman year of college, I had a very sore throat and my roommates took me to the ER, where they drew blood and voila I had Mono...not cool, if that is what it ends up being...I feel bad for my little man, I hope he gets better soon!

P.S. yesterday I was trying to get a picture of Garrett's ears and cheeks because they would go bright red when his fever was rising--who needs a thermometer when I have a visual indicator...well in trying to take the picture I got some funny video of Garrett just talking my ear off with his scruffy voice.  Enjoy :)