Ugh, Sick Again!

After Dad's St. Patty's day illness (and subsequent sinus infection), Molly and Mama both came down with the same (extremely nasty) bug. Whenever Molly gets sick, she sleeps even worse than she normally does, so I was relieved when her cough, congestion, and snotty nose started to improve. After a couple of days, it was apparent that Molly was just about over her bug ... so imagine my dismay when I went up to get her last night and discovered that she was burning up. She was sporting a 102.5 degree fever and was tossing and turning. I dosed her up with Tylenol and put her in bed with me, but even then she fussed and cried and didn't sleep more than a half hour at a time. She'd beg me to put her in her bed and I'd tuck her in, only to have her wake up 30 minutes later and cry for me to get her. It was a miserable night for both of us.

The next day, the fever was still there – it would go down when I gave her Tylenol, but creep back up as soon as the meds started to wear off. I wasn't worried about the fever by itself, but Molly was listless and sleepless and totally pathetic. Given that this was how she behaved when she had her ear infection a couple of weeks ago, I suspected her ears might be bothering her again.

So, we called up the doctor's office and they managed to squeeze us in that Friday (thankfully)! Because our doctor's office is affiliated with the big university hospital, they often have residents at the office who are taking a turn through the pediatric office. So, sometimes before you see your normal doctor, one of the residents comes in and does a preliminary exam. It always cracks me up at how the residents are so awkward and hesitant about dealing with little kids. They're totally well meaning and don't do anything wrong, but they haven't developed the skills and the confidence (and the tricks) that ease along a child exam. The resident came in and Molly did her best to be uncooperative – wiggling and crying. When the doctor came in later, she sat quietly while the doctor did the full exam.

As I suspected, Molly had double ear infections again. We were sent off with another round of antibiotics. Happily, once again, within 24 hours Molly was much better. Now if we can only stay well for more than a week or two at a time!