After three days of sleeping, fussing and refusing to eat, a second trip to the doctor and a second round of antibiotics (that apparently don't taste as good as amoxicillin), it might have been strep. The test was so faint though, that they had to send it to the lab Friday afternoon and the results won't be back until today.
It is not, however, diabetic ketoacidocis... You see, Thursday and Friday Charlie's breath smelled strongly of rubbing alchohol, and since he was still extremely lethargic, I thought I should look it up online and see if I could find any hints as to what he might have and whether or not he needed to return to the doctor. Well, according to all of the perfectly reliable internet sites I found, breath smelling of rubbing alcohol can be caused by one of two things: 1 - ingesting rubbing alcohol, 2 - diabetic ketoacidosis.
The latter is accompanied by lethargy (Charlie had been napping 4 to 6 hours per day and then sleeping all night -- and this is the kid who barely gets in a 2 hour nap!), loss of appetite (by lunchtime Friday he'd only had half a Dora yogurt!), and severe dehydration (huh? not sure...but probably not).
So, I called the doctor, related his symptoms and asked if I should come in...all the while picturing weeks, months and years of doctors and procedures and special diets, etc. Since he was so lethargic, they did recommend that I bring him back in, and of course, he perked right up in the waiting room, playing, laughing at the fish and trying to escape to the "well kids" side, terrifying a mother of a small baby.
Since Dr. Tripp is so great, she didn't even laugh at me once we made it to the exam room, but assured me that a child with DK would not be flirting with her, throwing goldfish or reveling in the I Spy books. She did however do the strep test, which came back "inconclusive".
Saturday morning was still a bit iffy, but by Saturday afternoon we saw sparks of our Charlie. He and I took Otis for a walk to the swings, where he insisted that I swing along side of him, and he actually ate some dinner, before topping off the day by feeding the fish with Bob.
Unfortunately for Charlie, he missed out on our guest Saturday evening. A boy in the neighborhood found a Boston Terrier running loose and immediately brought it to our house (shocker!). Amazingly enough it wasn't Otis, but within an hour we'd named the new dog Luis, and he and Otis were leaping furniture and wrestling on the living room floor. Knowing how terrified I would be if Otis were missing, I posted a note on our neighborhood Facebook page, and Luis' real owners came racing up to the door less than an hour later. Apparently Luis (aka Mercutio) had made a run for it right after dinner. Alas, no second dog for us... Otis is still pouting.
Uncomfortable with taking Charlie to the nursery after just 3 doses of the new antibiotic, we all stayed home from church yesterday, but celebrated the return of our ornery little monster with blueberry and banana pancakes, and a full day of Daddy time. By bedtime Jason and I were both exhausted -- apparently Charlie needed to make up for all of the rest he'd gotten over the last few days with constant activity.
Helping Mom while home sick
First Milkshake as a reward for being such a trouper at the Doctor
Back in dancing form
You're in my spot!
So lonely...
I'm SO glad he's better! Poor little thing!
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