30 minute meltdown for Berry Princess.
Early Bird: "My head hurts."
I: notice a bluge on the side of his neck. Wonder "what is that?" Call church to see if the pediatrician or family doctor are there. Their not. I think that his brain might be leaking. We 3 go to church. No Dr. I saw an EMT.
EMT: Take him right away to the clinic.
Me: Can we eat first?
EMT: No you should go now. Raises eyebrows.
Me: Really?
EMT: It might be his carotid artery. And then things get bad fast.
EB and I: Go to clinic. Right away! Check in. Get registered. Wait in waiting room.
EB watches something on TV.
Nurse: It's our turn. Does your throat hurt? (No) Does it hurt to swallow? (No) Did you get hurt? (No) The Dr. will be in shortly.
EB and I: Watch some Discovery Channel - I love Planet Earth - I need to get this for my classroom. Engrossed.
Dr: Did you get hurt? (No) Does your throat hurt? (No) Does it hurt to swallow? (No) Looks in back of throat. Do you have a cat? (yes) It could be cat scratch fever. We'll do a throat culture.
EB and I: watch more DC - PE. Then it's over and nothing good is on. . .
Nurse: I'm going to tickle the back of your mouth.
Me: Is Survivor really good for a 5YO? Better than some things. I wonder if cat scratch fever really exists? Does he think he pulled one over on me? And there is no way to look it up right now.
30 min later:
Dr: brings in precrip for Amox and a positive for strep.
Me: What is cat scratch fever?
Dr. It is caused by a bacteria that is found in the saliva of some cats and . . . . goes on about interesting pathology and hugely swollen glands and immune system info that I teach my class.
Me: Relieved to hear that cat scratch fever really exists!
Dr: The glands should be pretty much back to normal in a few days and they should be completely back in a month or so.
Things I learned on Wednesday:
- Cat scratch fever is real.
- It probably isn't the carotid artery.
- An EMT must see some pretty bad stuff when that is his first thoughts.
- My boy will make it back to daycare in 24 hours. (Although I'm sure he has shared it with everyone there since his fever was way back on Friday!)
3 comments:
All I have to do is look at your blog to realize that life COULD be filled with stranger things--sometimes more exciting in a good way, sometimes not (as in the "cat scratch fever"). I'll think I'll stick with what we've got, and just watch (and laugh) vicariously. ;)
Ahh, back to my microbiology class. It is interesting how many bacteria are zoonotic. Here is a scary story. A friend of one of my professors had pre-teen children that were very angry with him for grounding them and making them clean out the rat cage. So angry in fact, that they cleaned the cage with his tooth brush. In the following weeks, he became very tired, sore and had ongoing headaches. It took the doctors months before they figured out what the children had done.It turned out he had contracted Leptospirilla (a bacteria) from the rat urine that was on his toothbrush. Thank goodness a mild form.
I'm glad that EB doesn't have cat bite fever, Leptospirosis, or rat bite fever for that matter!
Feel better EB!
I'll speak for EMT's...... yes.... we're trained to expect the worst.... thats where we get the adrenaline..... always prepared for the patient to go "south" at a moment's notice.... so yes.... we do see bad things.....hope he's feeling better!
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