A Quick Update

Gosh, there is so much to say since I haven't updated in forever! I will try to update you soon and even post more pictures into the kids' photo albums.

I just wanted to give a quick update on Kyle.

He has had the sniffles since Thanksgiving and last Wednesday, he had a fever. It lasted the whole day and all of Thursday. He was quite grumpy and could not sleep well - which meant neither Keith nor I slept well. He had a snotty nose and was breathing heavily. I had to check on him a few times to see if he was snoring; he wasn't asleep, just breathing heavily. He had not much of an appetite and wasn't drinking a whole bunch. So, Friday morning I called the pediatrician and they wanted to check him over to make sure he didn't have an ear infection. I didn't really want to haul all four kids to the office, so they said I could take him on Saturday (I didn't know they had Saturday appointments!) Wouldn't you know it, his fever broke not 10 minutes after I talked to the doctor.

On a side note (which is actually an important part of this update): Julie came over on Friday and hung out with us.

So, his fever breaks and I think, "Eh, he's fine. I'm not going to take him in." But, come later in the afternoon, Kyle is a HUGE grump. A bigger grump than he has ever been. I figure that he is so tired because of the lack of sleep, that he is beyond sleep and so he is grumpy. Julie suggested that we give him a decongestant so that he could sleep, but we really use meds on the kids unless it is absolutely necessary. So, we didn't have anything in the house to give him. So that night was yet another sleepless and frustrating night. Keith and I decided that we needed to have Julie advise us on which drugs to give him, and that we should have him checked by the doctor.

So, come Saturday morning, after hearing Kyle's restless night Julie says, "So, have you called the doctor?" Julie and I go to the doctor's office. Kyle gets checked out. The doctor listens to his breathing. He is having difficulty breathing. She looks at his ears. They look fine. She looks in his throat. Extremely red, pustules in the throat and very swollen tonsils. She suspects strep throat. A culture is taken. The test (which only took a minute), is negative. No strep. She then says that it's very rare for kids Kyle's age, but she'd like to test him for mono. After the doctor leaves, Julie says that she would be very surprised if it was mono.

Five minutes later, the doctor comes back. Apparently, Kyle is positive for mono. Mononucleosis. The Kissing Disease. Isn't that something high school kids get??? Who the heck has Kyle been kissing?

So, that explains it. Kyle got a steroid shot to help with the swollen tonsils. The tonsils were hindering his breathing along with the nasal congestion. The doctor says to expect lack of appetite for about two weeks and listlessness for about four to six weeks. The mono goes away on its own. We have no clue how he could have gotten it, or from where. She said that the virus can last for as much as six months in you without making you sick.

My poor baby. And just think, I thought he was just being cranky because he was tired. Duh.