Miles is Always Sick

Since the science fair, my parents came to town for a few days and the boys had a blast going to the movies with them, going out to dinner with them, and swimming at their hotel. They LOVE having Grandma & Papa Greer come to town! And they're always bummed they have to leave. The night before they left, we all went out to eat at Sizzler and Miles was acting a little sleepy and wouldn't eat dinner. That night he got a fever of about 101, so we gave him so Tylenol and had him sleep in our bed. We gave him more in the middle of the night, and then again in the morning. But by the time we were to give him his next dose, his fever reached 103.5 degrees and the Tylenol wasn't working. By this time, Dave was at work, Jett was at school, and I was home with Miles. I called the doctor and spoke with the nurse who suggested I try giving him ibuprofen since it was too early to give him another dose of Tylenol and if that didn't work, to bring him in.

I decided to give the ibuprofen a try but found that we were all out. I had a neighbor bring some over and as soon as I gave it to him, he threw it all up. By this time, the bus had dropped the boys off at home and it was about 4:25, 5 minutes before the doctor's office closes. I quickly called and got them to squeeze Miles in if I could get there in 15 minutes, so I rounded up the boys like a mad-lady not realizing that Jett was only in his long underwear and that Cruise didn't bring a coat. I was just trying to get Miles out as quickly yet gently as possible. He was the sickest I've seen him in a long time and he was burning up. Cruise wouldn't stop complaining (loudly) about having to leave home and so I looked at him and sternly said, "Cruise. Come here and feel your brother's forehead." He walked over, put his hand on Miles' head, looked up at me looking concerned and didn't complain after that. In fact, he was a big help after that. I rushed to the office building, pulled Miles out of the car and ran to the office with a coatless 8 year old behind me and a 6 year old trying to look discreet in head-to-toe grey camo long underwear and snow boots. I, of course, was still wearing my pajamas.

As I waited for his name to be called, Miles laid in my arms in a blanket, going in and out of sleep, hotter than hot. They quickly got us in a room and the nurse took his temperature: 104.5 degrees. The poor kid was burning up. He also appeared to have red dots all over his face, which made the nurse decide to swab him for strep. I requested some Tylenol so I could try to get him to take something again. Luckily he was able to keep it down. The doctor came in, chatted with me and looked at Miles. He looked into his ears and found one ear was infected. As he told me this, he heard Miles cough as he cried and then said, "Aaaand, he has croup." Then as he started discussing treatment for that, he glanced at his laptop where the results from the strep test popped up and he looked up at me and said, "Aaaand, he has strep too." At first I thought he was joking. No wonder this poor kid was so miserable! 

The doctor ordered a steroid shot for the croup. That kind of put the cherry on top of an overall crappy day for the poor kid. He was not happy. An antibiotic was also ordered for the ear infection and strep. For the next two days, Miles and I hung out in bed, snuggling, watching obnoxious cartoons and shoving antibiotics, tylenol, ibuprofen, and cough syrup down his throat. The dishes piled up, the laundry was neglected, and meals were either picked up or cooked by Dave. My awesome neighbor brought us some banana bread and took a load of towels to wash since we were all sharing 2 towels between the 5 of us. I kind of have some amazing neighbors. 

Luckily by day 4, Miles was starting to walk around and play, eat food, and generally started feeling better. Let's hope that's the last major illness for this winter.