It is no surprise to us by now that when Mason gets sick, Laura and I are in for trouble. This last illness started about a week ago with Mason running a high fever for a few days. Although, you would never know it from the fact that Mason does not slow down for a second.
After the third day of Mason’s fever, and the fever reducer not doing much, Laura decided to take him to the doctor. It was Friday morning, and Laura was able to call at 8:00 in the morning and get an appointment at 10:15. After getting to the doctor’s office, she checked in, filled out the standard “what’s your problem” forms, and sat down and waited to be called back. At 10:45 I got a text message, since I was at work, that she was still waiting to see the doctor.
Once she was finally called back and Mason was seen by the doctor, they decided to do some blood work on him. Down to the lab they head. When I was a kid, I HATED getting my blood taken. A mean old nurse would stab me three to four times in each arm before finally getting a vein. Why, you ask, did it take so many times to get blood from my arm? Well, it was a combination of a couple things. First, my veins do not seem to be well attached inside my arm and move out of the way of an approaching needle. Second, it is very difficult to draw blood from a little kid when he is screaming, flailing wildly, and kicking you in the shins (repeatedly). It usually took my mother and an extra nurse just to pin me down. Fortunately for Mason’s nurse, he took it a little better than I did. The nurse gave him a bright green bandage to wear over his owie.
While sitting back in the waiting room, there was another little girl that had the same symptoms as Mason the week before and was back at the doctor. Apparently, our doctor and her doctor had a little confab about this mysterious illness. Her doctor ended up admitting the poor little girl because she started coughing up blood. Huh, same symptoms as Mason just a week earlier, makes Laura and I both a little nervous. The doctor told Laura that if Mason’s fever did not get better in a week, to bring him back. He was not sure exactly what Mason had, but there wasn’t much they could do for him.
Saturday rolls around and all Mason wants to do is sit with his mom. He has developed a nasty sounding cough and has a 102F temperature. That evening his fever broke and he was running around destroying the house like usual. Sunday, he takes a turn for the worst. He has a fever again and his chest is so congested, he chokes when he lays down. To make things worse, Laura does not feel well. So, I ended up sitting with Mason in my easy chair Sunday night. It is always fun to sit in a recliner with a sick kid that looks right at me to cough. Note to self, keep mouth closed at all times. At three a.m. when Laura took over, since both my legs had fallen asleep, Mason had a 103F temperature. Two hours later, my alarm goes off and I get up to get ready for work. Since Laura wasn’t feeling well, and Mason was still sick, I decided to work from home.
Laura called and made another appointment at the doctor Monday morning. They were able to get him in at 11:00. This time I went with them. We got right in to see the doctor who ordered more blood work. Fortunately, it came back fine. Unfortunately, Mason was diagnosed with a nasty virus and there is nothing that we could do for him. The only advice we got was to make sure that we give him fever reducer to keep his fever at bay.
It is a week later and Mason is feeling better, but the cough remains. Hopefully, he gets over it soon. If history repeats itself, whenever Mason gets sick, he gives it to Laura then I end up with it. So I am guessing I am next in line to experience whatever it was that Mason had. So far so good, but I’m afraid that it is only a matter of time.
Mason was so proud of his bright green bandage from the lab work, he won’t let Laura or I take it off.
