Recap of the week from you-know-where

Well, the last you all heard was that Luke was feeling better and the fever was down. That was midweek. Now it's Monday night. There's a reason I didn't write since then.

Thursday morning the fever still was in the 103s so I called the doctor's office and they said to bring him in again. I saw a different (younger) doctor than the first time and now I know to request NOT to have that first doc. I don't know why he's even still practicing, he's old enough to be Luke's great-grandpa. This new doctor said he rarely diagnoses sinus infections in babies. They just easily get congested. He advised me to get children's syrups of Tylenol and Motrin - the fever wasn't coming down because I was still giving infant drops and the dosage wasn't enough. He said to call him in the morning.

Friday - still had a fever and his mood was getting worse. Doctor said to keep giving Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours, alternatively. The fever started coming down in the afternoon. However, that night we slept probably a total of 3 hours. Luke went to bed at 8 and was up at 9:30 screaming and writhing in pain. He wouldn't be held but his didn't want to be put down. He just arched his back and threw his head back and then threw his whole body forward again. It seemed like he had terrible gas pains - his whole abdomen was hard. He finally settled down around 12 and slept in our bed - for 2 hours. Then, repeat scene. I was starting to panic and we were exhausted. Alec finally said get dressed, we're going to the hospital. We got there and the place was deserted and filthy. We waited 15-20 minutes and left. Luke was OK by then again and slept in his bed for another 2 hours, then repeated the whole writhing thing again around 6:30.

So it's Saturday morning now, we've had little sleep, and Luke is not doing well. I was supposed to call the doctor again to report and the reception just said to come in.

Oh, yeah, I forgot an important detail. On Friday afternoon I forgot to put the gate up at the top of the stairs and Luke fell all the way down. All 14 steps. I felt terrible - Britney Spear-ish. He only cried for about 30 seconds and I checked him all over and didn't find any bruises, bumps, or tender spots. But all night Friday I'm thinking, I've broken my kid and it's my fault he's dying now.

Anyway, Saturday morning the doctor said he may have had a reaction to the amoxicillin. Sometimes kids can have cramping from it. He checked him over when I told him about falling down the stairs and he didn't find anything - whew. However, he did find a nasty ear infection, which was probably why he kept waking up in pain. Poor kid. So we threw away the amoxicillin and now are on the $50-a-bottle Omnicef. Mmmm. Strawberry.

Sunday he slept in and took a really long nap. I stayed home from church with him but he was doing well enough to go to a friend's baby shower in the afternoon - he'd been fever free for over 24 hours.

Well, that's about it. He still has some laryngitis and is pretty cranky, but I think that's attributable to his transition now from 2 naps to 1.

Here's my proof today that he was feeling better: for lunch he ate a whole banana, half a hot dog bun, a slice of cheese, some pears and plums off my plate, a cookie, and a cup of milk. Probably more than he'd eaten in the 3 previous days put together!

And a picture. I couldn't get him to smile. I think he had a mouth full of milk.



And one of the kittie during lunch. I wish I could be so relaxed!



Whew! What a week.