The Prognosis

Yesterday afternoon we took Miriam to the doctor. Her temperature had been pretty steady at 102-103 degrees all day and night (way too high to be teething) and we could tell she was just plain miserable.

The PA checked her ears; perfectly clear, her lungs; just fine and her nose; no problems there either. Then she went on to the throat. She put the tongue depressor in and out came Miriam's lunch. She tried another time; again, more throw-up. After four times with the same result, she gave up and said she thought Miri's tonsils looked a little red. I'm not sure how she could tell with projectile vomit coming out toward her scope! Sorry for the graphic description -- but that's what happened!

She went on to say that it couldn't be strep throat because babies Miriam's age just don't get that. I'm not so sure, but I'll try to trust her for now. She said it is probably just a virus and that it would likely run its course within seven days. Seven days?!! You mean I'm not going to get any sleep for the next seven days?! You've got to be kidding! Just give her some Tylenol and try to keep her fever down.

Yeah, I'd love to give her some medicine so she could feel better...but she refuses to swallow it! We've tried doing it fast and doing it slow. When it's fast, she spits it out fast; when it's slow, she holds it in her mouth and cries until she starts choking on it. Either way, she's not having it! And she seriously opposes the bottle, so no dice there either.

Last night at about ten, Owen and Craig (he and Heidi are in town visiting Heidi's family who is also in town -- they are staying with us) gave her a Priesthood blessing. Within twenty minutes her fever was down a couple degrees and she finally got a little rest. The rest of the night was still a bit rocky. I didn't get much sleep between two and six-thirty and Miriam's fever had spiked again, but I could definitely see a difference. When she was crying she would calm down much sooner and she was taking little naps here and there.

This morning we finally got a tiny bit of medicine in her on two different occasions. She's also eating a little better (she hardly ate anything all night and most of yesterday) and is now a mere 99 degrees. She's finally cool enough to have some clothes on again (she's been in just a diaper since Thursday night -- other than when we went with Owen to get his root canal yesterday morning) and be swaddled in her blanket (the only way she sleeps well). And she's been napping for an hour now (she even fell asleep on her own like usual -- for the past two days she's only slept when she's being held or is in the swing) and is catching up on some much needed rest. We even got some talking and smiling this morning. I can tell my little angel is finally starting to feel a little better. Hopefully she'll be fully recovered soon.