Okay, now that I have your attention… nobody in the family has the swine flu. Although after the way we were treated tonight, it seemed as if people suspected it.
Rebecca had her normal checkup for the pregnancy (it’s hard to believe she’s at 32 weeks already! Less than two months before The Tiebreaker is born!), and after that, we took Jeremy in to his normal pediatrician. Now, Jeremy has been very lethargic this past week, with a fever reaching up to 104.9 degrees at some points. We’ve been concerned about it, but in the past, if we ever call the doctors about the fever, they tell us to give it a few days, and it eventually goes away. Sometimes, if they find an ear infection, they’ll give us antibiotics for the kids to take, but normally it seems like a trip to the doctor is a waste of time.
Tonight, I was wishing for that waste of time. Last night, I tried calling the after-hours doctor about Jeremy’s fever, and left a message which the answering machine said someone would get back to me about, but nobody called me back. Today, Rebecca called and got their two hour lunch message, so after her appointment, I called and was told to bring him in right away.
We took Jeremy in to see his doctor, arriving at 4:45, and after the routine checks of weight (33.4 pounds. Go my boy!) and temperature (99.4 degrees, pretty decent considering we gave him Ibuprofin earlier today), the Doctor came in, asked a few questions on Jeremy’s issue, then left and came back with a face mask and gloves on. That didn’t seem routine at all, but he continued the exam, looking in Jeremy’s ears and mouth, feeling his belly, listening to his lungs, etc. He then suggested that it could be influenza, pneumonia, or a urinary tract infection. He said he wanted Jeremy to go in for some blood work and a suction (tube up the nose to pull out mucus), and that we had to go to the Provo hospital to do this.
I asked him right out, if he was doing this because of the swine flu scare, since it seemed that in the past, they would just do a few random tests, say they don’t know what’s wrong, and then give us antibiotics as a precaution, or to treat a possible ear infection. He said that he would have done the same thing last year or last month (before the swine flu scare). Whatever…
We drove down to the Provo Hospital, arriving at 6:00, and I texted my work to tell them I wouldn’t be coming in (I never got a response, so I really hope he got it!), and then we parked outside the south entrance. We had no idea where we were supposed to go for the lab work, so we just walked in and asked the first employee we found for directions. He didn’t know for sure where we needed to go, but gave us directions to the main lab, which was through some hallways, out the doors, down the street, and into another building. We went there, and the lady told us they would do the blood work there, but the suction needed to be done in the main part of the hospital that we just left. Okay…
Jeremy was very good during the blood work. I took him in, and held him on my lap, and two ladies did the work; one to draw the blood, and the other to hold his arm still. This was his first time doing the blood work, and he winced but stayed perfectly still. What a great boy! They awarded Jeremy with a rubber duck and stickers for his braveness, and then we went back to the main building and up to the pediatric floor for them to do the suction. It seemed that nobody knew exactly where we needed to go, so we had a bit of a runaround before meeting Ben, the person who would do the suction. He took us into a small room, then left explaining he needed to get a robe. We wondered if Jeremy needed to undress for a simple nasal suction? But no, it was for Ben, and he put it on, along with gloves and a mask. He then had Jeremy lay down, wrapped in a blanket to avoid wiggling, and I helped hold his head still. Ben then stuck a small tube up his nose (probably 4 inches worth) and Jeremy cried! But, it was fast and Jeremy was still very good through it all.
I couldn’t help but feel sad about how much our brave little boy was, and even though he was more pathetic through the whole ordeal, he did really well. Since we were out, in Provo, we decided to go to the mall and have dinner at Red Robin (a wait time of an hour for out tiny party of 6), and while we were eating, the doctor called and said Jeremy didn’t have the flu, and his white blood count was normal, so his assumption was that Jeremy has something viral, but the rest of the tests will come back tomorrow.
What a tiring adventure!
Update: Jeremy seems fine Saturday morning. Go figure.
