sicky baby

I wonder, what good are medical walk-in clinics if they are closed when regular doctor's offices are closed?

My little guy has had a bit of a cold for over a week; mostly congestion, crankiness and a lack of hunger. He also had a bit of a mucousy cough and since a little girl at daycare had Bronchitis the week before, he went to the doctor and got the all-clear last week. By Thursday he seemed to be starting to pep up, but Friday afternoon came around and all of a sudden the boy woke up screaming with a fever.

By Saturday afternoon, when he awoke from his nap lethargic and still feverish, I thought it might be time for another trip to the doctor. Particularly since there had been no fever associated with the cold the week before.

We left home around 3:30pm, by 4:00 we had been to FIVE (that's right FIVE) walk-in medical clinics and not one of them was open. We decided to go to the ER at the local hospital. Three hours later, the doctor finally listened to his chest, didn't seem all all concerned about the fever (granted he was only about 38 degrees as I had given him some Infants Motrin) and sent us on our way.

By the time we arrived home and got settled back in, the boy's fever was back up to 39.5 degrees. A warm bath and more Motrin had him calmed down and into bed. Four hours later, he was feverish and upset again, more Motrin and this time Mommy laid down in the spare room with baby. When he woke up, another 4 hours later, this time with a temperature of 39.9 degrees I decided it was time to take him to Children's Hospital ER.

 We saw a doctor within an hour of arriving; although he figured that the boy may have just caught the flu after his cold, he did hear something in his chest, so he sent him for a chest x-ray.  Seriously, he looked so pathetic strapped in the chair, arms above his head and screaming his lungs out.  On the plus side the x-ray did show something, but it was hard to be definitive.  The boy either has the flu (viral) or an early stage bacterial pneumonia.  He's on antibiotics in case it is pneumonia, and the doctor has assured me that the fever itself is not dangerous.

He seems to be a bit perkier today and he actually ate a little food and had some formula before heading back down for his nap, so hopefully he's on the mend.  I decided to stay home from work to comfort him today, but will likely be back to work tomorrow.  I hate to see my little man so sick and pathetic, yet I know that its all part of growing up.  Hope your family's feeling happy & healthy, and if their not, I hope they feel better soon.