First Day of School Blues

Poor little Erik has been sick since Saturday.  When I put him to bed Saturday night I noticed that he felt warm (100.5).  The next morning we got up early and left for a quick family vacation.  He was a trooper the whole time we were gone (more on that in a different post) but had a high fever the whole time.  As long as I kept him dosed with Ibuprofen he acted pretty normal but had a very tight chest/cough which was concerning me.

When we got back Monday afternoon I called our pediatricians office to see if he could be seen on Tuesday.  Our pediatrician is out of town.  She just joined a new practice (used to be on her own with just her mom who is her NP) and the new practice refused to see Erik anytime Tuesday stating they were too busy and suggested I take him to the Urgent Care.  I wasn't sure he needed a trip to the Urgent care but school was starting this week so I wanted to make sure he didn't have strep or pneumonia.  The strep test was negative and the PA thought his lungs were just kind of congested but didn't warrant an x-ray (I didn't contest it as they weren't terrible sounding then).

Tuesday he seemed a bit better but still had a low grade temp all day.

Today his temp spiked back up to 102 degrees.  When I listened to his lungs this afternoon it was clear they were worse and he definitely needed an xray.  I called the pediatrician's office again and asked to be seen sometime this afternoon or Thursday and they again refused and told me to go to the urgent care.

In an act of defiance I called her old office and asked to see if the new pediatrician in that office could see us Thursday (long story about the practice switch that can't be written about on the blog).  She of course has lots of available times but doesn't work on Thursdays.  Of course.

So back to the Urgent Care we went (a different one this time that costs us $50 per visit instead of $20 but provides much better care).  The doctor seemed kind of dismissive but as soon as he listened to Erik's chest he was like, "Well, I almost never say this but he does need an X-ray!".

So little Erik has an crappy looking x-ray with definite right sided pneumonia.  He is on Augmentin and will need to lay low for the next few days.  Hopefully, the fever will break in the next 24-48 hours or we will be back in the urgent care/ER.

Erik has been impressively chipper during all of this.  I feel so bad that he is missing his first few days of school though!  Poor little guy!