If it walks like a duck and looks like a duck . . .

. . . it is probably the duck that you think that it is.

Yesterday, K- woke up complaining of a sore throat.  She looked fine otherwise.  She said that she had a belly ache, but if I kept the child home everytime she said that her stomach hurt, she'd never go to school.  I gave her a dose of Advil, sent her off and called the pediatrician for an appointment later on that day.  Normally, I wouldn't call for a sore throat, but I knew that she had been accidentally exposed to strep on Monday.  The mom reported that the rapid strep came back fine on her son, even though she insisted that strep was the problem.  She was sent home with nothing, thinking that he was fine, she sent him to school on Monday, the doctor's office was closed on Tuesday, then she found out Wednesday that his culture came back positive.  She kept him home, did the 24 hour hold on antibiotics, then farmed him back off.  In the meantime, children have been falling ill in their class and all over the school.

Yesterday, K- was one of them.

I was wheeling down the hall, distributing shirts out to the classes, when my dear sweet child was on her way down the hall.  "What's up, Babe?"  "Mom, I'm going to the nurse."  "You don't feel any better?"  "No." 

She went down, the nurse gave her a once over, asked me, "Are her tonsils usually that big?"  "I don't know, I've never looked at them before."  (I should be embarrassed to say that, but I don't know what I'm looking at.)  She handed me a flashlight and without knowledge of what I was looking at at all, I could see.  "Whoa." 

Of course, yesterday was a day that I could not leave.  I had to finish distributing t-shirts, had to finish directories and pass those out and I had a pizza party for 45 K-2 kids.  I gave Hubs a heads up before work telling him the spot I was in. 

God bless him.  He came the 35 minutes in to grab her up and take her home so that I could press on with what I had to do.  It was National Metal Day on VH1 anyhow, so it wasn't like it took much coaxing.

I had a 3:50 PM appointment and we went together as a family.  K-'s pediatrician didn't have any appointments left, so we saw the other doctor in the practice.  Before K- even opened her mouth, she said, "She smells like strep."  She explained that while there was a lot of viral funk going around, she would lay money down on the fact that K- had strep. 

Her rapidly rapid strep came back positive. 

I cruised by Big Bird to pick up the prescription.  Of course, I was the only person in line.  "Oh, we just received the fax.  Give us 15 minutes."  I decided to do some shopping (their ploy, I'm sure) and by the time I got back, it was like the entire NE Ohio population was in line.  I waited and waited and then! K-'s prescription needed mixed calling for me to wait some more.  Hooray!!! 

I got the Rx in her and she kept it down, even though she had a vomiting session to rival just about any other she's ever had.  (Advil is what put her over the edge.)  Later, she opted for 1 spoonful of Advil, which she successfully kept down, she slept through the night and I woke up to, "Mom?  Um, I think I need to stay in bed all day and watch TV, but I can swallow now and my throat doesn't even hurt!" 

Thank God for modern day antibiotics.  It also doesn't hurt that they were free.

Be healthy!