Meanwhile, Greg and I were preparing to go out of town for the weekend. We had been looking forward to a weekend out of town with our friends for nearly a year. It was all arranged for Grandma and Grandpa Z to come and stay for the weekend while we were gone.
Thursday morning came, I finished packing and making last minute preparations while Greg shipped the kids off to school.
Our mini vacation was refreshing!
The next morning we called and checked in on the kids. Grandpa informed us that Emilio started throwing up early that morning and he also gave benadryl for his rash. We felt really terrible that Grandparents were left with a sick kid, but we also felt relieved that it was Emilio who was sick and not the little one. In the past when Emilio has had a stomach virus, he has ALWAYS made it to the toilet!
Two days later on Sunday night we returned home. Grandma and Grandma did a great job of not letting us worry, but one look at Emilio and I was worried. He was covered in a rash and had bright red cheeks. He looked like a very sick little boy. We passed out the gifts, said goodbye to grandparents and made a bed for Emilio on the floor in our room close to the bathroom. I turned to one of my good friends Google.
I determined that the rash he had looked like Scarlet Fever. Early the next morning we were at our pediatricians office. The doctor looked him over and determined he had a virus, but decided to to a strep test as well. Of course with a virus there are no antibiotics administered, so we were told to keep him hyrdated, let him rest and hopefully within a week this would resolve.Doctor said that if a fever persisted bring him back in 48 hours. His fever was low grade at 99 and change.
Home we went. Emilio proceeded to sleep, wake to vomit and go to the bathroom. During this time, I noted that other viruses of the stomach kind we have had in the past, still revealed an alert, semi functioning child. This was just not the case here. He slept all day Monday and all day Tuesday with continued vomitting and diarrhea. Tuesday night he came out of the room and I noticed that his right lymph node just below his ear was alarmingly enlarged. It was late enough that I had just missed the last after hours clinic appointment and I didn't feel like I should go to the emergency room.
The next day, back to the doctors we went. Emilio was extremely weak and had a pale color by the morning. I also noticed that he was markedly thinner. He had to carry a bowl with him because the nausea was triggered upon position change. Greg met me at the doctor to help with Emilio since I also had the little one.
In just the 2 days since we'd last seen the doctor, Emilio had lost 4 pounds for a total weight loss of nearly 10 pounds in 6 days. He had no fever, but he seemed to look sicker by the minute. Doctor thought it was still a virus, but the enlarged lymph node that seemed to appear overnight was enough cause for concern to order blood work, stool culture and urine test, mono test and repeat strep. He also administered a shot of an antibiotic Rocephin in each leg as well as a prescription for an oral antibiotic. While in the office, we got the strep culture back as positive.
After the doctor visit, we took our sick boy home and made him as comfortable as we could.
