JF's last dose of fever-reducer was at 2:00 AM yesterday. All day yesterday, he seemed magically better: His forehead temperature felt normal to my cheek, he was up to his normal ativity level (driving us crazy), and eating almost as much as he normally does.
So we sent him to daycare today. Everything seemed peachy until AF went to pick him up at daycare this evening. JF felt hot again, and sure enough, he was at 101.9.
My first thought was, he's been hit by yet another opportunistic bug and AF and I will have to work half-days all week. But then, after discussing it over with AF, we realized that neither one of us actually took his temperature yesterday to verify that his fever was gone.
Doh!
AF took the boy to the pediatrician this evening to make sure nothing has changed since the ER visit on Saturday. And nothing has changed. It's still just a viral infection. The doctor predicted that he'll be all better by tomorrow. But we still have to keep him home tomorrow because of the rules that he has to be fever-free for 24 hours. AF volunteered to stay home with him all day so that I can have a full day at work. (I'm not sure whether to be thrilled or disappointed.)
We've increased JF's Pulmicort doses back to two doses per day, hoping that it will help decrease the frequency of infections. We've found out the hard way that the nebulizer parts will warp if we soak it in water that's too hot. Until recently, I had been using the microwave's "beverage" setting to heat water for soaking the parts. AF, however, has always used the tea kettle to heat the water. I recently started following suit. Now the little cup that holds the Pulmicort is lopsided. I think I'll go back to using the microwave.
I'm annoyed that these nebulizer parts (and all of the other medical stuff we've had to deal with) didn't come home with better instructions. Our current set of neb parts has instructions for assembly, but none for cleaning. (Maybe this doesn't bother other parents; Maybe it bothers me only because I'm a tech writer. I dream about writing instructions.) If I had time and energy, I'd write to the manufacturer and complain.
Time and energy? What's that?
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7 comments:
I forgot to mention, the PEP teacher's home visit was postponed AGAIN. On Monday, she called and said that we should use the same 24-hour rule for home visits. Sigh. This is the fourth time!
Now it's scheduled for Thursday evening. And I'm scheduled to observe JF in the classroom Thursday afternoon. If JF continues to have a fever today, I'll have to postpone both. This is so frustrating!
I am so sorry! Hang in there!
Hopefully everything will stabilize soon. There is nothing worse than a sick child!!!!
I hope he bounces back and you can keep your schedule on Thursday!
Agh! I hope he's feeling better soon. Winter time really is the worst for illnesses, isn't it?
Thank you both for your support. :)
You're so right about the nebulizer not having cleaning instructions!!! I've been "cleaning" the parts by rinsing, then air drying, but occasionally scrubbing the darkened recesses with a moistened q-tip. Maybe this is worth a Googling?
Wait, you sterilize your nebulizer parts? I just wash them in hot water and let them air dry. Whoops.
Hi nylonthread and kelly o. When we got our first set of nebulizer parts, we were told to soak them in very hot water after each use. (They gave us a specific temperature, but now I don't remember what it was. I just remember that it's hotter than our hot tap water.) Then air-dry.
They also said to not wipe the parts with anything. And once a day, the parts should be soaked in hot soapy water, then in hot rinse water.
The problem with spoken instructions is that they will be forgotten or distorted over time. So I may be completely wrong.
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