Sick-o

There really is no worse feeling in the world than the feeling of helplessness that you have when your kid is sick.  Today, Emma is running a fever of 104.9 after taking Ibuprofen.  She’s also thrown up a couple of times.  She is a trooper.  When I tell her that it’s going to be okay she replies, ‘I know.’  But me?  I’m just a mess.

What bothers me the most is that hospitals can’t, or won’t, do anything until you’re pretty sure something is seriously wrong.  Talking to an advice nurse at Kaiser gets me advice like ‘If her fever persists at 105 or above for 24 hours call back to see a doctor.’  How about, for the sake of at least peace of mind, have the doctor see her now before something goes horribly awry?

Apparently, little bodies can handle a temperature much higher than an adult can.  They tell you that it’s not really a high fever until it reaches the 105 range.  A friend of mine said she recently called in to her child’s pediatrician and they told her 106.  Are you kidding me?  106 degrees??  Sitting a foot away from Emma laying down on the couch I can feel the heat emanating from her little body.  She is literally a furnace right now.

So after calling my pediatric nurse Mom I threw her in the bath and read her a story while she floated around.  After the longest Arthur story ever I took her temperature again.  100.9.  Sweet.

Thanks Mom!