Strep Fourth

Our 4th of July traditions are falling by the wayside this year -- Maggie has strep. On Thursday afternoon, we snuggled on the couch watching a movie. I thought she felt warm, so when the movie was over, I took her temp: 102.8! Knowing our pediatrician's rule for fevers is three days, I gave her tylenol, encouraged her to drink lots of fluids, and just generally doted on her.

When she woke up yesterday (at 10 a.m.!!), her temp was up to 103.6 and she was complaining of a sore throat. I went ahead and called the doctor's office since it was Friday and I didn't want her to be suffering all weekend. Maggie's regular pediatrician was on vacation, but we got an early afternoon appointment with the other female doctor in the group. As soon as I picked up the phone to make the appt., Maggie - who is terrified of lab tests like strep cultures and finger pricks - freaked. She started crying loudly, with real tears rolling down her cheeks. "I don't need to see the doctor! I don't need to see the doctor!" she cried. We finally calmed her down by promising ice cream if she did in fact need a strep test AND she cooperated with minimal violence.

Even with the high fevers, Maggie seemed to feel OK, and she was her usual talkative self when we got to the doctor's. The instant the nurse called us back, Maggie announced loudly, "My throat feels fine now. I don't need any tests!" And the instant Dr. Carter walked into the exam room, Maggie declared, "My throat doesn't hurt any more, so you don't need to tickle my throat!" Dr. Carter was nice ... she's not Dr. Rodgers, but she's a good second choice, and Maggie related well to her. She was obviously not as used to Maggie's constant chatter as Dr. R is, though, because she just cracked up at some of Maggie's comments. My favorites were, "Hey Mommy ... the faucet on the right-hand side of the sink looks blue because it's reflecting the reflection of your shirt!" and (to Dr. C) "I like your necklace. I like all kinds of jewelry. Sometimes I take Mommy's jewelry out of her jewelry box and play with it, even though I'm not supposed to do that."

Of course Maggie did have to have a strep test, and the instant Dr. Carter gently told her about it, she started crying. She chose Bobby to accompany her to the lab for the test, and all the way down the hall, I could hear her crying and pleading, "Please, I don't need it! My throat feels better! I don't need this test! Can you do it to my Daddy first? Please? Will you please tickle my Daddy's throat too? WILL SOMEONE PLEASE ANSWER ME?!?!?"

Funny ... and not.

Despite the volume of her complaints, Bobby said she sat still in the chair and let them do the test -- a huge improvement over past experiences when it took several of us to hold her down. (Oh, and somewhere along the way Bobby also promised her a trip to Toys 'R Us ... I guess we do what we've gotta do sometimes.) About 30 seconds later, she was back in the exam room sucking on a red popsicle and playing with two stickers the lab tech had given her. And 10 minutes later we were out the door, strep diagnosis and antibiotic prescription in hand, en route to Walgreens and TRU.

Her fever was actually higher last night at bedtime - 103.8 - but it was down to 102 this morning and she's eating better than yesterday. Hopefully she's on the mend; the last time she had strep, she came down wth flu 48 hours later. I definitely don't want a repeat of that!!

Happy 4th everyone! We'll be watching fireworks on TV this year.