Monday, February 18, 2008

I feel like I'm escorting my daughter through hell.

She has been coughing her heart out all weekend. These aren't just a kid with a cough coughs. She can't breathe, her eyes water, her face turns bright red, and eventually "stuff" comes out of her mouth and into our hands or on her person. Justin thought the stuff was clear, but after examining a fresh batch on the bed sheet an hour ago, it appears to be yellow/green/brown.
I think that's not good. She hasn't had any increase in body temp, unless you count rectal temp of 99. In my nonmedical degree, that's not actually an elevated temperature.

Justin has called the nurse line and every parent in Northern Minnesota is calling with the same issues. Soooooo, do I take her back to the doctor today? This cough is completely keeping her from her normal activities (she's 16 months--what the heck activities could she possibly be missing?) and TOTALLY keeping her from rest and any normal sleep. When I say HER I mean ALL OF US. I'm a baby kind of because I'm still not feeling 100 percent. While I feel TONS better than before, I have crazy coughing fits of non-breathing and the inhaler that I rec'd at one of my earlier visits that used to burn when I used it has now come in handy. I'm a bad mother. It's apparent that in taking care of my daughter when I was sick, I coughed alllllllll over her poor lil body and infected her.

I know that if an illness is viral there is nothing they can do for you. My question is: how exactly can they make that determination?? This viral shit is a wild wild beast! It scares me kind of.
I hate feeling this helpless.

Anyone have a spare bottle of baby antibiotics sitting around they could fax me?
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2 comments:

aintshakespeare said...

Faxing the antibiotics will work, but the time it takes may be better spent doing other things. You see, once you receive the faxed antibiotics you then have to shred the paper down, five or six times. Then you put it in a blender on Puree with milk. This get's tedious because most blenders have a tendency to jam up. You can thin this mixture out with a bit of whiskey. Then you take the pureed mixture out of the blender and put it in a cup. You leave it there for about a day to set up. After it has set you look at it and say, "My God, can I really eat that?" The answer is, "No." You then take the dried mixture, which should smell badly of sour cheese, and you put it back in the blender. Now add some brown M&Ms (hard to find) and more milk. Blend for about a minute. Then add sugar. Finally, take that out and let it set for a couple of days. Once the mixture has set, throw it out and call the pharmacy. They should have received your perscriptions by then.

Two notes on the kid: 1. 99 is a fever, and your pediatrician should know. 2. Yes there are things they can do for a virus. Sadly, antibiotics aren't one of those things. Mostly what you want to do is keep your daughter hydrated and keep the air moist with a humidifier. This will help prevent some hacking and keep the throat from chaffing when she does cough. One thing that worked for us when my son had RSV was to take him into the bathroom and sit with him while we ran the shower on hot. Not exactly water conservation, but it really calmed his cough for a couple of hours, which gave him some sleep.

7:11 AM
S said...

You're a gem. I like the whiskey mixture, minus everything but the whiskey. That might help ME feel better, if not Maddie.

I think you should open up a medical practice. In your response you've already given me more effective treatment advice than the 458 times we've spoken/visited our doctor(s).

10:52 AM

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