Sicko

The Mud Puddle is sick (not in the head – that comes after years of bad jokes and limericks told repeatedly by his father and grandfather) but physically sick.
The reason that this is Blog worthy is two-fold:

First, he has Scarlet Fever, I didn’t even know that you could still get that. Apparently when you have strep throat (which he does) it can cause Scarlet Fever.

Secondly, he hasn’t acted sick, at all. He has had a fever since Friday but Tylenol seemed to keep it at bay and he didn’t complain of any other symptoms. He was his usual old self – just a little pink in the cheeks.

He was sent home from daycare Monday with a fever and a bit of a rash (I assumed it was a reaction to new fabric softener, which has happened before). When I called the doctor’s office the nurse was less than impressed with his symptoms and I had to press to get him an appointment.

When we got in to see the doctor (Not ours, another member of the practice) she treated me like I was an idiot and a bad mother to boot.
“Do you know what that is?” she asked rather condescendingly.
“No…..” I replied with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“It is SCARLET FEVER!!” she informed me, and implied any self respecting mother would know that. (In hindsight that Law and Order “Duhn, Duhn” sounded in my head but I was too upset to notice).
“He is a very sick little boy,” she said as the Mud Puddle wiggles his butt on the paper covering the exam table to make that noise he loves.

I almost started crying. I am no longer in the running for Mommy of the Year (see earlier posts about juice and tv) but now I am a prime candidate for Worst Mother of the Decade.

I feel so incredibly guilty that I didn’t know he was sick, but in a lame attempt at a defense, no one else did either. Daycare was shocked when I told them what was wrong, as was everyone else.
He was dancing around the living room (“I like to move it move it”) 10 minutes before his doctor’s appointment. He was his usual happy go lucky self. And while it is nice he can ‘handle’ being sick, it makes me worried.

He was VERY sick and could have had some serious problems if we hadn’t gone to the doctor when we did. So what am I supposed to do? Do I rush him to the doctor every time he has a sniffle? *sigh*
The least he could do is act sick if he is going to BE sick.

Today he is better, Scott has been taken out by the strep and I am headed to the doctor this afternoon. I am going to have to bomb the house with chlorine and burn all the sheets once we have all gotten over it.