Thursday, April 26, 2007

Loser Mama Award

Well, I just got home from the doctor's office. My youngest (5) has had a persistant rash for the last 12 days. It got better, then came back a bit, got better, etc. I had called the doc when the rash first presented and we both thought it was some type of allergic reaction. Today I thought, hmm just might want to go in.

While she was weighing him, I mentioned she might want to look at his hands as well, the palms were peeling terribly...like burst blisters. She told me he MIGHT have strep, the peeling hands could be an indication but it probably wasn't strep since he had never run a fever.

Well she did a culture and it came back that he has SCARLET FEVER!! Which is a form of strep, usually becasue the strep was left untreated. She asked how my oldest was feeling since he had had the asthma attack last weekend and I told her he had recovered but it was the oddest thing he had thrown up from all the meds he took. She calmly said "well, you know, throwing up could be a symptom of strep. Let' s check him as well." While she was at it she might as well check the middle one who has NO symptoms.

The oldest two both came back positive for strep! So my happy little family, that has NEVER had a strep throat or strep infection of any kind, has strep at the same time. No fevers, no sore throats, no headaches....just peeling hands and vomiting! Who knew???

Please pray for Smoda, it is unlikely but there is a slight chance that he could develop rheumatic fever. The doctor feels like the strep infection has been in his body at least three weeks, since he would have had the infection prior to breaking out in the rash from scarlet fever. So we need the antibiotics to take a hold quickly.

Oh the thousands we have contaminated....like I said I am the loser mama!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, Julie! You are certainly not a loser mama! Who would have known?????????

We'll all say a prayer for Smoda and the rest of you.

Love,
Becca

Beth said...

Oh Julie, you are not a loser. You're just a mom doing the best she can. Really. When my middle son was 3 years old he had a strep infection for over 3 months because no one could diagnose the weird rash he had. He even had to have a colonoscopy. We were at our wits end until he got diagnosed. He was really sick and then once he was on the antibiotics he was like a new kid.

Did I mention that I didn't bring my oldest to the doctor for 3 days in February when he broke his arm because I told him it was just a sprain?

I will pray for you and all your boys tonight. I think you're a great mom. Hang in there.

Lori's Light Extemporanea said...

Oh sweet Julie! I know how you feel but please don't go there. You don't have a medical degree so how could you know? Besides that, your children have a different sort of reaction to strep than anyone that I've heard of so, again, how were you to know?

And we're bombarded by germs everywhere, every day.

My middle child got scarlet fever a few Thanksgivings ago and so far, no rheumatic fever, no heart problems.

Take care, sweetie!

Tammy said...

My prayers are with you especially. You are not the loser mom you think you are, you do the best you can!! I am sure we have all done this, I know I have!! So, now the kids are on antibiotics and things will look up. I will keep the rheumatic fever in prayer though.

Scribbit said...

Oh don't blame yourself at all, you hear so much about not dragging your kids to the doctor for every little thing, that it's better for them to get over it naturally than to get antibiotics all the time. YOu couldn't have known and I would have probably done the same thing. I just hope they get better soon. I'm so sorry.