I had be waiting all summer for us to have a few calendar free days so the kids and I could take some field trips. (We have done very few this summer.) This past week was looking pretty open, with a playdate for Kate on Monday while Melissa helped me make salsa and a community meal on Thursday evening for which Kate and I were making some food. Of course we had some tasks to complete during the week, but they could be done on our own time.
I had great plans ... a longer field trip day on Tuesday, a shorter afternoon adventure on Wednesday, gardening, playing, and all kinds of good stuff.
Then Kate came down with a fever and sore throat on Sunday night. She seemed to be fine on Monday as long as she had ibuprofen in her system, but the moment it wore off, her fever was back and she was miserable.
Melissa stayed with Ethan and Anna while I ran Kate into the doctor's on Monday afternoon for a strep test. Who gets strep in August?!? Apparently, not Kate. Both the rapid test and the 24 hour culture came back negative.
But she was still feverish and miserable on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday evening we could see the hint of a ring around a tick bite we found on her the previous week.
(Backing up a week ... Kate asked me while we were playing in the pool about a spot on her leg that itched. Sure enough, it was a tiny deer tick. Matt pulled it out before bed that night and we stuck it in the freezer "just in case". For those who don't remember, Anna had Lyme Disease the summer she was six. We had been watching the spot on Kate for a week, but it seemed clear ... until Tuesday night.)
We set up an appointment for Wednesday morning and when Kate woke up with a fever, again, we gave her another round of fever reducers and headed in to the clinic.
The doctor we spoke with was very glad we brought Kate in. She decided that it was best to treat the illness as if it were Lyme Disease, because if we decided to wait until a blood test would be positive (another 2-3 weeks), Kate would continue to be miserable in the meantime. And, the Lyme would continue to spread and potentially cause more damage.
Within 24 hours of Kate's first dose of antibiotics, she looked like this in the midst of a 1.5 mile walk on a beautiful morning.
She will continue to be treated for the next 2-3 weeks and we will keep a close eye on her when she stops the antibiotics, but we are pretty sure that this was the right treatment at the right time.
What are the chances of two siblings having Lyme Disease when they are kids? Evidently, pretty good in Wisconsin. We know of a few other families who have had multiple children treated for Lyme ...
So the week didn't happen as planned. The first few days were a bit rough in our house since we didn't know exactly what was wrong with Kate and our plans/expectations had to be adjusted, but by the time Thursday rolled around, we were on the upswing.
Mostly, I'm thankful for attentive and compassionate doctors as well as the swiftness and effectiveness of antibiotics.
On a slightly different note, life in other parts of our county didn't exactly go as planned last week either. Areas west of Madison received 12+ inches of rain on Monday afternoon and evening, resulting in historic floods over there. The water has been making its way downstream during the last week, causing lake levels around here to rise.
Amazingly, the county experienced only one fatality due to the floods last Monday, and the officials have done a wonderful job managing the dams, locks, and other controls necessary to prevent further flooding.
However, many people's plans were altered, often last minute, due to the effects of the storms.
No comments:
Post a Comment