Doctor, Doctor

Since Friday our family has spent almost as much time at immediate care centers, doctor's offices, labs and pharmacies as we have at home.

Yikes! Are you going to stick me?"

First Rich's leg was enflamed and in pain Thursday evening. He was running a high-grade fever and experiencing uncontrollable shivering. The next morning it was even worse. So we went to the immediate care office, who sent him to have some tests run. It was a bad infection. The last time he had this he was hospitilized for a week, so we were very concerned.

They put him on several medications and we were instructed to return on Saturday to determine if he would need to be hospitalized. Luckily on Saturday the white cell count had dropped in half (bringing it to within acceptable levels.) We were then told to see a regular doctor on Monday. The appointment on Monday went well and Rich is getting better. But, he must return in six weeks for a follow-up. After each appointment it was back to the pharmacy to get more medications.

See, Mom, No grimace!

Unfortunetly, while at the immediate care office on Friday, Rich was made to remove his pants and we went to another office in a different part of the building. (Don't worry, he was wearing the cutest paper shorts!) We were out of the room for about 45 minutes to an hour. When Rich checked his wallet later he found that his money was missing. He was in so much pain that we never thought about the wallet when we left the room. So we have reported the theft to the police and to the medical office, with really no hope for return of the funds.

All done

Then I had to take David to have blood drawn to make sure his medication is not causing damage. David has never been good at having needles poking him. When he was just 9 months old and getting a shot, he pulled the needle out and tried to stab the nurse. When he was seven and hospitlized they tried to take his blood. After having to chase him down for 5 days and never getting a blood sample they decided to break regulations and allow me to accompany him to the lab. He sat on my lap and they had no problems, the nurse said she wished they had been allowed to call earlier because she didn't think they would ever be able to get the sample. As you can see he has gotten much better—no running and screaming and no sitting on mom's lap.