24 Hour Bug, Be Gone

The other day, S got struck with a viral bug.

She woke up early, and came out crying and complaining that her arms and legs were hurting. I chalked it up to some growing pains -- she is about that age, after all. And had her curl up on the couch with some cartoons to just relax.

She asked for some chocolate milk, so I made her a glass of ovaltine and let her snuggle.

Shortly after, we saw the milk again ... as it painted the carpet and couch. Oops! Guess the aches were not from growing pains, after all.

Got her cleaned up ... and she was instantly groggy and lethargic. She spent her morning curled up watching Disney Jr [such a lifesaver on days like this] while I kept her brother out of her face as much as possible. I managed to get her to sip a little Gatorade, but she quickly lost some of that, as well.

With no energy, and no food or drink in her system, I figured it was time for a nap, so I took her to her room with her fan and laid her down. She slept for a solid two hours before rejoining me in the living room.

She asked for a bubble bath, and that's when I noticed she was getting really warm.

I'm of the "delayed medicine" school of thought. You see, there is a reason our body starts to run a fever, and its to fight off whatever infection we are battling. I usually wait until the fever is 101 or higher before introducing it to some Tylenol, so when I took her temp and saw it was 101.5 orally, I figured it was about time.

We called the doc and got an appointment just to be on the safe side. After two hours of waiting, mostly, and almost being forgotten, they ran a strep culture, which came back negative. It was a virus, just as we had thought.

Better safe than sorry.

Oh -- and her fever? Was now 102.6! Poor girl!

She came home and drank another glass of Gatorade, got another bubble bath with some cool water, and relaxed a little more before bedtime.

By morning, she was feeling like her usual self, and the fever was gone!