How quickly they get sickly

What a day we had today! Little Man was unwell yesterday and generally off his food. He had a slight cough as well, and he was a bit restless in his sleep last night. But this morning, he ate his breakfast, and he was having great fun running around the place with his uncle and his grandad. Off we went to visit one of my friends, thinking that Little Man was over whatever had been bothering him. How wrong I was!

The first indication that all wasn’t quite right was when Little Man refused to get out of his buggy to play when we got to my friend’s house. You see one of the resident’s of this particular house is a four year old girl – and normally Little Man would love nothing more than to be following a big kid around and trying to play with her. Not today though – he just wanted to be left alone in his buggy.

He slept on and off, and I thought he’d eat when he woke and be fine. But when he eventually woke, not only would he not eat, but worryingly, he wouldn’t drink anything for me. Just as I was trying to decide whether to take him home, or take him to the doctor, he fell back asleep. My decision was made – off to the On Call Doctor to check everything was okay. As I drove to the doctor’s, I was thinking about the three F’s – form, fever, food. Little Man’s form wasn’t great – he was very whingey; he didn’t exactly have a fever, but he was warmer than usual; and he was totally off his food. By the time we got to the doctor’s, he could barely lift his head from my shoulder. How quickly things had changed since early morning!

There were four of us waiting when the doctor arrived. He took one look at all of us, and asked me to take Little Man straight into his office. After a quick examination, the doctor apologised and told me that he was going to have to send us to the hospital for a chest x-ray and further examination. He was worried about the congestion on Little Man’s chest. I was shaking leaving the doctor’s office. I headed straight to the hospital, hoping and praying we wouldn’t be waiting too long to be seen.

Sunday afternoon is not a time to be heading to Accident and Emergency in Ireland. The waiting room was overflowing with sports injuries – bandaged eyes, strapped wrists, swollen ankles, and even a couple of neck braces. It’s been years since I was in an A&E in Ireland, and I feared the worst. I was bracing myself for a lengthy wait, but the receptionist reassured me that they do their best to treat children quickly. I didn’t really believe her, but I took my seat and tried to be patient. Thank God for the iPhone – there is no better toy for entertaining a toddler in a crowded waiting room. We played I Hear Ewe, we watched In the Night Garden, we played some Paper Toss, we talked to Talking Gugl, and while we were bopping along to the Tombliboo song for the second or third time, Little Man revived enough to drink a couple of ounces of water for me. I was so relieved. His refusal of fluids was worrying me more than anything else.

The receptionist was right though. We were seen within 45 minutes. Almost immediately, they administered Neurofen to bring down Little Man’s temperature. When the doctor finally examined him, she couldn’t hear any congestion on his chest, but she sent us down to x-ray anyway.

Little Man was so good for the whole thing. He lay still for the x-ray, as soon as I explained that we were just going to take a picture of his belly. Shortly afterwards, the doctor was back with the good news that the x-ray was clear. Little Man has tonsillitis and a slight chest infection – but we caught it early. The doctor quickly prescribed an antibiotic and sent us off with reassurances that he’ll be right as rain in a few days. And it looks like she was right – a few hours after the first dose of antibiotic, Little Man was demanding ice-cream from each member of the family. I think it’s safe to say he’s on the mend. I may take a little longer to get over the whole experience!