Mum knows best

Ryan had a fever for eight days. Eight days!

It all started with the bee sting. The night of the bee sting Ryan had a fever of 102.6. We gave him Tylenol and hoped he be better in the morning. The next morning I called our doc to make sure this was normal and she said most kids can get a fever after a bee sting and that he should be okay, but to call if things didn't get better.

To make a long story short, Ryan had a fever, which kept getting higher and higher for eight days, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. He kept saying his stomach hurt and we figured that had something to do with it being upset.

On Wednesday night, when we put Ryan to bed he was a little warm, but it seemed the fever might actually go away. At 2 a.m. we packed our stuff and headed to the ER because Ryan had been talking to the wall and had a fever of 103.7.

The doc at the ER pretty much made us feel like we wasted her time. She said all kids get fevers, but that Ryan probably had a virus. We should go home and let him rest. When we persisted that he'd had this fever for eight days, she said he was fine.

The next morning I made a call to our doc and was squeezed into a very busy day. I was so thankful to see her and have someone REALLY listen to me. While waiting to be seen a wonderful lady came by to entertain Timothy while I held a very hot Ryan who cried and slept off and on.

Doc checked a lot of things, but also took a culture of some pretty white spots on his throat. She called the ER, told them we'd be coming for blood work, a urine sample, chest and stomach x-ray and IV fluids. In addition, she wanted us not to leave until we saw a pediatrician.

We had a bad experience with the triage nurse who shouldn't be in medical care at all. The hospital will be recieving a letter from me detailing her horrible bedside manner with my child and how rude she was to both Adam and me.

The nurse who spent the night with us was wonderful. The hospital will recieve a letter from me about his wonderful way with children and their scared/worried parents.

The ER doc again tried to tell us this was viral and that kids get fevers all the time, but I was firm with him and told him we weren't leaving until the tests our doctor order were done and the pediatrician had seen us.

Against our better judgement, Ryan had a catheter put in to collect urine to be sure he didn't have a bladder infection. It was the most painful and frightening thing my son has ever experienced and will never trust another doctor or nurse to look at his penis again.

When they came to take a blood sample, which Ryan is really good at, he freaked out and put his hands over his penis and screamed over and over, "please, no!" I'm sure it didn't help that both Adam and I were emotional wrecks by this point, yet we were trying to offer comfort.

The pediatrician showed up, took a look in Ry's mouth and said he thought he had tonsillitis. He looked a second time and said that was for sure what he had and that why no one else had determined this, he wasn't sure.

While Adam feels this guy was so old he could fart dust, at least he found out what was wrong with my precious two year old. Apparently while I took Ryan to examine pictures on the wall this doc scratched together a prescription for Ryan then decided that he'd written too high a dose, did some calculations on the back of the pad and then wrote a new one. Then Adam was told how to count by the pharmacist..."1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, mls of this medicine." Thanks bucky, we're not stupid. Sigh.

Ryan is a bit better today. Has managed to actually eat, but still complains his stomach and penis hurt.

Mum knows best! I KNEW my kid didn't have a virus and I hate that they blew us off thinking we were parinoid parents. At least Ryan will be okay.