Scarlet Fever

Conner on his perch Friday before the rash set in

Conner woke up Friday morning at 5:00 just screaming his head off that his throat hurt. Nothing would calm him down not even a popsicle. He started vomiting. After about 20 minutes he agreed to sit in my bed and watch a movie. His temperature was only 100 F so we thought we'd just wait it out. As the day went on he continued to throw up and his fever got worse. He just laid on the couch and moaned and wouldn't eat anything. His fever continued to go up. It eventually got up to 103.5 F. He was in and out of sleep all day long. He refused to take any medicine. We tried holding him down and forcing it in buy he'd just spit it out. Nor fun. Luckily there was one Pepsi left in the fridge from when my parents were here so he evenually drank a "cherry" Pepsi. Thank goodness. I slept with him that night in my bed. Terrible night. I think we only got 10 to 15 minute intervals of sleep at time. Conner kept yelling out in his sleep and crying. His body broke out in a red rash that felt like sandpaper and he just itched and itched it. He cried for it to please stop itching. Saturday was worse. Conner just cried so Neil took him to Instacare. They opened at noon so Neil was there at 12:15 and no other patients were there so Neil thought he hit the jackpot. Too bad the doctor didn't get in until after one. Conner just slept in Neil's arms. The doctor called me because Conner was screaming so bad Neil couldn't hear. Conner had scarlet fever. My thought was oh no, isn't that pretty bad. It killed tons of children back in the day. Scarlet fever is actually strep throat with a rash. Now I know why it's called scarlet fever. Conner's little body is so red with the rash. He was put on antibiotics and tonight he's finally perking up and he actually ate a bowl of oatmeal. I am so glad. My kids always get sick on the weekend which is such a blessing to me because I have Neil here to help. This was the first time one of our kids has really been sick. Sure my kids get sick all the time but usually it's just a cold or flu and other than coughs and runny noses they act normal. This is the first time one of the kids became comotose. Conner just wouldn't talk. He'd just lay on the couch and look at me with those big huge brown expressionless eyes and I couldn't tell what he was trying to tell me. I felt so helpless and it broke my heart. I wanted to help him but didn't know how. I didn't know what was wrong. Was it serious? I cried several times with Conner and prayed. It's really hard when one of your kids gets sick.



Thank goodness Sam and Mikey have been the sweetest boys ever these past couple days. That's not unusual for Mikey but Sam, oh boy. On Friday he kept pretending he was an airplane and with arms stretched out on the side he would run around the house making airplane sounds. Just too cute. Also they've been watching George like crazy, favorite movie. In the previews there is a Barbie trailer for dancing Barbies. Sammy now tries to dance like a ballerina when it comes on. Mikey has just been cute as always. He has totally graduated from baby food except for rice cereal in the morning. I don't think he's had a jar of baby food for over a month. I am so happy because he was going through five jars a day at $2.50 a day that adds up. He was eating better than us. I do feel bad though because he ate way better when he was on baby food. I know that was all wholesome fruits and vegetables and such and now I'll put him in his chair and throw him some cereal or crackers while I'm getting the other boys breakfast or lunch ready. He still eats good don't get me wrong, I'm just not so good with the vegetables lately. Conner and Sam will eat carrots and ranch everyday but they are still a little hard for Mikey to chew but boy does he love bananas and yogurt.