Frankly Scarlet....

I wrote yesterday that Mary Grace was sick.  She slept through the night last night and woke up fairly perky, so I thought we'd seen the worst of it (the worst being 102.6 degree fevers twice yesterday).  Well, you can imagine how long that lasted...

Grandpa Bob came over this morning bright and early after he got off work, had pancakes, and looked at her throat.  He said it looked bad, but to give it another day since she was doing so much better than yesterday.  If you don't have a nurse in your family you really should get one, it's very convenient!  After he left and I got Claire and BJ out the door, I remembered that it's Friday and that I've had profoundly bad experiences with urgent care, and her fever was starting to spike again, so I decided to call and get a same-day-sick appointment.  This was at 9 am.  I spoke to Annette (LOVE her - if your doctor's office doesn't have an Annette, you should get one, but you can't have mine!) and when I told her what was going on, with the white spots on the tonsils, she said, "Yeah, we have a 10:00, you should bring her in."

"Well," I said, "As long as no one cares that I haven't had a shower..."

Turns out I had just enough time to get showered, so at about 9:15 I left MG on the couch watching Phineas and Ferb while I ran upstairs.  By the time I got back downstairs (fully dressed) at 9:30 (becoming a mother has made me hyper-efficient with personal hygiene), she was covered in a red, bumpy, itchy rash.  It came on so fast!  It was especially bad around her belly button, on her neck and shoulders, and her wrists.

At that point I was thinking, "I'm SO glad we already have a doctor's appointment!"  I threw clothes on her, put her in the car, and away we went. 

"You're welcome."

Her throat was so classically strep-looking that Dr. M didn't even do a culture (she cried a lot when I told her what they were going to do - she was afraid they'd drop the swab down her throat, poor baby).  In addition to strep throat, she also has Scarlet Fever (!!!) which was a big deal before antibiotics (see also: The Velveteen Rabbit, and Little Women) but apparently is no big thing now that we have abundant antibiotics to choose from.  (It still sounds scary, though.)

Thank Fleming!

It turns out that Scarlet Fever is a skin manifestation of the strep infection, which means that the infection in her throat is already in her systemically, which means that there's a greater risk of it going to her heart or her kidneys, so we're treating it aggressively.  He assured me that she should be much better by Sunday, and that she could even return to school Monday assuming that her fever stays down.

We waited at the doctor's office for her urinalysis to come back (negative for a UTI, hooray!).  I'll tell you what, I've had to do a clean-catch urine sample with MG twice now, and it's no fun for anybody.  "Mom, this is GROSS!" she said.  I had to agree.

Odds are that one of us, probably Claire, will have caught this by Sunday.

And then I'll become real.

It took forever to spend $80 at the pharmacy on various medicines and creams to try to keep her comfortable.  We were mainly waiting on her antibiotic.  I think they had to go out back and culture it themselves.  Then my order rang up incorrectly - the vitamins I got for the dog (whole 'nother story) didn't ring up buy one get one free - so I had to talk to the manager to get a refund.  All told, we were gone for 2-1/2 hours which is a ridiculously long time when you're little and you're sick, but she hung in like a trooper.  I guess the Oreo Blizzard didn't hurt.

It has been an exceptionally long day, and it's only 1:30.  I think I'm going to try to sneak in a nap.