he's feeling hot, hot, hot

and not in a good way.

*updated at the bottom*

original post:

Bubba is still sick. Like, really sick. Okay well compared to some people's situations, I'm sure it's nothing. But for us and our family, it is something. It started on Sunday with a fever and body aches. Then on Monday he still had a fever, anything from 100-103. Tuesday, still had a fever didn't eat lunch at all, again.Took him to the doctor she ran a strep test, which came back fine. She believed he had a virus and it'd last about 4 days.

Tuesday night when I went to bed, I checked on him and no fever. It was like a Tuesday Night Miracle, he felt absolutely fine. He woke up Wednesday morning, played a little, ate cereal, still no fever. He said that he just wanted pizza for lunch, so off to Pizza Hut for the buffet we went. He ate a slice of cheese piece, 2.5 breadsticks with sauce and drank over 1/2 a cup of water. (Now usually he will eat a slice of pizza, a spoonful of chicken pasta, a breadstick or two, and pudding. So he ate less than usual, but more than he had in days.) He was tired and still kinda pale but his appetite and mood had improved drastically.

We got home from Pizza Hut and all four of us took a nap. When he laid down, he was tired but no fever. But when he woke up, holy hell was he burning up. Like 104.4 burning up. I immediately forced some Tylenol in him, stripped him and put him in a lukewarm bath all while simultaneously calling the doctors office. She said that I was doing everything right. To give him some Motrin (in addition to the Tylenol) keep him in the tub for 15 minutes and retake his temp in 30mins. So I did that. After 30 mins his temp was down to 102.9 so she suggested keeping him at home, rotating Tylenol and Motrin, and using wet washcloths or baths as necessary. But the fact that it was responding well and coming down, was a good sign. Well an hour later it was back up to 103.4 so I ended up wetting 4 washcloths with cool water and placing one on his head, one on his chest, one on his back and the other over his legs. (He refused the tub.) This went on and off all night. Temps varying from 100.6-104.6. Around 7pm, after another bath, he curled up in my bed with a washcloth on his head and another dose of Tylenol.

When I went to bed at 11pm Bubba was slightly warm but not bad. I went ahead and gave Motrin, just in case. I checked on him probably 10 times through the night and while he would get a little warm, he never felt hot. I would just pull the covers back down and he was fine. At 6am I woke to Peanut's cry; changed his diaper and laid him back down. At 7:30 when Peanut and Pooks woke for good, I checked Bubba again. He was super hot again! Using our ear thermometer I checked and one ear read 104.6, the other 105. I checked my ear to make sure it was working. 98.4. Okay, so I took his again. 104.7. Back in the tub, another dose of Tylenol and ice cold juice.

So very long story, brings us to now. The bath and Tylenol brought his fever back down to 102.4, then just now I checked and it's 101.6. It is coming down and yesterday, after 2 hours from dosing time it was climbing again. Thankfully today it's not. (knock on wood). This morning he wanted to eat some dry cereal and 2 PB crackers, both of which he's kept down. He's now laying on the couch in a wife beater and shorts watching Backyardigan's. As long as his brothers leave him alone, he's content. His only symptoms are fever and irritability.

This is day 5, I really truly hope that this is the last of it. I don't know how much more either of us can take. He dreads the baths and medicine almost as much as I dread giving them.

Update:
Just got back from the dr office and bubba had blood drawn. They were checking his white blood count and for mono. Mono test came back clear but his white blood count is up. Somewhere he has a bacterial infection but they don't know where. His ears look good, his sinuses and throat look good, he has no symptoms of a UTI...they don't know. As a precautionary (since his temp has been so high for five days) they are putting him on Zithromax for 10 days. So whew! Hopefully he gets better quickly!