Hypnagogic Designs: 2012

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Now, breathe ...

These last two days have been a bit stressful.

It all started on Friday.

Andrew's school called Liz at about 2:00 to let her know that he wasn't feeling well. She got sent home early that day anyway so she picked Andrew up and met me at home. As soon as I walked in the door, it was obvious that he wasn't well. His eyes were half-closed, nose running, and he was feverish. Yep, he had a bad cold. I didn't think it was the flu, so we gave him plenty of rest and told him that he'd feel better in a couple days.

Sure enough, he was worse on Saturday.

Sunday he was slightly better but napped all day on the couch.

Monday he woke up and said his leg hurt and limped around all day. Chalk that up to napping on the couch.

Tuesday he woke up and couldn't walk at all. Both calves had cramped up and when he walked his legs were a twisted, distorted knot of discomfort. Talk about a frightening sight. With every step he took my concern grew. I had to at least make an appearance at work before I could take the day off. By the time I came home he was almost in tears and Liz said he had spent the morning crawling around the house.

Something was terribly wrong. I carried him out to my car and took him down to the nearest urgent care clinic only to find out that they were closed for another couple hours. Our General Practice physician would be open at about the same time, so we just waited it out. I carried him back into the house and he slept for another hour or so before we headed down there.

Again, I carried him to the car and into the office. Luckily his legs didn't ache, they were just painful to walk on. We mentioned his illness this past weekend and the doctor noted the signs of a respiratory infection; swollen lymph nodes, "infection breath," and his sinus congestion.

The doctor's diagnosis: strep infection that settled in his calves.

He prescribed an antibiotic and two days rest. After three doses of antibiotic and a 1 1/2 days rest, he seems to be back to normal (such as that is). He's back to school tomorrow, though he missed the 3rd grade holiday performance last night (in which he had a speaking part).

Not a fun way to spend the early part of the week.

© 2012 Scott Everett

Monday, December 10, 2012

Oh to be four

The perils of belly-swinging on the swingset, kicking a large rubber ball, and running from your big brother all at the same time.

Friday, December 07, 2012

One more year!

I thought Andrew might be questioning Christmas mythology this year. Then he made this card for Sir Roger, our Elf on the Shelf. Looks like I have a one-year reprieve.