Guest Post - Sick Toddlers

A few years ago when my kids were still toddlers we had a bad few weeks in April during which both of them were just coughing, sneezing and generally not well. I assumed it was allergies for a little while but then eventually decided it was time to buck up and take them to the pediatrician where I found out that they both had one infected ear. I felt like a failure for not taking them to the doctor earlier, but I was satisfied that they would get better soon with antibiotics. However, things took a turn for the worse the next day. My youngest son, who was two years old, said he was cold, so I tried to warm him up. In hindsight, I think the shaking was his body’s temperature skyrocketing from the inside out, almost like a tea kettle as it begins to boil. It makes that little rattling, then a popping, and eventually steam just pours out through its mouth as it wails.

The tea kettle that was formally my child REALLY. FREAKED. ME. OUT. I mean, there was a point where I was like, this kid is 5 seconds away from having a seizure, and that, I just cannot handle. So I fled to the Emergency Room. The entire drive there he screamed “My eyes! My eyes!” Yeah. I was beyond freaked. By the time we got there, his entire body was bright red from head to toe, as if someone had dipped him in hot oil. His temperature was 105.9. As the triage nurse showed me the thermometer, he said with widened eyes, “Come with me.” And for a brief moment I was flooded with relief, like “Ok, they get it. My child is a baked potato and they can see that so we are going to be rushed in be saved by a hero in a white coat.” They diligently took all of his vitals, with my assistance, and then returned us to another room to ask me some more INANE questions. (What does a two year old’s birth weight have to do with ANYTHING!?)

For about two solid hours my arms were numb from elbow to finger-tip. I was in mid panic-attack the entire time, but apparently no one could tell. The nurse even said to me, “I’m really impressed with how you handled him in there. Are you a nurse? Or a doctor?” He added the doctor part to be politically correct, for which I applauded him wildly inside my head right alongside the terror that my son was indeed baking to death in my lap while people sat around asking me what my profession was and if it wasn’t too much bother, could I please give them a detailed description of his birth story?
To make a long story shorter, he was thoroughly evaluated, and he had somehow contracted a bad bacterial infection AND a viral infection. Some of the bacteria most likely released into his bloodstream which caused the fever spike and the shaking. We went home with a much cooler version of a baked potato but my nerves were shot. To all of you moms out there – how do you handle seeing your child sick or in pain without losing your mind?

Adrienne McGuire is a writer, educator and wellness enthusiast who abandoned the corporate ladder to create the life she really wanted. Her journey down the road less traveled took her to www.dailypath.com, where she is now an integral part of the writing team.