Apparently Ian decided we needed an exciting Tuesday afternoon and evening. He woke up from his nap at school yesterday with a fever of 102.9. Although it was during normal clinic hours, they have had a rash of flu cases lately and wanted us to go to the ER to be tested (they apparently don’t have a rapid flu test).

So we spent about 5 and half hours there while poor Ian was accessed, had a strep swab, 2 flu swabs, peed in a cup, and had two x-rays. All of which led to the conclusion that he did not have strep, flu, or pneumonia and was probably suffering from a virus. They are waiting on the blood cultures though to be sure it’s not a line infection. So they gave him the usual broad-spectrum antibiotic while we wait.

When we first got there he told me that he was sad, when I asked why he said because he was a little bit scared. I told him we’d be right there with him and what to expect to happen. I’m so happy he’s finally old enough to be able to express himself at times like this, but it also makes me sad that he is forced to act so much older than his years. He did really great with all the tests and was a model patient for all the nurses.

We headed to clinic today for the second dose of the antibiotics since it usually takes 48 hours for things to grow if there is an infection. The good news was that it was Miss Kelly’s one day at clinic this week, so we were happy with that coincidence. Somehow when we first arrived we were rushed to a sick room, and then promptly forgotten about, so when I went to the bathroom after an hour and was headed to start asking questions and ran into “our” Miss Kelly I was quite happy! Let’s just say things started to happen after that. ?

They gave him the 2nd dose of antibiotics and also discovered that he has thrush. Thrush is a yeast infection that causes white patches in the mouth and on the tongue. It’s common when someone is on steroids for an extended period of time. So they prescribed yet another medication for our little Monkey to take for the next 14 days.  We were scheduled to head to clinic on the 6th for a port flush, but got that taken care of today, so we aren’t headed back until the next chemo on the 23rd.

I am staying home with Ian tomorrow so hopefully he’ll be feeling better by the 4th so we can enjoy a cookout at the Tebbe’s. Last weekend we met our good friends the McPeaks in Richmond (they are considering moving there, so they were checking out the town). We also saw Papap, unfortunately Grandma was sick, so we didn’t get to see her, but given this week’s events, guess that wouldn’t have made much difference! I’ve posted new pictures from Ian’s birthday, my parents visit, and our Richmond trip at:

http://gallery.me.com/brownlambt

Thanks for checking on Ian, hope everyone is having a great summer.

Tracy