Sorry guys. I did not have a minute to get anywhere near a computer from 4.50pm on Thursday when it all went a bit wrong.
The doc came to see me about 1230 and proceeded to, albeit gently, give me a row.
I had him in his jammies, a dressing gown, sock, and a blanket. this was All Wrong. oops. I had no idea, I thought you were meant to keep the chill out.
So he gave me my row adding that it was silly of me not to take him to the surgery, the fresh air would have done him the world of good, and if I had gone to the surgery, I would have seen him 2 hours ago.
I had to stop him there and say that he was most definitely wrong. The reason I had had a home visit at all was because the receptionist would not let me see him any earlier than 3pm. The home visit was sooner, so I asked for that.
His response was, hmm you should have asked to speak to a Doctor.
Oh FGS!
As far as he was concerned I could do no right for doing it all wrong and I was just an over reacting mother anyway.
He said to take him in at 4pm, with a pee sample, to make sure he was better.
DS did seem to improve once he was cooled down, so I was hopeful that it was all fine.
But by the time I got DD from school, got her home and changed (my lord, my DD is a ditherer!) I had forgotten to give DS another shot of calpol.
He did fine, initially but, whilst we were with the doc he went downhill. Temp up and became lethargic.
The doc, different one this time, checked his wee and it had traces of blood, protein and sugar in it.
Next thing I know she is saying he ought to go to the hospital
The hospital, the one that has paediatric care, is 100+ miles away!
But she was concerned because of the urine sample and how lethargic he became when his temp went up.
So, I had to get us gathered as soon as DH got home, which was at exactly the same time as we got back from the docs, luckily. And off we went.
Bloomin nightmare. We got there at 8 or 9, somewhere in there and we saw a Nurse, a Student Doc, the nurse again and finally another Doc. The last visit was at 11pm! finally bedded the poor love, and I, down at midnight!
There followed 2.5 days where they were unable to find a cause and DS went from being fine (medicated) to flopped on my chest when his temp hit into the late 39s sometimes over into the 40s.
They still kept saying it could just be viral, which only made me feel full of guilt that I was over reacting and wasting their time (Gee thanks the first doc, for planting that seed of doubt ) until the Sat night when the poor love was not shivering but juddering with his fever at 4 o'clock in the morn and I really started to get frightened. Especially when the nurse and I saw a rash on his jawline (it turned out to be raised so ok, but still bloody scary!)
Finally, on Sunday mid morning we saw the doc that they had said I would see on the Saturday but never did (oh and that reminds me. On the Friday they took blood. Told me the results would be back by about 2.30 and assured me that would make things clearer. I didn't see anyone until 9pm at night by which time I had to wake DS so that they could have another round of poking and prodding him Only for it to provide Nothing of any use!)
So Sunday, and this doc comes in. Does the tap tappy thing on his back (which countless others had also done) and whadya know but one side resonates, the other does not.
So along we go for a chest x-ray to confirm an infection in his lung, one segment of his lung, and he is diagnosed with segmental pneumonia.
So antibiotics are given but, by this point they want them given intravenously.
As soon as they do that they also realise that he has eaten so little over teh last few days that he now needs fluids, and he is hooked up for 12hrs.
At the end of the day, and I am sorry for the novel, the drugs seem to be working and they let us out on Tuesday morning.
DS is doing well, if a little tired at times, but every day that is less and he is his old self most of the time. A cheeky monkey who wooed all the nurses with is good manners and compliant nature.
So, although it has been harrowing, I am going to take from it, pride, in my little boy and how well he handled it all through all the poking and prodding, leg manipulation, blood taking etc etc
Thanks for asking guys. I just came on thinking I prob ought to post an update, it is the first I had thought on it.
It was nice to see that people had been thinking about us.
Mostly I didn't tell people. Took me until Sunday of Monday to tell my closest friends. My brothers were not told for a day or so, just until we knew what we were telling. DH even didn't tell my parents until the following day and only because my dad popped out to see DS only to find him 100 miles away in hospital.
I think it was a case of the more people we tell, the more worry that everyone will endure and when we didn't even know if it was worth worrying about (viral, could pass, kept being said) it didn't seem worth it.
Bloomin first doc.