Strep throat

Over the first weekend in April, Harmon slowed down a little. He wasn't coughing much and only had a touch of a runny nose. When asked, nothing hurt and he had no fever. We thought keeping him home from school on Monday would help but, instead of getting better, he was getting worse. While he has huge tonsils anyway, we were stunned when we looked in his mouth and saw them all but blocking his airway. When he was breathing, he straight up sounded like Darth Vader so we started calling him Darth 'Nater!

 

We tried to make him comfortable but, as Kevin laid next to him during the night, it was clear he was having a hard time breathing. So, we woke him and he made his first ever trip to the ER (early on April 5).

 

While he was a little scared, he did great. It might be because Kevin brought along the iPad to ease his mind AND pass the time. After some tests, he was diagnosed with strep throat. They actually did two tests because they were shocked he wasn't really showing any symptoms. He was prescribed some antibiotics (and avoided the shot, thanks to his Daddy) and then he and Kevin were sent on their way.

 

Gross things, though. Once he got going on his antibiotics and his decongestant, he was flowing infection out of his nose like crazy. He STUNK of infection. Instead of wiping his nose, he would use his snot rag to instead smear the snot across his face. This lead to a ton of face chapping, which he hated to deal with (well, let's see, SO DID I). And, when we were there to wipe his nose, it would come out in strings, kind of like something a clown would do. SICK!

 

ANYWAY, he did great starting his antibiotics. I think he realized they made him feel so much better so, much of the time, he was reminding us it was time to take them. We did keep him home on Thursday, April 7 as well, just to be safe. He returned to school on April 11 and finished up his antibiotic cycle on April 14. The docs said it could have developed into an ear infection or even mono so we kept a close eye on him but he recovered great. And, thankfully, Simon didn't get it. I don't want anymore trips to the ER.