Even Princesses Get Sick

Our little Z is having kind of a rough week. She started out with a runny nose and cough on Saturday but I wasn't super concerned because T and I both have had the same thing over the course of the last couple weeks. However, on Monday night, she developed a fever in the night so I stayed home from work Tuesday and took her in to the pediatrician. I decided to have T checked out too simply because his cough was lingering.

For Z, a throat culture was negative for strep and her lungs and ears seemed clear so the doctor felt it was just viral at that point. For T, the doctor felt like he might have the start of sinusitis so he started on an antibiotic (which he simply loves) that day :).

During the night on Tuesday, as her ibuprofen started to wear off, Z's fever spiked pretty high. She peaked at 103.8. After a call to the after hours nurse care line, we were told what to watch for and just monitored her throughout the night. Michael stayed home with her yesterday (with a little help from Beppe during Daddy and Me Day at T's preschool - more on that later) and when her fever went back up around noon, he decided to call and take her in again.

So, on her second trip to the doctor in the same number of days, Z got to have her nose swabbed for influenza. The test came back negative. Her ears still looked good and her chest sounded clear but the doctor ordered a chest X-ray just to be sure. The X-ray revealed the source of her issues - the beginnings of pneumonia. In T's explanation (who got to sit on a "big chair and look at pictures of the inside of Z"), the X-ray showed some white stuff where there should only be black :). Bummer.

She started on her own antibiotic last night. She had a rough night with more high fevers (which prompted another call to the nurse line) but she seems to be coming around today. Her fever has dropped into the more normal range (with the help of ibuprofen) but even when the meds wear off, she is not spiking into the 103-104 range but hovers around 100. For this we are thankful. She just woke up from a 3-hour nap which was much needed - she has not been sleeping well with such high temps (though she still musters up the energy to wear her tiara).

Her temperature is a wonderful 98.6 right now (still on ibuprofen) and I think she is making a turn for the better. We have an appointment with her pediatrician tomorrow morning just to make sure things are progressing as they should.

Sometimes it's tough being a princess but we are trying to give her the royal treatment as best as we can :).