That Better Not Be Strep

Wednesday morning, Shane woke up and said, "My throat is sore."

"You're fine. There's no humidity in the house, because the heat ran all night," I said. My throat had noticed, as well.

Shane went to school.

That night, he came home with a low fever according to our ear thermometer (100 degrees) and wanted to nap on the couch. Shane's dramatic and likes to milk things, but: A) Cole was diagnosed with strep Sunday, B) Cole's cousins had come down with strep after Cole visited them earlier, and C) Shane and Cole had been hanging out and wrestling all week long before Cole got sick.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck.....it's probably a duck. Same applies to strep. Shane could have been exhausted from the trip and transition back to school. But if it was strep, it's way better to catch it early. There'd be no harm in ruling it out either. I texted my boss and requested a sub.  

Carrie had several appointments lined up and Thursday was the one day she couldn't watch Shane. She set up an early morning appointment and watched Shane while I went to school to set up work for my students. I swung by the house after and picked up a happy and high-energy Shane.

When we got to the Dr's office, Shane immediately tried to make friends with some boys with pink eye.

This was not looking like a sick boy. He knew all the right words, but I was doubting the doctor would find strep by the time we met her. Shane's temperature was back to normal.

The strep test was a small battle. It came back negative. The positive experiences were Shane impressing the doctor with his medical vocabulary (am I raising a little hypochondriac?) and the doctor writing me a note saying "Cold symptoms - Strep test negative - Ready to return to school."

We drove home to change, grab Shane's supplies, and then I dropped his butt off at school. He was fairly happy about it. After all, he got to watch some TV and show up late. We had a small talk about "not talking too much about being sick. The doctor said you were fine and we don't want people to worry."

Shane probably got all of it out of his system. He discussed the his symptoms, germs, and how strep bacteria appeared in a picture Carrie had shown him once on the way to the office, at the office, and on the way home (Which would explain why I felt the need to have 'the discussion').

With Shane at school, it was back to normal. I only missed about an hour and a half of work. No sub showed up, but attendance was light (Some of our students decided to declare personal delayed openings and school closings due to the single digit temperatures). Carrie went to her appointments, I coached, and Shane was happy-bouncy when I picked him up from after school care.