STREP...'nuff said

Well, last Wednesday Joseph came home from 2nd grade saying his throat hurt. Hmmm. He was burning up. I took his temp...104, thankyaverymuch. I thought maybe it was strep...then the next two days he had a headache, stomachache, and he even told me he was dizzy a few different times. He continued having high fever.
Push the pause button right here for those of you wondering why I didn't already have him to the doctor at this point. The truth is we have been to sooo many Dr's apts over the last few months with him, I thought if there was ANY way to avoid it, I was going to. Plus, I thought maybe he had the flu, since even though his initial complaint was about his throat, he said it really didn't hurt after that...and I didn't think they could give him anything for the flu.
So, fast forward to Saturday... he still had fever but it was not nearly as high and at this point his symptoms did kind of a "switch-a-roo". He wasn't complaining about the previous symptoms. He got a horribly runny nose and diarrhea. Sunday I thought he was a tad bit better and Monday morning he didn't have fever, so off to school he went (he wanted to go, btw). Monday after school, he had fever again. He looked awful. Hmmm. Ok, Ok, I called the Dr. office, but opted to watch him one more day. Well, this morning he woke up w/ new symptoms....sneezing and coughing.
So, I took him in today, and the strep test was positive. I thought for sure it was the flu...but no. They said on top of strep, he probably has a cold and also a stomach bug...a veritable smorgasbord of germs, if you will. Yummy.
I told them he hasn't complained much about his throat and they told me something I'd never heard...they said some kids with strep never complain at ALL about their throats, that it affects everyone differently...I had no clue, I thought if your throat was infected, red, and swollen, that it would hurt.
Push the pause button again...I had, indeed, took a gander down that throat of his...but I couldn't tell anything...I guess I don't know what a normal throat looks like.
They did say it was red, etc, etc, but again, I just couldn't tell.
Anyhoo, we're starting antibiotics and I can't wait to get him "feelin' back to good" because he is CRANKY!!! And, I get to spend the next couple of days home with this CRANKY 7 year old. Woohoo! No, really, I'm glad we have zeroed in on the problem and are back on the path to health. I HATE seeing my babies sick!
So, other than that, I've been just a tad bit busy. Who hasn't...It's almost Christmas! No, I am not done shopping, and yes it's true, we JUST got our tree and other Christmas decorations put up. We are slacking this year, but hey, at least we did do it before Christmas, and if all else fails, Jesus still loves me, in spite of it all.
For that, I am grateful.

So, as I sometimes like to do, I will leave you with my daily devotional from the last two days of my Praying Parent book...

"You don't have to be forever suspicious of your children, but you DO have to be suspicious of the Enemy lurking around waiting to erect a stronghold in their lives."


"Lord, I put my child in Your hands this day. Guide, protect, and convict him/her when sin is trying to take root. Strengthen him/her in battle when Satan attempts to gain a foothold in his/her heart."
AMEN TO THAT!

PS. Though most are shuddering at this cold weather, I am loving it...I know, I'm sick and twisted, right?
TTYL