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Which Is How I Ended Up Driving into a Tornado to Deliver a Cup of Pee
It started at about 3 yesterday morning, when Boo woke up calling for Mommy and Daddy. She says she's hungry and thirsty, but what she really is is scared and wanting to sleep with Mommy and Daddy. She drinks a 16 oz tumbler of watered orange juice and goes to sleep. She wakes up and wants more OJ about an hour later, at which point Albert realizes that she feels very hot. Sure enough, her temperature is 104.8. We give her some Tylenol, remove the heavy covers she was sleeping under, and within half an hour her temperature has dropped to 103. We breathe a big sigh of relief, and as soon as her pediatrician's office opens we make an appointment.
At the doctor's, the doctor doesn't find anything much wrong with Boo apart from her obviously feeling terrible and having a fever, although even the fever had gone down to 100 by 8am and stayed there. To be safe, though, she does a strep test and tries for a urine sample with no luck. She also decides to do a CBC, although it is, in her words, probably overkill. She just wanted to be sure that it was indeed a viral infection. They draw some blood and we all go home.
Yesterday, alas, was also the day that Boo's school was supposed to have their model seder. We'd volunteered to bring the matzoh, so after dropping us off at the doctor Albert had to rush over and deliver it so the little Jewish children would have Passover matzoh for their seder. I was really sorry to have missed it.
We get back to the house about noon, which gives me an hour before I need to pick up![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sunshinedew and take her to her doctor's appointment. We get there in plenty of time and are waiting for her doctor when my phone rings. Boo's white cell count is 22,000, which is way too high for a viral infection, and points to something nastier and bacterial. The doctor wants a urine sample, and needs it before 5.
Okay. Mild panic, but still doable. Boo is alseep at home, with Albert keeping watch, and I can get back, get her to pee, and get to the doctor before 5. No problem.
Then the tornadoes came....
We leavesunshinedew's doctor in plenty of time to get her back and get me home in time. Then shadowmancer_x calls to let us know that his office is being evacuated because of the threat of tornadoes. shadowmancer_x's office is in the same general area as Boo's doctor. Suddenly getting the sample without having to take Boo there becomes much more important.
I getsunshinedew home, and go back to my house. I need to be at the doctor's by 5, and it's a half-hour drive on days when there isn't a threat of tornadoes and hail. At 4:09, we get Boo to pee into a cup, and I race out to drive towards the tornado-infested area. About ten minutes after I leave, Albert calls to tell me that Boo's doctors are also evacuating, but one of them will be staying there for the sole purpose of receiving me and my sample. I get there within half an hour, and the wonderful, marvelous, doctor gives me some antibiotic samples to tide Boo over until the culture comes back on Monday. I leave the office, and am heading for Target to buy diapers when Albert calls to tell me that there's a tornado warning for the exact spot that I am in.
And that's how I ended up taking shelter at the Target, sitting in a service corridor at the back of the store with about two dozen other customers and various employees. The Target employees broke out plastic lawn chairs for us to sit on, and passed around sodas, water, and chips. I'd had a two English muffins and some cheese around noon, and that was all I'd eaten that day, so the chips and soda were welcome. We listened to the radio, and the storm blew over within half an hour. I bought my diapers and came home, with a detour to pick up Chinese food.
After I described my day to my dad, I asked, "So, how are things there?" He replied, "Uneventful."
The good news is that Boo does seem to be feeling better. Her fever has been up a bit, but has responded to Tylenol, and she's had a few brief episodes where she's felt like playing and smiling. Hopefully the antibiotics will help whatever infection she has. If the culture turns up negative, the doctor said they'd probably do a chest x-ray, and proceed from there. Here's hoping.
At the doctor's, the doctor doesn't find anything much wrong with Boo apart from her obviously feeling terrible and having a fever, although even the fever had gone down to 100 by 8am and stayed there. To be safe, though, she does a strep test and tries for a urine sample with no luck. She also decides to do a CBC, although it is, in her words, probably overkill. She just wanted to be sure that it was indeed a viral infection. They draw some blood and we all go home.
Yesterday, alas, was also the day that Boo's school was supposed to have their model seder. We'd volunteered to bring the matzoh, so after dropping us off at the doctor Albert had to rush over and deliver it so the little Jewish children would have Passover matzoh for their seder. I was really sorry to have missed it.
We get back to the house about noon, which gives me an hour before I need to pick up
sunshinedew and take her to her doctor's appointment. We get there in plenty of time and are waiting for her doctor when my phone rings. Boo's white cell count is 22,000, which is way too high for a viral infection, and points to something nastier and bacterial. The doctor wants a urine sample, and needs it before 5.Okay. Mild panic, but still doable. Boo is alseep at home, with Albert keeping watch, and I can get back, get her to pee, and get to the doctor before 5. No problem.
Then the tornadoes came....
We leave
sunshinedew's doctor in plenty of time to get her back and get me home in time. Then shadowmancer_x calls to let us know that his office is being evacuated because of the threat of tornadoes. shadowmancer_x's office is in the same general area as Boo's doctor. Suddenly getting the sample without having to take Boo there becomes much more important.I get
sunshinedew home, and go back to my house. I need to be at the doctor's by 5, and it's a half-hour drive on days when there isn't a threat of tornadoes and hail. At 4:09, we get Boo to pee into a cup, and I race out to drive towards the tornado-infested area. About ten minutes after I leave, Albert calls to tell me that Boo's doctors are also evacuating, but one of them will be staying there for the sole purpose of receiving me and my sample. I get there within half an hour, and the wonderful, marvelous, doctor gives me some antibiotic samples to tide Boo over until the culture comes back on Monday. I leave the office, and am heading for Target to buy diapers when Albert calls to tell me that there's a tornado warning for the exact spot that I am in.And that's how I ended up taking shelter at the Target, sitting in a service corridor at the back of the store with about two dozen other customers and various employees. The Target employees broke out plastic lawn chairs for us to sit on, and passed around sodas, water, and chips. I'd had a two English muffins and some cheese around noon, and that was all I'd eaten that day, so the chips and soda were welcome. We listened to the radio, and the storm blew over within half an hour. I bought my diapers and came home, with a detour to pick up Chinese food.
After I described my day to my dad, I asked, "So, how are things there?" He replied, "Uneventful."
The good news is that Boo does seem to be feeling better. Her fever has been up a bit, but has responded to Tylenol, and she's had a few brief episodes where she's felt like playing and smiling. Hopefully the antibiotics will help whatever infection she has. If the culture turns up negative, the doctor said they'd probably do a chest x-ray, and proceed from there. Here's hoping.