Step right up, spin the wheel...

I swear sometimes it feels like taking a kid to the doctor's office is like spinning the Great, Big Wheel o' Diseases.......


This time around, the wheel landed on RSV. Yee-ha. The good news is that as of today, Kiddo's lungs are clear, so there's no sign of pneumonia or bronchial infection. We have to keep an eye - or more accurately, an ear - on her and if we think her breathing is getting worse, wheezy or if the cough worsens, we have to bring her back. Otherwise, treatment doesn't include any wonder drugs, since it is a virus and all, but rather the good old Mentholated Rainforest. Hubby is scrubbing out the humidifier and I bought more of the Vicks pads for the vaporizer, and Kiddo is steaming in the shower even as I type...

Oh, so the weird doctors' office closing thing? I had made an appointment at the Urgent Care center, but the only one of the centers that was seeing peds patients was the one across town in a rather rough neighborhood. I wasn't thrilled about that but wanted Kiddo to be seen, so I was going to suck it up and take her. Just as we were leaving the house, the phone rang. I almost didn't answer but thank goodness I did, because it was Kiddo's pediatrician's office saying they'd reopened and could see her in half an hour. Woo! When we got there, I asked the receptionist why they had closed. "Mercury spill" was her answer. Before I could ask for further details, another woman behind the counter shot the receptionist a warning look, as if they weren't supposed to be spilling the details about the spill. So, who knows? Perhaps a sphygmonometer burst or something (don't those still have mercury in them?)... At any rate, we wound up getting to see Kiddo's actual pediatrician so that was all good. I think I survived the brainwashing effects of the various hold musics at the various medical offices - I was on hold for aeons both to make and then cancel the Urgent Care appointment and I swear there are subliminal messages broadcast in the Muzak...

Anyhow, we've spun the wheel and gotten our diagnoses o' the day. As long as it doesn't evolve into any chest infection, Kiddo should be back to 100% in short order. Of course, with RSV being as crazy contagious as it is, Kiddo could very easily pick it up again at school next week... The doctor said that as long as she is fever free and feeling all right, she can go as early as Monday. We shall see (is it wrong that my fingers are a little bit crossed in the hope that she'll be fine by then?)...!

And that's the update from the Mentholated Rainforest here in the snowy, frozen expanse of upstate New York! We may be stuck here in our patheticicity (thanks Texan Mama!) but at least we have a George Clooney DVD courtesy of the local Redbox machine to watch tonight! (Burn After Reading - totally wanted to see it in the theater, of course never had the chance, and way excited to be watching it tonight. I'm even caffeinating just in case so I can stay awake!)