Strep

Megan is home from school today with strep throat .

On Sunday afternoon, she mentioned that her throat hurt but I assumed that is was just a by product of the cold that we all have had off and on for the past month.  That and the extremely dry California air; I'm looking forward to when the Rains come so we can get some more moisture in the air.  Monday morning she was a little weepy and her thoat still hurt, but she insisted that she felt well enough to go to school.  The kndergarteners were going to see a play, Madeline's Christmas , and Megan really didn't want to miss it.

So I sent her off to school and left a message for her teacher asking her to please keep and eye on Megan.  But I made a big error there.  Because my kids don't actually act sick when they are ill.  Other kids slow down, or cry, or act as though they aren't feeling well.  With mine, you can see the change in their faces, but only if you can get them to slow down enough to get a good look.

I picked Megan up at after school, where she had been running around in circles on one of the playing fields, and new with a look that she was in bad shape.  And sure enough, once she was in the car with nothing to distract her, she started crying about how much her throat hurt.  I took her temp when we got home and it was 101.

Luckily our pediatric practice runs an after hours clinic for evenings and weekends, so I was able to bring her in that night.  The doctor took one look in her mouth and said, "That is classic strep." (I'm still amazed that they can see so much so quickly.) And he took a swab so he could do the rapid strep test .   Which, big surprise, came back positive.  We got a prescription for antibiotic, cephalexin , and a reassurance that Megan would be feeling much better by Thursday.

But it didn't take that long.   We started the medicine about 18 hours ago and now it is like Megan was never sick. Bryan stayed home with her this morning and I am taking the afternoon shift.  Her fever is completely gone and she will be back at school tomorrow.  Hopefully she didn't infected a bunch of other kids while she was there on Monday.

Now that I know that strep is a possibilty, I'll pay more attention to sore throats.