Strep Wars

Well, after our stinkeye diagnosis on Sunday, we were told that Taylor could go back to daycare as soon as her eye isn't gunky anymore. So, last night with her eyes looking normal again, we got her little backpack all ready to go back to school today, and that's when I realized she was feeling like quite the roasty toasty little marshmallow. Great.

Upon checking her again early this morning, I decided to go ahead and take her in to the pediatrician seeing as how the fever wasn't improving. And shocker, she has strep, again. This is the fourth time in less than 3 months. I know what you're thinking, rip the damn tonsils out and be done with it! Trust me, I tried convincing our ENT doctor to do just that when Taylor went in to have her tubes reinstalled. But as you may recall, she doesn't do them on kids this young unless absolutely necessary because of the major risk of hospitalization from dehydration.

So, on the advice of our pediatrician, I started investigating the possible sources of the infection. First call, daycare. Alas, no kid up there has had strep in the last few months except ours (hey, at least we're not sharing it with everyone, right?). Second stop, the vet. In rare cases cats and dogs have been known to be strep carriers and can infect the kiddos in the homes they occupy. The vet said that Cleo didn't exhibit any signs of strep, but went ahead and gave her a shot of antibiotics just in case.

Lastly, we have poor Jody. Tonight he started complaining of a sore throat, and after taking a peek it does look like he has a little pus pocket on his right tonsil. As I write this he's hanging out at urgent care to see if he's got the plague too. It would almost make sense if indeed it is him, because Taylor didn't start getting sick until he started venturing out of the house for work again. Either way, we'll know something soon. It would be ironic if he has been the one spreading the "love" the last few months, because he's been the one placing most of the blame on the cat and campaigning for me to find her a new home. They love each other so much.......

Regardless, Taylor is once again on antibiotics, and our ENT doctor is aware of the newest infection. She gets re-swabbed in 2 weeks to make sure the antibiotics did their job. If she is still streppy then, we will have to remove the tonsils and just deal with the consequences because it means that her body's hanging onto the strep no matter what. If not, we will just continue to watch it and if she gets it again this year we can have them out at our discretion. So, keep your fingers crossed. I want my kiddo to be strep-free again, but I really don't want to do another surgery this soon.

Sure, they look all innocent and cute, but one of these two has been causing a LOT of trouble around here.