The Pea is sick!

I know the above picture is blurry but it's actually one of my favorites. It was taken when The Pea was about 6 months old and had a really bad cold and two ear infections. She was SO miserable and yet she was still smiling! I thought of this picture today when we were at the InstaCare. She was there this past Saturday too. It all started last Thursday when I noticed what I thought was a zit right by her right eye. It got bigger and bigger. On Saturday I mentioned it to The Hubster and we both thought it was quite the impressive mark! Then I took off her PJ's to get her dressed and saw another big one on her chest and another on her leg. There were 3 or 4 smaller ones on other parts of her body. I immediately asked The Hubster what Chicken Pox look like. I had them as a kid, (didn't we all?) but haven't seem them for many years since they have a vaccine for them now. I called my mom and asked what they look like and then decided I better have her looked at just so I knew for sure who I needed to keep her away from. We took a trip to the InstaCare and sure enough, she had The Pox! They told me to watch for other symptoms such as runny nose, fever and possible pneumonia. They also said she wasn't covered in spots most likely because she had been vaccinated and therefore she had a milder case. Now I always thought that Chicken Pox was a skin thing, but apparently it's a full blown virus! So the last few days she has developed a runny nose, fevers and cough. The last two nights her cough has been pretty bad and today it was awful! The last straw was when, in the car, she had a 5 minute long coughing fit complete with gagging and her eyes and nose running. I was just up the street from the InstaCare so I thought we'd just drop in. They looked at her, listened to her breathing, and did a chest x-ray. The poor baby was terrified by the x-ray. The put her in this chair contraption thingy that closed around her and I had to hole her arms straight up. She survived though and promptly fell asleep obviously exhausted from her terrible ordeal. (Honestly I don't know how you Moms with seriously ill kids do appointment after appointment day after day! You are my HEROES!) We were told to wait for them to read the x-ray. After a few minutes the Dr. sent us home saying she would call with the results and gave me an Rx for Zyrtec which should help with the cough. About a half hour after I got home she called and said that the X-ray showed a definite bronchial virus that could be caused by the Pox but is also frequently caused by RSV. RSV too!? My poor kid! They would have to do a blood test to get a sure diagnosis of RSV and she said that unless her breathing worsens (right now she is just retracting a little bit), her fever goes way up suddenly, or she is having major coughing w/vomiting spells we didn't need to put her through a blood draw and we should just take her to the ER if any of the previously mentioned things happen. So, now we wait. Hopefully it will all resolve itself soon. She said it could get worse before it gets better though. I hope not. I think of all the babies I read about who are in the hospital for RSV and their poor families who worry so much and I just pray we won't have to go there. *sigh* Chicken Pox and possible RSV.....She sure knows how to get attention huh? :)