It's the "R" Viruses That Get Us

Last year it was Rotavirus. This year it was Rosceola.

Last Monday, I got called to pick Austen up from 'school' because he had a temperature close to 102. Really strange since he slept twelve hours the night before, was happy and seemed perfectly normal when Tom dropped him off that morning.

The next day his temperature continued to rise but Austen was still eating and acting perfectly normal. By Wednesday afternoon, Austen started to show us some outward signs of sickness including being crabby and just not as energetic as usual. His temperature was over 103 and Tom and I were trying to keep it under control with cold wash cloths and Tylenol and Motrin. I called the doctor who said to bring him in on Thursday if the fever hadn't broken. Thursday morning, after a rough night, we were at the doctor. They initially diagnosed him with strep. We went home, got his medicine (the really good pink stuff we had as kids) and tried to get him to take it. Usually he's really good with medicine but for some reason he didn't want to drink this pink stuff. I had to resort to holding him down for the first two doses. By the third dose, he actually was asking for more medicine. Anyway, Thursday night, Austen woke up screaming in a pool of sweat. His fever finally broke.

On Friday we saw what his fever was replaced with - a nice, bumpy, red rash all over his body. I thought he was having an allergic reaction to his medicine so I took him back to the doctor on Friday. They told me that his lab strep test had come back negative and that he had Rosceola - several days of high fever followed by a few days of a rash when the fever breaks.

Like last year's Rotavirus, this illness kept Austen home all week. At least this year, Tom and I didn't catch it.

He's back to 'school' tomorrow (they had President's Day off) and I'm sure ready to trade the faces of his mom and dad for those of his teachers and friends. And, Adler's ready to trade having us around all day for her daily dose of peace and quiet so she can catch up on her sleep.