Tuesday, October 10, 2006
STOLEN BY BITACLE Scarlet Fever
STOLEN BY BITACLE

Amazing to me to realise Scarlet Fever was still around. I thought the doctor was joking. But doctors never joke around small boys on IV fluids, so I should have realised straight away she was serious.





So we spent the rest of the weekend in hospital, where the Gorgeous Boy - once diagnosed - was put onto penicillin toot-sweet. If only it had been around for all those other little children who needed the wonder drug, like dear little Beth March. And, um, many real people who didn't make me weep in childhood.

Scarlet Fever, it turns out, is a form of strep throat in colour. Only some people are susceptible to the special toxins that cause strep throat to turn into Scarlet Fever. It may have been this which led my boy's chart to be marked "TOXIC", or it may have been the number of times he vomited over beds, shoes (his own, mine, the doctor's), clothing (lost count) and sterile instruments.

Poor boy. It took them a while to work out what was wrong and he had to have a lumbar puncture to ensure it wasn't bacterial meningitis and suffer many other indignities like his mother diving between his legs to catch wee in a bottle. All very confusing, uncomfortable and undoubtedly pointless to his just-a-kid-brain.

In case you were wondering, Scarlet Fever really does make you turn red. All of you. The hospital now has a photographic record of the Gorgeous Boy's 'strawberry tongue' and a whole parade of doctors, nurses and med students trooped through his room for a look at something hitherto seen only in their text books.

On the upside he got to eat jelly for breakfast, play Nintendo in bed on the special space bubble in the kids' ward, sleep in a special room with Mummy on a bed next to him, and stick his tongue out at a lot of important people.

On the downside, medicine, needles, much dismay, and, as a result of sucking in shared coughs for 72 hours, Mummy is now sick in bed at home with - you guessed it - strep throat.

No strawberry tongue for me yet, and a good thing too because the same penicillin that saved the Gorgeous Boy would kill oh-so-allergic me, so fingers-crossed and thanks for all the well-wishing for my little superhero.

And did you notice in the comments on RSM #9 that a british version appears to be called 'bed, wed, dead'? How very polite. I think we must know more about Mad Muthas before this week is done.

And finally, finally, as I head back to hazy-drug sleep I do so with a tummy full of the blissfully wonderful My Float's bolognese sauce. A friend, indeed. And we haven't yet tucked into My Float's mother's fantastic spinach pie - but since I've tried it on other occasions and know it to be the best spinach/ricotta pie south of Athens, I'm saving it a day or so until my tastebuds stop being white!

mtc
Bec


16 Comments:

Blogger Bec said...

NOTE TO BLOGGER: kindly delete the final word of the phrase "your blog published successfully". It may have published, but since it still fails to include the photo that you told me was "done" on no less that six occasions, it CANNOT be considered successful.

Blogger blows chunks.

Blogger Badger said...

Dude. Holy crap. Extra-strength wellness vibes are winging their way southward (and east/westward, whichever is closer) as we speak!

Blogger thordora said...

Ugh. I've suffered thru a few VERY unpleasant cases of Strep Throat. The thought of it being WORSE actually makes me want to weep.

Hang in there. That blows.

Blogger KPB said...

Nothing impresses me more than illness done well.

Blogger MsCellania said...

YIKES! YIPES! GADZOOKS!

Not something I reckoned I'd log on and read today. And how scary for all of you. And how exhausting.

I hope everyone is better SOON! POSTE HASTE!

Blogger Scribbit said...

How are you doing? That must have made for one stressful weekend. I remember when my son had croup and spent a night at the hospital how that was and that's not close to scarlet fever. Hope the poor boy is feeling better soon.

Blogger meggie said...

Crapsticks!
I didnt realise Scarlet Fever still existed either!
So glad the Gorgeous Boy is on the mend, & do hope you are soon back to normal!

I kept thinking about your son, all weekend, had a sinking feeling he was seriously unwell. So glad he is better.

Blogger lazy cow said...

Oh dear. I'm sending cosmic hugs and kisses your way. Hope you are both better soon. Scarlet Fever. How Victorian. No common diseases for you!

Blogger Em said...

I remember when I first learnt that SF was a form of strep throat. It caught my attention because SF always seemed like such a romantic and literary disease. That said, our many cases of ST have never actually become SF...

I've checked out #15 of your trivial pursuit. I seem a theme developing. My first serious boyfriend decided he was gay after we were together a year. It took me years to get over it...

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh I feel for you, my Climber got Scarlet Fever when he was 4, although not nearly as dramatically as your Gorgeous Boy. Ditto to your Beth March flashbacks. Recall also feeling surprised that Scarlet Fever did actually turn him scarlet, why did this not occur to me though?! Hope your streppy throat improves too, don't talk too much. Just blog instead...
Sending wellness wishes.

Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

Blogger Emma said...

I hope that the Gorgeous Boy is feeling much better today. If you are going to get sick, you might as well do it spectacularly! I also hope that your strep throat heals quickly. It can really knock you about. I wish we could see the photo!

Emma

Blogger Lynne@Oberon said...

Yikes! Scarlett Fever!!! How awful. I hope everything is ok now and strep throat is awful awful. Get better soon.

Blogger Blue Moon Girl said...

Wow! I didn't realize that Scarlet Fever even happened anymore! I'm glad that Gorgeous Boy is on the mend and here's hoping that his Mum is on the mend soon too!

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear about this, Bec. Glad you're okay, tricky business. I had a similar experience when mym was little with meningitis.

Fabulously stressful.

Do lots of gorgeous things as you recover.

Life is short. And goes pear-shaped without notice.

Blogger LBA said...

OMG - Scarlet fever !! How freaking freak-out !! Poor you, poor him, poor everything. Argh.

I can't believe it - how, where, who, why etc ? Sorry, i'm blown away by this turn of events.

Blogger note: when blogger is having probs with pics, I simply save words as draft, open up a new post, and insert pics FIRST .. then retrieve words from previous save, and pop them in. Always works. Hope that makes sense, otherwise, email me.

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