Urgent Care

The kids went to the Beasley's on Friday night while Zan and I went out (to Hakatamon--wonderful Japanese food and to get Zan a new suit--an overdue birthday present).

When we got back, Christy told me that Brevin had been complaining of his throat. He's not a complainer, so I know it's got to be something when he does. I checked his throat after getting home, and his tonsil on the left side was touching his uvula (punching bag thingy--at least that's what my brothers and I called it when we were kids). He was complaining of not being able to "swallow my own spit." Oh no! That can only mean one thing in my mind.

I called Kaiser. Their advice nurses are so nice! The nurse told me I'd better take him in. By this time, it's after 10pm. I really had only called to get some advice on getting him through the night, so we could just skip over to the Beaverton clinic at 10am this morning. She said with the tonsils being so swollen and him not being able to swallow, it was emergent, and I should get him across town to East Interstate.

Being as sleep deprived as I was (dang the previous night's insomnia!), heading over was a scary drive. I kept the window down a bit and made sure to sing to the radio (I love that my kids don't complain). We got there and waited forever. I read "Hoot" to Brevin. This cute 6th grade girl sitting with her dad listened along and when we had a break between chapters commented on how it's one of her favorite books. That started a nice little conversation. Aren't kids the best?!

I fell asleep for about five minutes in the waiting room. It was enough to invigorate me through the ride home--thank goodness!

We got into an exam room finally sometime around 1am. The doctor walked in and said, "Brevin! I have a Brevan at my house. You're the only other Brevin I've ever met." This made for instant rapport. He took one look at Brevin's throat and declared it as strep. He said, "I don't care how that culture comes back; it's not going to change my treatment." He was gone within five minutes and asked us to wait a little longer. I told Brevin to lay down and go to sleep for a little while. He obeyed.

A nurse came in a little while later with a small tray with two small cups of red medicine. It was very difficult to get Brevin to wake up to take them. He'd been on the verge of snoring. I finally sat him up, he took them, and went immediately back to sleep.

With Teagen's fever and strange behavior two days before this, I asked for a prescription for him too. They obliged. He's been just fine for the past day--no fever and not as much grumpiness, but not appetite either. With him unable to communicate his pain, I would rather be safe than sorry, so he's now got his antibiotics too. I was grateful not to have to go back in this morning and go through all this again with him.

The great thing about Brev is that he's allergic to penicillin and cephalexin, so they go straight to the good stuff with him. No messing around with those that might not work. He was already feeling better this morning after only the one dose at the hospital. Yeah!

When it came time to leave, I practically had to carry Brevin out, he was so asleep. He cried when I woke him. As we approached the elevator, he cried out that he had to go to the bathroom. I sent him in staggering, and it took him so long that I thought he might have fallen back asleep in there. Thankfully, he finally emerged, and we were on our way home.

When we got in, we both climbed straight into our beds. I didn't think at this age I could stay awake for 24 hours like I sometimes did in college, but surprisingly, I held up alright. Not that I want to make that a common practice. One thing I noticed was a strange feeling in my brain as I laid down. Do you know that feeling when you drink something cold and you feel it go practically all the way down into your stomach? Or that feeling when you lay down after a busy day on your feet and your body just kind of melts into the mattress with gratitude? That was the feeling in my brain last night--complete release and relaxation. Ahh.