Lincoln's Very Bad Day

 Lincoln started his bad day with a bad night before. He kept his mom up most of the night demanding back and tummy rubs and tossing and turning in her bed. When they finally got up, he wanted her to sit and hold him. He would not eat anything or drink much. He did not improve over the morning, so Kara decided to take him to the doctor's office which has a Saturday clinic for sick children (no well baby visits). She called to make an appointment and was informed that the office had closed early because there were few appointments made in the morning. After hearing Lincoln's symptoms the nurse urged Kara to take Lincoln to the emergency room to have him checked for appendicitis. 

Emergency rooms are not cheap on her current health care plan, so she called a urgent care center. They said the only way to be sure it wasn't appendicitis was to do an ultrasound and the only place that could be done on the weekend was at the hospital. Still unsure whether Lincoln was a serious candidate for appendicitis we both got online and did some research. After doing some suggested tests on Lincoln (can he walk without bending over, can he jump) and reviewing the previous day, we concluded it was much more likely that Lincoln was suffering from heat exhaustion than appendicitis.

On the Fourth of July Kara, Matt and the children first went downtown for a couple of hours to see the parade and then they attended a picnic with friends at a school playground. I remember looking at Lincoln when he came home and thinking he was sunburned because his cheeks were so pink. After they returned home, Lincoln spent more time outside in the small pool I had set up. Children 0-4 years and the elderly are particularly at risk for heat exhaustion. The symptoms included all the signs he had been exhibiting.

The poor child was miserable for most of the day. He threw up three times. It was a tough day. He spent the morning with mommy and the afternoon with daddy. He finally started perking up in the early evening and asked to go outside. He went out and played basketball a little. The ball rolled down the hill. When he went after it, he stepped on a yellow jacket nest and was stung four times--twice each on the back of his legs just above his ankles. 

He cried when it happened, but then he calmed down. Opa let him lounge across his lap and play on the iPad while Kara put a baking soda paste on the bites. I then put a paste made of Adolph's Meat Tenderizer. We couldn't give him Benadryl because of his upset stomach. What a lousy thing to happen to a sick little boy.

When we had the bug bites under control, we ate dinner. Lincoln was only allowed to eat dry cereal. He wanted milk. He wanted a hamburger! 

Tomorrow will be a better day!