Ashley had been saying that her throat hurt for a bit and wanted to nap one day which isn't too unusual. The girl is super busy with pre-school and activities and with her sleep apnea bc of her enlarged tonsils she doesn't always sleep the best.
Then on Thursday night 2/15 Ashley's cheeks looked bright red. Nana Jeanne and Sara's friend Jen thought it looked like Fifth Disease so Mommy knew we'd be visiting the pediatrician the next day.
Well the next day the red cheeks were gone (so definitely not Fifth Disease) but she had a little fever and said her ears hurt when she yawned so Mommy brought her in expecting to hear she had an ear infection. Dr. Youngblood checked out her ears and they were great. After feeling her lymph nodes though he said she should be checked for mono. WHAT? She is 5 years old. And he also wanted her swabbed for strep. Well that swab she handled like a champ (came up bloody) but the blood draw for mono was another story. Luckily she has great veins but one of the guys moved a little slow wanting to explain everything that was happening. She was NOT happy.
But she did pretty well considering so the older blood drawer chased her down the hall (who was now in Dr. Olyami's arms) to give her a dollar. Ashley was treated like royalty there. Still in disbelief how we ended up at this peds office where Dr. O lives down the street and always is loving on the kids, illness and all!
Back to smiles!
So we learned right away that she was positive for strep and mono from the Epstein Barr Virus. Apparently when kids get mono they really don't exhibit any symptoms so it's best if you get it when you are little. Who was she kissing you ask? Ha! It could be from anywhere. Dr. Youngblood said that most kids have been exposed to EBV and thus carry it so she could have gotten it anywhere. Daddy and Mommy suspect a drinking fountain at dance or cheer!
So Ashley slept a lot on Friday and Saturday.
Then after that she was as good as new! Hard to keep this cutie down but Mommy did manage to keep her occupied with play dough for 5 hours on Sunday.
She was cleared to go back to school after she was fever-free for 24 hours so she could have gone on Monday but we decided to keep her home all week to rest. HA! As if! She did have some moments of calm...
....but mostly craziness. If anything though we felt good about keeping her home from school and activities because when you have mono your spleen is enlarged so is at risk of rupturing if hit in that area.
Mommy diffused a lot of Oregano to help kill the virus and luckily Ashley would lay there watching a show taking it in.
We also brought the iPad back out for our sickie.
We spent a lot of time playing Minnie and 'Daisy' :)
And played checkers against Trevor. (He usually won!)
We baked a donut cake, as the kids call bundt cakes!
And we practiced 'school' - look at what she surprised Mama with one night!!!
Then today Mommy took her back to Dr. O to see how her spleen was and he gave her the all clear because it was no longer enlarged! Hallelujah! We agreed to do 1/2 day on Wednesday to see how she handled it and if well then full day Friday! Although Mommy has really enjoyed all this special time with her #1 sidekick, pretty sure it will be good for everyone to get back to our routine! Next up is a visit to the ENT to see when those darn tonsils can come out. Not sure how the mono may interfere with that.
