What's up Doc?

I understand that toddlers get sick. I also understand that this how their immune systems are built up, but enough already. Once again my little man is running a high fever; between 102 and 105. No other symptoms. No vomiting , no diarrhea, no sores, no noticeable infections, nothing. There were hives that came and went in a matter of minutes, the first time this happened, but that's it.  The first time, at 13 months old, his fevers lasted for over a week, after a few trips to the pediatrician, some tests were run and proved inconclusive. One suggestion was Mediterranean Fever, an inherited condition from people of Mediterranean heritage; that would be me. This past May, at 25 months, same thing. Two trips to the doctor, and $100 in co pays, and all you get is, "well it probably viral. All you can do is supportive care." Lame...I guess that's why they call it "practicing" medicine. If they had all the answers, they would probably refer to it as "doing" medicine. To me, practicing implies learning. What if airline pilots were "practicing" flying with a plane full of passengers? We would throw a fit! (If we survived).
  I am being sarcastic of course.I mean no disrespect here, as people in our family are medical "practitioners", and I have the utmost respect for them and the amount of education that they have had.  Still, it is just funny that we can transplant a heart, or make a baby in a test tube, or alter DNA, but we can't tell what is causing a baby's fever!

 Apollo started to develop a fever again on Tuesday this week. By bed time, it began to rise a bit. By mid-night, he was fairly hot. He started to get restless and began talking in his sleep, "Dada...I'll hold you". I did not give him Motrin at this point, as I know the fever is the body doing its thing. By 3:30am, Apollo was burning up. We gave him some Motrin. He started to cry and was very restless. As I was holding and rocking him, Melanie said to me, "Why don't you get up and walk him around?" Apollo heard, "Take him for a walk!"
  Despite his weakened state, Apollo immediately perked up. "Go walk! Mama, wake up! wake up! Go walk side!"
  Well, I tried to just walk him around the house a bit,  but as soon as we passed the front door, he began crying and pointing at the door, "Outside dada." What else could I do? I put on some shorts while Mel put Apollo in his jammies. I grabbed a blanket, and Apollo and I went for a walk...at 3:40am. Apollo showed me the moon, and the stars, told me about every car and truck we passed, said "hi" to the trees and talked and talked. I thought for sure a nosey neighbor would see us and call the police. 
  Its times like these that you feel so helpless and vulnerable. Your heart goes out to your baby and you would do anything to make them feel better (hence, going for a walk at 3:40am). Why aren't we in the Star Trek era yet where the doctor whips out his Tri-corder, and in a matter of seconds have a diagnosis? Oh yeah, I am sure they would just say; "Here's the problem; its a virus!".
  Day three of fever. Last night was rough. We were alternating between ibuprofen and acetaminophen and Apollo's fever was fluctuating between 103 and 104.5. Mel had me get in the shower with him for about 30 minutes at a cool temperature, to help bring the fever down a bit. We talked about going to the emergency room, but, after our $180 co pay, we agreed that would be a lot of money to spend for a diagnosis of "Its probably viral...supportive care...follow up with pediatrician in a few days..." Blah, blah blah!!!
  I want to give some credit here to my wife, as she is always accusing me of being very one sided in my blog, however let me clarify first, this is MY blog, about Apollo, so it is from my point of view and based on MY perceptions of events. When I say we- I am typically referring to Melanie and myself. I know that Mel will be thinking when she reads this blog about all the things I did not say about her and what she is doing, so, here is a little shout out. Well, Mel has done awesome through all this, especially last night. She has been writing down the time, when we give Apollo meds, his temperature, and how much meds. She also wakes me up to go get water, or juice. She is at home with him all day and has to deal with him and a 5 month old infant as well. Yeah Melly! Beyond all this, my point is; Melanie is my partner in crime and as much a part of these stories as I am. I am just the one behind the camera and behind the computer, so, I get to tell it my way.
Beam me up Scotty, I need to borrow a tri-corder.