Lucky....

On the day before Anthony was diagnosed with Meningitis his temperature was 102.5  So, I gave him tylenol and I took him to the medical group here in town.  At that point his temp went down to 101. 

 The doctor did all the right things.  She tested him for flu and strep, listened to him and examined him.  Everything checked out ok.  She told me if the fever gets worse to take him to Strong, since he's been followed there.

"What if the fever continues to be 102?" I asked.

She said..."It will be that high for a few days, whatever is going on needs some time to work its way out of his body..."

Before bed we gave him more tylenol and that was that.  Anthony did wake up once or twice in the night and I did the usual, have awake half asleep, walk to his room to nurse him and then back to bed.

I never gave him Tylenol in the night.

I never even thought of it.

So, when he was BURNING UP-(like literally...his face looked like a tomato :()I was mad at myself for not giving him the tylenol.

When all was said an down, I realized that it was a damn good thing I never gave him that tylenol in the night.

If I had given him his Tylenol dose every four hours-would his temp ever have spiked?  Would we have ever brought him in?  Or when we did, would it have been too late?

It wasn't until we were back home with the PT looked at me and said

 "you realize how lucky you are right?"

She agreed that the tylenol could have just masked whatever else was going on.  

Meningitis goes bad, and it goes bad...fast.

and God....

Are we lucky.