Long story, quick version. Well, my version of "quick".
James was diagnosed with a mild case of thrush back on March 5th at his 12-month well baby exam, if you recall. After 12 days, it hadn't gone away. We noticed that he had bad breath (which he never does), checked his mouth, and discovered that the thrush had actually spread. Called the doc and got a new Rx. A few days later (Saturday), we noticed the bad breath was worse, but the thrush was better. Hmmm. That night (after the parade) he started coughing a bit (a mild cough, so we thought "cold"). He'd already had a runny nose for a couple days (and we'd already thought "cold" or "teething"). And there's nothing you can do for a cold. Not really. The only things that seemed "off" were that he had gotten a report of "whiney" at daycare on Friday (and he NEVER gets anything but a "happy" mark), hadn't been eating as much since Thursday (but we thought, it's just that he's 1-year-old and is asserting his opinions more and being picky), and was quite fussy on Sunday (though he was perfectly happy all day Saturday). Never had a fever. When we woke him up this morning, his cough was worse (reminding us a bit of the "croupy cough" he had back when he got croup in December). We decided to pull out the flashlight and get a good look into his mouth, whether he liked it or not (he didn't, obviously). What we found scared us - a dark purple spot on his upper gums. We worried that he had perhaps bitten into something he shouldn't have and cut himself, with an infection being the cause of his bad breath. So we called the doc and brought him in. And we learned a few things:
1. James is getting all FOUR molars at once, hence his fussiness. His gums are beyond swollen, and that dark purple spot is actually a "pre-eruption cyst" that is not at all uncommon. That upper right molar will likely be the first to push through. And all we can do is give him Tylenol and/or Motrin to help with the pain. No wonder he's been waking at night lately (though not consistently).
2. You can't always trust the pharmacy. The first Rx we had for James' thrush was suppose to be a 4 times/day med, yet they had instructed us to give it only once/day. No wonder his thrush worsened and spread. And no wonder the 2nd Rx (the stronger Rx for thrush that IS meant to be given only once/day) worked so fast!
3. We are getting pretty good at diagnosing croup. We caught it very early this time (hence the lack of fever, which we will hopefully be able to maintain so James can go back to daycare tomorrow). It's just settling in, it's what is causing the nose drainage (along with the teething, of course), and we're going to knock it out fast with the antibiotic shot he received this morning and Amoxicillin.
4. We have impeccable timing in this house - Jay is T-minus 5 days from his GRE and we'll likely have a rough week of sleep as these molars make their way to the surface...
But what can you do? Be vigilant, trust your instincts (if you think your kid is off his game, there's probably a reason, or four), and just let the baby sleep it off as much as possible. Little man is enjoying some snuggle time with his Daddy right now, in fact, his 4th nap of the day:
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