The Mysterious Stomachache

Yesterday morning Lili woke up with a stomachache.  She often tells us that her tummy hurts and we usually discover it's due to her needing to poop.  We took her news and responded the same way we always do, 'Do you need to go to the bathroom?'.  Of course she did...and she went...  She even told us that she was feeling better when she was done, though 10 minutes later she was complaining that her tummy still hurt.  'Do you need to go some more?', we asked.  She tried again, but nothing happened.  Eventually I took them to daycare since she had no other symptoms and I was convinced her pain was due to constipation.  A couple of hours later I called her teacher to find out how she was doing.  By that point she had tried quite a few times to go and was still complaining of discomfort.  Her teacher even checked her temp, which was 98.4...so she was fine there.  I felt really guilty leaving her at school if she was that uncomfortable, so I decided to go get her and bring her home.  I stopped at the pharmacy on my way and picked up some Miralax...again, believing the culprit to be constipation.


When I arrived at daycare she was playing with her friends and doing o.k., but definitely seemed glad to see me.  We went home and while I worked, she sat and watched a couple of videos...playing with her Pet Shops.  At 11:00am I realized she had fallen asleep.  It seemed a little odd to me at the time, since she usually resists naps, but with a tummy ache, I figured it was probably the best thing for her.  She woke up on her own around noon and there was definitely a change in her...and not for the better!  She was cranky and looked very lethargic.  For awhile I thought maybe she was just really tired, but then I remembered seeing a notice that morning on the door to her room at daycare.  Last week several kids had gotten strep.  I started Googling and discovered that in some kids, a stomachache is one of the first symptoms!  I had NO IDEA!  I was constantly getting strep as a kid and it was always a severe sore throat and generally not feeling well.  A stomachache was never even part of it.  At that point I took Lili's temp again and suddenly we were looking at 102.5.  I took her to the doc at 1:30 and they confirmed that yes, she has strep! 

On our way home from the doc we decided to pick Will up a little early from daycare.  When we arrived, his teacher mentioned that he had been sounding really hoarse that day and coughing quite a bit.  We got home and then I started wondering if I should take HIM to the doc...and so we went...all 3 of us...to the Minute Clinic (since it was past 5 and I could no longer take him to the pediatrician).  They checked Will out and confirmed that he had an ear infection, probable sinus infection and most likely strep as well.  His throat was fire engine red and splotchy, so they were guessing we were dealing with the same thing.  Since they were going to prescribe antibiotics for his ear infection anyway, they asked if I still wanted them to swab him to confirm the strep and I told them not to worry about it.  Why put him through that if what he's being prescribed is already going to take care of it?  After getting him checked out I asked if they would mind checking my ears as well...you know, because one of them had been really itchy lately anyway.  Yep, ear infection for me too. 

After all of that...we went home with drugs for everyone, got everyone dosed up for the evening and settled in for our bedtime routine.  Will suddenly became really fussy and it dawned on me then how fast these illnesses kick in.  Lili went from seeming totally fine, other than maybe some 'constipation', to being lethargic...Will went from happy-go-lucky, to miserable and whiney.  Overall, I will take ear infections and strep any day of the week over a virus.  At least these can be TREATED and the kids feel better fairly quickly!