Poor Girl

Tuesday evening and Wednesday Grace ran a fever. She's had a cough for almost two weeks now, and we've been treating it with a humidifier in her bedroom and Vick's on her chest at night. Cough medicine has done nothing to help. Grace has also complained of "icky stuff" in her ears. She asked me Thursday evening to clean her ears out with cotton swabs "like Daddy does." Dan had cleaned her ears on Tuesday night and gotten a ton of snotty-looking gunk out of them.

Friday she was fever free. Today she has been fever free, but tired and cranky. I have been at a loss for what to do for her. At 3 o'clock this afternoon, I decided that it would be worth the co-pay just to get peace of mind that I had her checked before possibly going into the weekend with a miserable girl. I'm glad I did. Grace has pneumonia and a double ear infection.

Now . . . pneumonia for a kiddo is not the deathly illness that we often think of. According to the doctor, it's as treatable as an ear infection and often affects kids the same way. They don't sleep well because of the chest congestion and increased coughing. They are irritable, and they just generally don't feel well. All of those apply to Grace. She has still been active and mostly playful. She has had a normal appetite. She hasn't complained about not feeling well or having any pain. She coughed one time this morning, and it was a tight cough. After coughing, she said it hurt her chest. That alarmed me. I felt like the rest of the day she avoided coughing so her chest wouldn't hurt, and that of course, doesn't help her congestion.

So . . . here's hoping for a speedy recovery for my baby girl. I'm so glad that I got to spend the day with her today!