Last night after her bath, Namine told me, “Daddy, my throat feels funny.”
“Funny, like ha-ha funny, or weird funny?”
“Weird funny.”
She was rubbing the front and side of her neck, so after getting her dressed I brought her into the living room so Jessica could look at her. After looking in her throat with a flashlight, Jessica thought she saw some white spots. That meant strep. It was just after 9:00 in the evening, which was good; the Urgent Care doesn’t close until 10:00. We try to avoid the ER if we can help it.
But before we could get Namine dressed, she had a panic attack. She thought she was going to the hospital for her heart surgery (which she’s already plenty nervous for). But after reassuring her that she was not, she calmed down enough for us to get on our way.
At the Urgent Care, Namine was still plenty nervous. She kept asking, “What are you going to do to me?” Even after the nurse, and then the doctor, explained about having to swab her throat, Namine still was not convinced. “And then what? Do you have to do something bad to me then?” The entire night, Namine was extremely distrustful of everyone there – except for Jessica and myself, of course.
All told, we were only there for a couple hours. That’s certainly better time than if we had gone to the ER; a short night there can easily go up to four or five hours. Namine threw up her dinner after having her mouth swabbed, but then, she always has had a sensitive gag reflex. (And you stick something down the back of your throat, and see how you feel.) The culture for strep came back negative, and the doctor informed us that she believes Namine simply caught a virus. They sent the culture on for a more thorough test, though, just to be sure, and they’ll call us if they hear anything different.
When we got home, it was past 11, and Namine was wide awake. It took her some time to fall asleep, all the while insisting that since she had been seen by the doctor, she was now all better.
Leave a Reply