Ughhh, I never even thought of the flu. It is April and flu season has passed. Right?? Guess again. The doctor took one look at Kalvin and said, "That is the best telltale sign-a patient lying on the exam table, let's do a flu test." Kalvin was fine with a swab in his nose.
Kalvin had been begging me to take him to the doctor. The doctor provides him with so much comfort - this is a good thing; especially with so many doctor visits in our immediate future for his leg surgery. See
Artery Stretching Surgery. By Tuesday morning Kalvin was miserable. His temperature still was only 99.3, though. He said his throat hurt. He said
everything hurt, but especially his leg. I have to admit, I was a little suspicious. He was complaining about his leg hurting, but to me that didn't make sense. I was thinking it had to do with his leg not getting enough blood flow, but it was his right leg he was complaining about - his good leg. Then I thought he just didn't know what hurt and used his leg as an "excuse" because he knows it has some medical issues.
Turns out, Kalvin was completely right on. First of all, my thermometer is broken and the poor boy had a temp over 103. That's right. 103 degrees. Mother of the year, right here! He has Influenza B. The flu. The real flu. It comes with an achy body - achy joints and muscles. Hence, the leg pain. Kalvin never complains, but this has been tough. He cries a lot and feels miserable. And YES, he had the flu shot. Apparently, there is a strain of Influenza B that wasn't included in this year's flu shot. Great. Lucky us.
Luckily, Kalvin slept most of the day. The big concern right now is getting the Tamiflu in him. He won't take it orally. He sniffs it out in any food or drink I put it in which really doesn't matter because he flat out won't eat anything. It took me 3 hours to get him to chew his 2 1/2 Tylenol tablets - and he likes these. It is a viscous cycle. He has no appetite and feels yucky so he won't eat or take any medicine therefore, he feels worse. Weak and tired because he, well, has the flu
and because he has not eaten. We worry about his heart. If he gets progressively weaker, what will that mean for his heart? For his recovery time?
When we arrived at the doctor's office, the nurse took his temp and weight and had us wait in the exam room. She immediately flipped around when she looked at his weight and said she had to retake it. I interrupted and said, "He has lost some weight, is he weighing around 66 pounds?"
"Yes," she replied. "But it was 76 pounds in January. That is a lot of weight for a child to lose. Do you know why?"
I went on to explain his weight loss. He has been very active this winter, but he also has stopped eating sweets, which is a good thing. Right?? Slowly, he has stopped eating much of his meals, though - not a good thing. We think it is anxiety. He is afraid of throwing up,
not of getting fat. Or so we think...he was getting into the shower tonight and his father commented on how skinny he looked. In response to his father's comments, Kalvin jumped into the shower, smiled and said, "You can never be too thin!"
I know everyone is thinking this comes from me, the only woman in the house, but honestly I never talk to him about dieting. He use to love to do Jillian Michaels exercise DVDs and he would repeat some of her motivational lines, but he hasn't done a Jillian workout in quite some time. I honestly think he is just anxious and the fear of throwing up after eating too much has lingered from the Cheesecake Factory incident. Remember:
Weight Loss
The doctor had a few great suggestions - cream cheese on crackers and other ways to sneak in some calories. The doctor also explained to Kalvin that he cannot continue to lose weight. He can maintain the 66 pounds - that is a good weight for his height, but he cannot lose anymore. He said he understood and would eat more. He then came home and basically refused to eat. He lost 2 more pounds and really had me scared. A phone call to the doctor scared him strait and he began to graze on a few morsels...phewwww. He is up one pound -weighing in at 65 pounds! Hopefully this weight gain will continue. The funny thing is, the more I harass Kalvin about eating, the more
I am putting into
my mouth! And I certainly cannot afford the extra calories!! I have single handedly taken down his
entire Easter basket ...help me!
 |
| Kalvin indulging in some cream cheese and Saltines! |
