Meningitis?

Jorja hasn't been feeling very well since last Thursday. She's had a fever off and on and Saturday she said her neck hurt and that it hurt to swallow. I thought that she might have strep throat so we kept her home from church the next morning. Sunday was the worst; her symptoms hadn't changed except that in addition she wouldn't turn her head because she said her neck hurt. That concerned us a lot and so the next day I called up the doctor. The strep test came back negative and the doctor said he was really concerned about her inability to move her neck. He told me to take her to Children's Mercy Hospital right away so that they could test for meningitis. To do that you have to have a spinal tap, which I was not excited about. I took her down and they got us in pretty quickly. She had to do a lot of motor and mental skill testing and after that, and all the waiting we did, the doctor came back and told us he didn't think she had meningitis. He said people with that sickness can not jump, look down, or do simple mental exercises (like picking up different colored crayons). Jorja was doing all of those. I was just glad we didn't have to do the spinal tap or stay overnight. It was their opinion that she has a viral infection that settled in her neck and gave her a temporary arthritis there. So, I am to keep her on ibuprophin to keep the pain and swelling down. This has been a really wierd sickness -- it just doesn't seem to want to go away completely. Her fever is really inconsistent and she now has a cough that we are dealing with. I'm hoping she can get over this soon!

Popsicles

Last week I bought some popsicles at the store. I don't usually buy stuff like that because I figure it is just as easy to make it at home, not to mention healthier. So this was a real treat for my kids. Jorja and Logan were super excited to have one when they got home. I opened up the box and they looked inside. Then Logan excitedly yelled, "Yeah! They're even already made!!!!" My poor, deprived children. :)