But to placate you in the meantime, let me tell you about our trip to the Urgent Care Center in Belton. We had been letting Carter just ride out the illness at home since his fever wasn't very high and he was still resting and eating well, but last night his eyes (which had been watery and red for a few days) started to get gooey and infected-looking, so we decided to take him in.
At 7 pm on a Friday, your options for doctors are limited. We ended up at the Urgent Care Center with quite an assortment of patients.
There was a grandfather caring for four young children in the waiting room while the grandmother took another sick child back to see the doctor. While they waited, one kid slept, one kid screamed intermittently, one kid poked the sleeping kid, and one kid ran around the tile floor of the waiting room barefoot. I'm not judging--because heaven knows I can just barely manage to take care of one kid most days--but Eeeeeeewwww!!
There was a young man who came in complaining of shoulder pain who then used his "really really bad hurt" arm to reach his wallet in his back pocket.
There was the obligatory cell phone woman who talked the entire 45 minutes between taking sips of a super-sized Sonic drink which she later spilled all over the floor and pretended to clean up by throwing a bunch of paper towels on the floor on top of the red slush.
There was a young lady with a sprained or broken wrist who looked at every person who came in with sad puppy dog eyes as if to say, "Can I please be seen before you?"
There was an older woman who was holding a barf bag with obvious stomach contents in it (why do they make those bags see through?).
And then there was us. A couple of doctors who couldn't decide whether they needed another doctor's help until 7 pm on a Friday night. Impressive, right?
Well, I must commend the sweet doctor we saw. At 8:45 pm after seeing barefoot boy's sister, really bad hurt arm guy, Sonic cell phone girl, weepy wrist ache woman, and barf bag, she still had a smile on when she came to see us.
The diagnosis? Probable influenza + double conjunctivitis (eye infections).
The treatment? Rest, fluids, and an ointment that must be put into the eyes 3x/day. (Perhaps a separate post is needed to describe the joy in trying to put ointment into a 4 month old's eyes without losing your sanity or blinding your son.)
Carter is looking about 100 times better today than last night. We're so grateful for after-hours care! Balloon pictures to come when we feel up to it.
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