So Henry woke up in the night on Wednesday night absolutely burning up and drenched with sweat. Over the next 36 hours we proceeded to dose him regularly with motrin which brought the fever down to around 100-101 but it never went away. A rash then developed on his face that looked like he was sunburned across his cheeks. We noticed a rash of light red dots on his chest, back and arms and when he woke up this morning still feverish and with those sad sick eyes, we called the Dr.
We got him in this morning and the Dr. said that it was probably strep and maybe scarlet fever. I'm a little fuzzy on what she said because i associate scarlet fever with an antique childhood disease that used to kill children and necessitated burning the Velveteen rabbit. I had scarlet fever as a child and (correct me if i'm wrong parents) but i stayed in the hospital.
The Dr. today said that pre-antibiotics, scarlet fever was a terrible disease. Now it's not really a big deal and is treated exactly with the same antibiotic that is used to treat strep throat. I believe they both come from the same bacteria and the "strep" just denotes the presence of the bacteria not necessarily if it's scarlet fever or strep. So, that's about as clear as mud but with the fever and the rash i think it's scarlet fever.
Either way we've now given two doses of antibiotics. 24 hours from his first dose he stops being contagious and hopefully by tomorrow morning he'll be feeling better and the rash will subside. In the meantime we're watching Silas for any signs and are comforted that strep is rare in children under 2 and in adults. Although i'm packing my "backup" pack of antibiotics for my work trip next week.
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