Sunday night, in the middle of the night, Kyle started fussing. He had been fine all day Sunday, so it surprised me when I went in and his forehead was warm. I checked his temp under the arm but the thermometer was set for Celsius instead of Farenheit. I knew that 98.6 F is 37.0 C but I wasn't sure about the reading of 38.4 C so I had to look it up online to find that it was a temperature of approximately 101.1 F. He wasn't coughing or sniffling so I just uncovered him, thinking it might just be too much heat from the blanket. A couple of hours later, though, he was fussing again and his temperature was about the same. As stupid as this sounds, I didn't think to give him Tylenol. I just tried to get him back to sleep.
When Kyle woke up again just after Chris left for work Monday morning (around 7AM), I brought him into our room and held him until he almost fell back asleep and then I took his temperature again figuring it might be lower after he was calm and sleeping. I found a thermometer set on Farenheit this time and it read 102.6 under the arm. They usually say to add .9 to the under the arm temperature to get an accurate number so I started to worry. Then I put my hand on his chest and felt his heart pounding fast. I tried to count his heart rate but it was hard. I used my stethescope. As far as I could tell, it was somewhere around 150-160 beats per minute (bpm) and his heart sounded different to me than usual. I counted his breaths and he was about 60 breaths a minute. I still didn't want to overreact and take him straight to the All Children's Hospital Emergency Room since he still didn't have any cough or sniffling or diarrhea, so I called the pediatrician to get him in to see the doctor at 8:40AM and got the kids dressed.
The pediatrician, Dr Arango, confirmed that his heart rate was over 150bpm and his breathing was heavy and fast. She also commented on the difference in the sound of his murmur and said that he should be taken to the emergency room just to rule out any problems with his heart or lungs that might be causing the fever, if nothing else. She also said she didn't want to give him Tylenol until they heard his heart how it was.
I dropped Hannah off with my mother at my grandmother's new residence at Freedom Square retirement center so that she wouldn't be in the way or bored and Chris met me at All Children's Emergency Room.
They did an echo (which I was fascinated with, of course), a chest x-ray and lab work (which Kyle was not thrilled with). Everything came back clear and the doctor said that the only thing he saw was a little redness at the back of Kyle's throat. He said he might just have something viral and don't be surprised if he starts to have a little diarrhea but once they gave him some Tylenol, the fever started going down and he seemed in better spirits (in spite of the lab work).
The important thing is that his heart and lungs are okay so there's not as much to worry about.
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