Tuesday, June 17, 2008

When in doubt....

I guess you can just write ANYTHING on the office visit slip.

Mr. Mom calls me at work to tell me the conversation that occurred at the Peds office today with my strawberry child.

Dr. Dolittle- "Well, I'm not really sure what it is (even though I went through extensive training at a medical school for many years but probably slept through the "strawberry pink child" class after an all night kegger party). So, I am going to hedge my bets and give him an antibiotic. It may be nothing at all, but let's call it Scarlet Fever."

HUH?
What?

This is not spin the wheel of diseases and just pick what it lands on. So of course I frantically Google Scarlet Fever...

Sore throat - NO
Fever - NO
Vomiting - NO
Rash on neck and chest; rough "sandpaper" feel to the skin - OK
Peeling (desquamation) of the finger tips, toes, and groin - NO
Swollen, red tongue (strawberry tongue) - NO
Pastia's lines (bright red color in the creases of the underarm and groin) - NO
Chills - NO
Headache - Well, I don't think he can say headache yet, so I'll say NO
Generalized discomfort (malaise) - NO
Abdominal pain - NO
Muscle aches - NO

I'm going to hedge my own bets based on 1/12 odds that it is not Scarlet Fever.

Perhaps that was the ICD code of the day.

The good news in he is not quite as pink anymore- so maybe it was just some weird reaction to something.

3 comments:

Dena said...

We love Dr. Dolittle. Do you think he was caught off guard expecting and prepared to see you and you surprise him with Drew instead? You just threw him off his game. Glad to know it isn't scarlet fever.

david santos said...

I LOVED THIS POST AND THIS BLOG.
HAPPY DAY

Christine said...

My kids just got over 5th's disease. Have you tried web md under childhood rashes. I was able to figure it out pretty quickly because they have pictures of all the various rashes. HTH!