On swine flu and chickenpox

Yesterday I called around to see if I could get Dylan a swine flu shot as they've been warning people traveling to North America to get one. No dice. The shot won't be ready until September.

Then last night Dylan was incredibly clingy and whiny, which is very unusual. He felt hot to the touch (though it is over 100 degrees here and we only have a trickle of AC in one room, which we rarely use anyway, so all of us probably feel hot to the touch for the better part of the summer) and though I couldn't get him to sit still or stop screaming long enough to take his temperature, I gave him baby acetaminophen. He slept restlessly and writhed and kicked all night. I know this since he sleeps in our bed. Sigh. This morning he still felt hot AND had strange red dots on his face, feet and arms. Some look like mosquito bites but others are small. I called his pediatrician, and we are going this afternoon at 4 p.m. She said chickenpox is going around. Or it could be Scarlet Fever. Or the Sixth Disease...

Dylan HATES going to the pediatrician. He starts screaming bloody murder if he even sees someone wearing a white lab coat (like the pharmacist). Today on my Twitter I wrote that I had a "ped appointment" and someone thought I was going to get a mani-pedi. I wish! The childless are so naive...and so much better rested than I. And have time to get pedicures.


UPDATE: It is not chickenpox but the pediatrician (not the pedicurist) can't explain what the rash is. She said that because he has such sensitive skin anyway, it may just be a manifestation of the fever he has. His throat and ears are very red as well. She gave us ibuprofen instead of the acetaminophen (she said it is a better anti-inflammatory) for the fever and an antibiotic but said to wait a few days to administer the antibiotic to see if it is viral and passes on its own.