Roseola Virus + Toddler = Madness

It has been a bit of a crazy week here as it often is when you have a sick toddler. On Tuesday Josh started running a bit of fever - not too high around 38.5 C (101.3 F). Josh didn't seem sick though - he wasn't cranky and he was still acting like his usual self so I thought perhaps he may be getting another tooth. I gave him Tylenol and the fever came down.

As the Tylenol wore off the fever returned. That night it shot up to 39.5 C (103 F). It came down a little with Tylenol but was still high on Wednesday morning. Josh still wasn't showing any other signs of illness. He wasn't coughing or congested, his ears didn't seem to be bothering him, he didn't seem to be in any pain. He was a little irritable due to the high fever, but otherwise he was acting normal.

Given Josh's medical history this was certainly a stressful ordeal. Every time he gets sick - no matter how minor - I can't help but think about his heart. You know, trying to figure out if his symptoms are 'heart related'. He hid his heart defect from us for so long and now I often find myself second guessing even the most obvious cold/flu symptoms. Normal behaviour for a heart mom, I'm sure.

I had to work Wednesday evening so Robb was left alone to care for Josh - which didn't really go over all that well. Robb is extremely anxious when it comes to Josh's health and is ready to rush him over to CHEO every time he sneezes. (Okay so he's not that bad, but you get the point.)Despite some initial apprehension Robb did well and managed to get through the evening. Josh was still running a fever and I decided that if the fever was still present in the morning then I would book an appointment with his pediatrician.

The next morning Josh's fever had come down a little (38.6 C) but he was starting to develop a rash on his chest, stomach, back and face. Time to call his pediatrician. We got an appointment in the early afternoon. Josh was given a thorough exam and was diagnosed with roseola.

Apparently it's a really common viral infection in infants and toddlers characterized by a sudden and persistent high fever without any other symptoms and just as the fever breaks the tell-tale rash develops. It was a huge relief that it wasn't something more serious.

Thursday night was a bad one. Josh was very cranky and irritable and despite being extremely tired, refused to sleep. Friday was even worse. Crankiness all day long and he wouldn't eat anything. The rash had now spread over his entire body but he wasn't running a fever anymore and the rash didn't really seem to be bothering him, but man was he grumpy!

Thankfully he was much more pleasant today. A little irritability still lingers but he's not too bad. He still has the rash, but it seems to be fading away so it looks like it made it through the roseola virus :)

It's hard to see the rash in the pictures but thought I would share them anyway.

What are these crazy red dots all over my tummy?!