Failed Urinalysis

We have survived our week of "home detention" enduring Lydia's mystery illness. When Friday began with the 3rd day of high fever I decided it was time to see the doctor. The nurse doing the initial exam suggested we try to get a urine sample. Let's stop and ponder that for moment... Question: How does one collect a urine speciman from an 18-month old non-potty trained child? That's right! In the Czech Republic you remove your child's "nappy" (that's a diaper in American-English) and attempt to "catch" the urine with a itsy bitsy teeny-weeny plastic cup. Hah! Very funny.

I will give the nurse credit. She did fetch a potty chair as well. I jokingly said, "Hey, maybe I'll potty-train Lydia today!". Upon placement on the potty chair, Lydia began screaming and writhing as if being swarmed by killer bees. I think it caused enough mental anguish that I can safely say that she may not be able to LOOK at a potty chair before age 5 without breaking into a cold sweat.

Back to the urine collection: The nurse suggested I give Lydia water to encourage her to "go". Meanwhile, the nurse exits the room, leaving me to speed along the kidney functions of my diaperless, disagreeable daughter. Yep. Within seconds, Lydia desposited her urine sample on the floor. Guess Mommy's reflexes aren't as quick as the Czech mommies.

So one failed urine collection, a blood test for protein levels and TWO strep tests later (keep in mind Lydia gags on mashed potatoes. Just imagine what a strep test does to her!)... the doctor suggested she may have Roseola. It's a fairly common viral illness in children under 2 that presents itself with a sudden high fever of 103+ for 3-5 days, suddenly disappers and then a rash surfaces on the body lasting a few hours up to a few days. There is no treatment. The only thing to do was watch a wait for the fever to disappear and the rash to appear. On Saturday morning our suspicions were confirmed when Lydia woke up with no fever and by night the rash showed up. I had mentioned to Brandon that Lydia seemed especially sweet and agreeable during the period of fever. I read today in my Dr. Dobson's Baby Care book that one of the strange things about the illness is that "a child may seem to be in surprisingly good spirits" despite the high fever. We knew Lydia was feeling better today. Let's just say she was no longer in "surprisingly good spirits".

Thankfully the weather predicitions look great so we'll get another shot at the beautiful week we spent indoors last week...