Feeling Thrush?

My poor baby girl has thrush. Yesterday I happened to notice Maya's tongue was coated in, what looked like, formula. Since she had just spit up I thought it was residue left in her mouth. She was pretty fussy yesterday so I really didn't give it a second thought. After dinner Mike and I went out to do some grocery shopping and pick up a new ceiling fan for the living room. We left the girls with Grandma Linda and Papa. Just before we left Papa made mention of something being on her tongue. At that point it still hadn't sunk in. It wasn't until after we returned home and Linda said to me..... "Hey do you think she could have thrush?" that's when the light bulb went off. Yeah I'm some observant Mom ain't I? So I immediatley looked in up in my baby book and then did further research on the internet. No queston she did indeed have thrush. A pretty bad case of it as well. Her entire tongue is coated white. It looks like somebody dipped it in paint. It doesn't seem like it's been giving her any pain, but it must be somewhat uncomfortable. Today I really noticed her playing with her tongue. She would do nothing but repeatedly stick her tongue whenever she was awake. It's a little off putting to see this liquid paper white tongue poking out at you. She also has white spots all over the inside of her mouth.

I called my family doc this morning to make an appointment. Well actually two appointments, one for her two month needle, whenever, and one for today to check her mouth and get her started on some medication. It took me most of the morning to get through. My doc recently moved her single doctor practice into a multi-doctor practice. There's three times the patients now, but still only one receptionist. So it took me most of the morning to actually get through only to be told that the soonest she could see Maya was next Wednesday. Yep, that's right 6 days from now. I have a two month old infant with a yeast infection in her mouth, that is only going to get worse left untreated and I can't get an appointment. I had read about an herbal OTC treatment online so I called Mike and asked himto check with the pharmacist at his work. He didn't recommend the herbal remedy for a baby as young as Maya and strongly suggested we take her to a walk in clinic ASAP, rather than wait.

So that's what we did tonight. Mike and I had no idea what to expect. Neither of us had ever been to a walk in clinic before. We didn't know if it was like going to emergency. Should we expect to wait forever to see a doctor? We were going to have to fill out endless paper work and answer countless questions? The answer.... none of the above. We walked to the receptionist, handed over Maya's health card, explained the problem, sat down and waited 10 minutes. We were then moved into an examination room, waited 15 minutes more before the doctor joined us. Well hello Dr. Bobby Flay. No joke this guy looked just like the Iron Chef Bobby Flay. All he needed was a brief look at Maya's tongue... "Oh yeah, she's got thrush." He wrote out a perscription for an anti-fungal medication that we need to give her 3 times a day for 10 days. We also have to sterilize her nipples and suckies constantly to keep from re-infecting her. The whole thing was over in less than 45 minutes. Miss Maya has already had her first dose of medication and is sleeping soundly.

Now I kow you're thinking to yourself, what about Abby? What has the creative genius been up to? Well today she was going to go to the sitter's. She missed going yesterday because she was with Grandma Sandi. She woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning though and after listening to her cry about not wanting to get dressed I told Mike to forget it. I just wanted to cut our losses and see if I could get her to go back to bed for some much needed sleep. I felt bad that she was missing a day with her friends, but I shouldn't have worried. You see Abby had invited a couple of kids over to play with. Unbeknowst to me, of course. I was upstairs putting Maya down for her nap when she snuck them in. Even when I came back downstairs I didn't notice them right away. However, the way Abby stopped what she was doing the second I walked into the kitchen made me very suspicious.

Me: What are you doing?
Abby: Just playing soccer. (we play "soccer" in the kitchen almost daily with a half inflated beach ball, it's a good way for Abby to let off steam when it's too cold outside)
Me: Oh, okay.
Abby: Yeah I'm playing with Rolie Polie
Me: You are? Where is he?
Abby: Right beside the soccer ball. Don't you see him Mommy?

Yes, Abby's friends were of the invisible variety. No wonder I didn't notice Rolie Polie when I came back down. Nor did I see "Billy" who, apparently, really enjoys kitchen soccer as well. I can't wait until the weather warms up. This cold snap that's keeping all the neighbourhood kids locked in their warm houses is forcing my daughter to invent friends for herself. Billy and Rolie Polie were well behaved today, but I know it's all a matter if time before one of them breaks one of dishes or plugs up the toilet by flushing facecloths down it. The invisible ones always cause the most problems.

My Mom has figured out how to leave comments and I know.... I know... she'll want to leave a comment here. So let me beat her to the punch. Yes. Yes. Yes, I had an imaginary friend when I was a little girl. Her name was Janick. My Mom continues to think it's the funniest story ever.... next to the whole coating my crib in diaper rash cream, or the time, while potty training, I told her I shit my pants, or... well really she was a million of them. I can't really remember when Janick left. I think it was probably not long after she got pregnant. What? Yes that's right my childhood imaginary friend got pregnant. I was understandably upset since she was so young and of course single. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she left not long after that. We lost touch, I'm not really sure where she ended up. Now how did I know she was pregnant? Easy, my Mom and Dad told me she was. This is the kind of twisted fun they liked to have with their kids. They once gave my brother a "hurts donut". Everybody else in the 70's was watching Saturday Night Live for laughs, not my parents.... why stay up late for when you have kids you can scar emotionally for life. There was no way Belushi could be funnier than that.