Poorly boy

Tobes is still ill. He was much better on Friday, was out and about this weekend and then last night he took a turn. Fever, rash and a terrible headache which made him sensitive to light. We called NHS Direct and they said we should take him into the hospital so Jason took him down to the Lewisham A&E (Emergency Room).

It was diagnosed as a virus, probably the same one Rosie had, but we learned that Tobes should be taking a higher dose of paracetemol (Tylenol). The over the counter stuff is dosed by age but Toby is a big boy and Jason was told that he should be on the 6+ formula already based on his weight. So, that's why the fever was so difficult to get down. We weren't giving him enough medicine.

Jason left for California this morning and about an hour after he walked out the door Tobes started vomiting. Great. His fever shot up to 102.6 but when I tried to give him any meds he would just vomit them back up. He was even struggling to keep water down. I spent a few hours mopping his brow with a cold cloth and trying to keep him cool and then I remembered the Italian suppositories.

A couple of years ago we were in Venice and Toby developed a fever. On the continent there are a lot of medicines that are taken by suppository including paracetemol. Apparently it's absorbed into the system faster and therefore works faster when taken up the back passage. Of course, they do have tablets too but suppositories are normal as well. Anyway, I dug out the ones prescribed to Toby by the hotel doctor in Italy, checked they were still in date and then... ahem... administered them. Within fifteen minutes Toby's fever came down and he was able to sleep. Magic!

Unfortunately, we only had three left and with the instructions on Toby's new dosage that's just enough for one dose. I have a feeling we're going to need more so I rang the chemist in Blackheath to see if they carried them. They do but they cost 40 pounds for ten!! That's like $80. Good God. I could go to the doctor tomorrow, request a prescription and get them for free but I'm not sure how we would get through the night without them. It looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and just pay for them. That is some expensive paracetemol.