I'm Not a Doctor So What Do I Know?

My family is off to an unhealthy start in 2012. 

Hubby, knock on wood, is the only one who hasn't been sick.  I'm still fighting bronchitis-related coughing from before Christmas.  Daughter is also coughing, most-likely asthma-related, according to the doctor she saw.  Poor Son has had the worst of it, though.  Mid-December, he had a bad sore throat, but a strep test came back negative.  After Christmas, the sore throat was back.  A second strep test also came back negative, but he was miserable.  His tonsils were so swollen I swear one of them was touching that little hanging thing in the back of his throat.  He was taking an ibuprofen every four hours.  For someone who never takes medicine, that's bad.  I dragged him to the pediatrician after New Years because I wasn't happy that the convenient care doctors couldn't do anything for him.  The pediatrician did another strep test and also did blood work.  Results showed that Son has mono AND strep.  Poor kid.  Luckily the antibiotics they gave him seem to be helping.  We should know in the next couple of days how "old" his mono is. 

I thought back in mid-December that he had strep.  No, I'm not a doctor, but I know my kids. Growing up, my daughter had strep so many times they were ready to take her tonsils out if she got it one more time.  Of course, then she didn't get it again. But I always knew when she had strep. In all those years, I was only wrong once when I thought she had strep.

Son is rarely sick.  He had strep for the first time a year ago, but his symptoms were not the usual ones.  Instead, he broke out in a rash and had a headache. His throat was sore, but not terribly, and it wasn't red and splotchy with white spots.  So when he developed his sore throat in December, I wasn't taking any chances.  I realize insurance companies have made it so that doctors have to have specific results before they will treat patients for some things, including strep.  But every person is different.  Not everyone has the same symptoms.  I wish they would listen to me - I AM my kids' mother, for goodness sakes! 

But I'm not a doctor, so what do I know?