More doctor's

I was back at the doctor again today, this time for myself.

I think I have tonsillitis. The doctor never actually confirmed this (or denied it). He told me that my tonsils are inflamed & that I have an ulcer on my uvula (DH asked if I had to bend over for him to see that - DH is lucky I had the self control to not throw my shoe at him).

He has given me antibiotics for it. I feel like I am swallowing razor blades at the moment so I hope they kick in soon.

What I have is different to what Little Bear has. Her tonsils looked fine & I haven't had a fever like she did.

While I was at the doctor's, he told me that Little Bear's test results came back inconclusive. There was something there, but not very much & they couldn't get anything to grow on a culture. This means we have to do another wee test as soon as she gets another fever, while she is NOT on antibiotics & before it goes to her chest.

The doctor said "if" she gets another fever. Considering we have had at least 9 episodes of this thing since June, I say "when" not "if". Antibiotics haven't got rid of it in the past, I am doubtful that they alone will do anything this time.

The doctor still wants to see her again on Monday, so I might talk to him about getting other tests done as well as the urine test next time she gets sick. I really want to find out what's making my baby sick (& stop it), and I don't see how an inconclusive urine test could be bad enough to give her 9 episodes of very high (over 40 degrees C) fever in the last 4 1/2 months. Especially as each time it is getting worse & this chest infection doesn't seem to be clearing up as quickly as the last one, even though she is on two types of antiobiotics this time.

Fully Sick

OK, here's the update on Little Bear.

After an absolutely woeful night, I took her to the doctors today. She has a chest infection & has 2 lots of antibiotics (+ repeats) to be taken at the same time. That doesn't explain why the fevers keep recurring.

Doctor has said it could be a urinary tract infection & we had to get a wee sample. Easier said than done on a 2 year old who is still in nappies.

Finally got it at 7pm tonight. Path Lab closes at 6. Guess what I'll be doing first thing in the morning.

Have another appointment in a week. She will need seperate antibiotics again if it is a UTI. If it isn't, then the next step is blood tests.

In the meantime, I really hope that tonight I get SOME sleep.

What's wrong with Little Bear

Poor Little Bear is sick again.

Every 2-3 weeks since the start of June she has come down with a high fever that lasts 3 days. Initially Panadol seemed to keep it under control, but each time she catches it again it is a little bit worse. Last night Panadol wasn't doing much at all. She had a temperature of 39 an hour after taking Panadol.

A month ago she had this & it turned into a chest infection. 2 weeks later, just as she took the last dose of antibiotics, she came down with the fever again but it only lasted a day (I guess because of the antibiotics). This time (2 weeks later again) she is starting to sound very chesty so I am hoping it doesn't go to her chest again.

When she gets really high temperatures, she throws up. We were able to prevent this by setting our alarm to go off every 4 hours in the night to give her the next dose of Panadol. Now that the Panadol isn't working as well, we were still up all last night cleaning up vomit & consoling Little Bear.

Whatever she has doesn't seem to be contagious because not one time that she's been sick has anyone else seemed to catch it from her.

I feel so frustrated & helpless. We've been to the doctor countless times, but because it's just been a virus, they haven't been able to do anything (except when she caught the chest infection). I will probably take her again tomorrow but I am hoping that they will order some tests to see if there is something else going on. I don't want them to poke my baby with needles, but I don't want to see my baby so sick either.

Lost and Found

We have lived in our house for 4 years now.

The other day I was pulling out a whole heap of plants in the garden in our pool area.

Underneath their roots I found out water meter. It was completely covered with dirt to about an inch above the highest point.

It was also leaking.

We have now cleared around it & DH fixed the leak. Heaven only knows when the last time our meter was read!

Cheetah's Happy Mail

Today Cheetah brought home some happy mail from school.

These are special letters that let the parents know that their child has done something to make their teachers happy.

Cheetah's happy mail read as follows:

"Dear DH & Chimera,

We'd like to share some good news about Cheetah:

Cheetah is always listening well and has beautiful manners.

His handwriting was neatly completed today also.

Signed: His Teacher"

(Underneath this it has lines to write a response and a note "reply paid return if desired" . This is funny because the child returns the note to their teacher).


Makes it a little easier to put up with the constant talking at home if we know he does know how to listen when he needs to. (honestly, the kid can & does talk underwater).

We know he has beautiful manners. He doesn't use them at home as much as he should, but we have always received lovely comments from people when we're out about his manners.

The handwriting has been a constant struggle for Cheetah. I'm afraid I have a lot to answer for there. He writes like I do. He can do a neat job, but it takes a lot of effort. His teachers in the last 3 years have been great. They ensure he puts the appropriate amount of effort into it, but they don't sweat the minor imperfections. It has made a big difference to his attitude about handwriting when the teachers don't push him for something that is almost impossible for him.


After having quite a bit of a dry spell when it came to posts about Cheetah, there have been some pretty special things to post about lately (& I never even did a birthday post for him - oowaaah). Not to mention, I still have the NAPLAN results to post about. That was a pretty impressive effort from him too, but I'll save it for later.

Cheetah's award

On Thursday Cheetah received an achievement award in class (these particular awards are handed out each week to children who have achieved something special that week).

And the reason for the award...

"for his 'Swift Swivels' during dance class".

This is the first time he has received an achievement award that relates to a physical activity.

I was very proud of him and can't wait to see these 'swift swivels' at the end of year concert.

Another Project

At the moment I am cleaning up & sorting through old junk. I came across this project that Cheetah did in Grade 3. We don't really have room to store it forever, so I figured storing it for 2 years was enough & now we would take some photo's, so we could get rid of the clutter.

I am assuming that this was a science project, but I am not entirely sure what the requirements of the assignment were.


This creature that looks somewhat like an alien cockroach is actually a device for testing how well various materials conduct electricity. His antennae are part of a circuit that is connected to batteries (in his belly) and a light bulb for a nose. The idea is that you touch the antenna to something (making sure they are not touching each other), and if that something conducts electricity, then his nose will light up.

The photo below is Cheetahs explanation of how a circuit works and a simple diagram for the visual learners out there.



This next one was a last minute idea. I got Cheetah to collect various small objects from around the house & glue them onto a piece of paper. He then glued that onto cardboard. If you look carefully, you will notice the writing is not Cheetah's (in the diagram above, that is Cheetah's writing). This is because this was so last minute, by the time the glue had dried, it was very late at night & the project was due the next day, so I did that bit for him.


He really is a clever little tacker when he puts his heart into it. Pity we can't harness this enthusiasm for all of his schoolwork!