SuburbanDaddy

Flu shots are usually pretty simple. A few seconds and they don’t even know what hit ‘em. For Thing 2, two and a half years old, it was an adventure this year.

I took him to the doctor’s office (Suburban Daddy is assigned all doctor visits where shots will be given) on a Monday afternoon to get the shot. Quick and not so painless, but it was over in a few minutes. Then we went out for a cookie at Starbucks and he forgot all about it.

The next day, I received the call from preschool around 10am. He was running a 101 degree fever which normally means he needs to go home. I mentioned that he had a flu shot the day before, and they said if I get a note from the doctor saying he wasn’t contagious, he could stay. A flu shot normally causes a low fever for a day or so. I called the doctor and asked them to fax a note over to the preschool. It’s all good.

Shortly after, I receive another call from preschool. Now Thing 2 has a rash on his body. Time to call the doctor again. The nurse said the fever was a bit high, and the rash wasn’t typical of a flu shot reaction. Better bring him in to have a look.

I picked him up at school and we went to the doctor’s office. This time, Thing 2 immediately recognized where we were and thought he was getting another shot. He refused to be weighed, wouldn’t let the nurse check his temp or look in his throat.

When I got his shirt off, we saw his arm where he received the shot was enormously swollen. All the way from his shoulder to the elbow. It was like twice the normal size. To quote the doctor, “I’ve never seen a flu shot swell up that much. Let me take a picture to submit to medical journals”. Not what you want to hear. Then she marks the swollen points with a pen, so we can come back the next day and see how it progresses.

We give him some Benadryl at the doctors office. Thing 2 wasn’t very receptive, but I held him down while the nurse poured it in his mouth. The doctor also said to keep his arm elevated and ice it. I thought, Seriously? How am I going to get him to do that?

But, once we got home, I was surprised that he became the model patient. We watched an entire Shrek movie (unprecedented). And he actually sat with his arm elevated and frozen vegetables on it.

The next day, the swelling started to go down, and we went back to the doctor and got the green light to go back to preschool. All in all, more than I bargained for with a flu shot.