Jeffrey's maladies

I had taken Jeffrey for a blood test the day after Memorial Day. Last Friday, the nurse from his doctor's office called to say we needed to go back to have more blood drawn for more tests. So, after a weekend of restless sleep that had nothing to do with the humidity but more to do with information overload and worry (I had the overload problem from having gone on the internet to research possible reasons why a child would have an iron deficiency and came upon some serious stuff, while G just worried.), I took him on Monday morning to have the lab tech do the very thing I had told him last time wouldn't be done to him again. But again, he was a trooper and didn't cry, even when she filled a second vial needed for the additional tests. Did you know there are different types of anemia? Neither did I.

The CBC results would come back that day, but we had to wait until today to get the other results. It turns out that yes, he has an iron deficiency and results showed nothing out of the ordinary where further tests would be warranted at this time. So, Jeffrey will be taking ferrous sulfate -- otherwise known as iron, twice a day for the next month before going to be retested. Again.

Okay, so here is the tricky part of this all. I don't know what liquid ferrous sulfate tastes like, but according to Jeffrey, it's bad. Did I expect it to taste good? Of course not because that would be way too easy. So I poured the little 3/4 teaspoon dose into his apple juice. I can handle that twice a day. I'll just need to figure out how to deal with the dose of mineral oil I'll most likely need to give him once the constipation sets in, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Better yet, maybe Tommy can inform Jeffrey of my intentions like he so blatantly did this evening when he realized what I had done to avoid the predictable battle.

"Jeffrey," he said matter-of-factly, "Mom put your medicine in your drink. Does it taste bad?" Wasn't that thoughtful of him to let Jeffrey know his drink was spiked?

Oh, and hey! Remember this story? Well, I still check Jeffrey's site, but so far, no signs of anything. I think it was probably on him for less than 24 hours, which would eliminate his chance of getting Lyme disease. But our friend David has been home from work for the past few days suffering from what he thought was a bad case of the flu. Until he found the bulls-eye rash on his person that told him he didn't have the flu, but Lyme disease! It just goes to show you: I am not a neurotic worrier and anybody can get Lyme disease. Darn deer ticks!