Kalyan spiked a temperature of 38.2 on Thursday after school which of course meant we'd all have to self-isolate until he was tested and confirmed negative for Coronavirus. Of course, I documented pretty much the whole thing (as usual) and thought I'd share our experience here in case it helps if any of your little ones might need the test. You'll know what to expect and our our tips to help them through it (Haribo)!
It was a rather dramatic day altogether with me being called to the school at lunchtime because he'd "put his hand in something"! Turns out he'd be stung, or so they thought so I was asked to go and give him some Piriton. Luckily I was working from home that day so was just 5 minutes away.
When I turned up he was waiting at the gate with a teacher, looking very sorry for himself, poor wee man. I wasn't sure what to expect, I was thinking a hand full of nettle stings but it turns out he thought he was stung by an insect. He'd been quite distressed by it (not helped by his friend suffering a nose bleed at the exact same time apparently) but by now had calmed down.
I had a look and found the tiniest little prick on his finger which looked much more like a thorn puncture to me. The teacher agreed. There was no swelling or redness and nothing itchy. I gave him a cuddle and asked if he needed anything (I'd also brought Calpol) but he just wanted a drink of water and ran off to find his bottle. Phew. When collecting him after school he was then wearing a sticker saying to keep an eye on him as he'd bumped his head!!! He'd bumped heads with another classmate, what a day - you couldn't make it up! Lol.
Just before dinner-time he then declared he felt poorly and when I cuddled him I noticed he felt hot so checked his temperature. 38.2, not good! I wouldn't normally worry but this meant we were all now stuck at home. Paracetamol was deployed and duvets and cushions collected for some "cosy" on the sofa with a bit of Disney and I tried to organise a test and also cancelling all my plans for Friday.
As he was suddenly very snotty but had no other symptoms, I was convinced he just had a cold but of course, we need to be sure to protect others. Unfortunately getting him booked in for a test proved to be a challenge! Nik and I both searched, trying the government website (including ticking that we're essential workers both being NHS) and checking what others had done but couldn't book a drive through test nor a home kit. While communicating with other Mums in the class, we'd found out others had also become poorly with temperatures (I think around 8 of his class of 30 have felt poorly now), some with coughs as well and had all struggled to find tests. One had eventually managed to organise a home test to be sent, another was given an emergency kit by the school.
Eventually Nik called his hospital manager and she sent off the relevant forms to book him in for a test at the hospital to ensure we could return to work on Monday. Nik actually isolated from us that night too so he could still work on Friday. By then, of course, Kalyan was in tip-top condition bar a snotty nose and him and Priya ran rings around me while I rescheduled by pre-booked mentoring session and rearranged my diary to fit in more editing time. Gah!
We did make a pretty cool Lego combine harvester though, and watched Ice Age: The Meltdown. We also tried out their new magnetic toy we were sent to review which filled some time perfectly.
The Covid test was booked for Saturday at 9:15am and we were told we'd get the results that same evening so it was an early start this morning to get organised and to Brighton in time.
We did have about 40 minutes waiting in our car but we'd anticipated that and brought toys, a magazine and Daddy eventually deployed Mr Bean (which they've recently discovered and find HILARIOUS!), I'd actually forgotten how funny he is!
And then a lovely man appeared with a tray ready for testing. K was very excited, little did he know exactly what the test involved.
First came the tonsil swab, which he obviously didn't like but took quite well.
He then needed to have his nostrils swabbed too and the person doing the tests was so good with him and very patient.
I managed to convince him by revealing the treat I had hidden in my bag for after - Haribo! (Something they rarely get.) Priya asked if she'd get some too, (of course we wanted to avoid that tantrum so I'd brought two packs) and immediately jumped for joy banging her head on the roof of the car!! Thankfully she just sat down to sulk about that and we turned our attention back to K.
We were back to smiles again from K as he turned back ready for his nose swab.
That did not go down well! A lot of tears and a very upset boy (no more photos of course as he just needed cuddles from both of us). Unfortunately they have to swab both nostrils but he eventually calmed down and we got the other one over with. The lovely nurse/health practitioner (I'm guessing) then explained what would happen to his sample (Priya was asking what he was doing with it in the test tube) and how they would analyse it to check if he had "The Virus" or not, which calmed him down again as he was very interested.
Priya's main concern then was whether she would also get Haribo! Lol.
Haribo to the rescue as we all had cuddles in the car while Daddy put Mr Bean back on his phone.
Hopefully we won't have to put either of them through that again (especially now they know how horrible it is!) but with winter bugs flying around now they're all back to school, I'm sure this won't be the last temperature we have to deal with :(
P.S. As I was about to publish this, we got a call with his results - negative. Expected, but still a relief.
