Love it...

Maybe "Love it..." will become a new recurring theme (like "Heard..." or "Accountability" or "Seen"...). We'll see...

Friday night, J-Mav was extremely whiney and didn't want to eat his dinner. He asked to go to bed, and did so at about 7pm. Unheard of! Saturday morning, he woke up complaining of a headache and a sore throat. He didn't want breakfast; just wanted to lay on the sofa under a blanket. Didn't want to go to his baseball game or the birthday party he was supposed to attend that afternoon. (?!?!)

I drove over to the baseball field to inform J-Mav's coach that he wouldn't be there, while Hubby called for an appointment with the pediatrician. You see, our children tend to not have any symptoms other than a sore throat (no spots) and lethargy when they have strep. We figured it'd be better to be safe than sorry.

While at the field, the coach's wife told me about the Minute Clinic at CVS. No appointment necessary. Usually no waiting. Licensed Nurse Practioner. Takes insurance, so it's just a normal doctor visit co-pay... without all the sick kids hanging around in the waiting room, the long wait to see the doctor, or the resistance on the doctor's part to give the child the dang strep test (yes, I KNOW he doesn't have the normal symptoms, but trust me...).

I decided to try it, but I kept the 11am doctor's appointment just in case something didn't work out. We arrived, signed in on the electronic kiosk, and got called in to the exam room immediately. I told the nurse why we were there and she didn't bat an eye. She took J-Mav's history, did the throat swab and took my co-payment while we waited two minutes to see if the test was positive.

When the timer went off, she went and inspected the test (like a pregnancy test... red line for positive) and said, "we have a winner, Mom." She zipped the prescription 15 feet over to the pharmacy over the computer network and we followed to wait for it to be filled. Altogether, including waiting for the prescription, we were in and out in less than 30 minutes -- a full hour before we were scheduled to see the pediatrician. We cancelled that appointment. The nurse at the Minute Clinic was amazing with J-Mav, and it was just an overall pleasant experience.

And after a 2+ hour nap and a dose of Amoxicillan, J-Mav was a new kid!!

Keeper Boy had been congested and couging a little and complaining of a sore throat the past few days, too. This morning he said his throat was really sore. While I suspected that HIS sore throat is just a result of drainage and breathing through his mouth at night because of the congestion, I took him to the Minute Clinic this morning, too. Again, better to be safe than sorry. He has several important baseball games this week, plus the last two sessions of his hockey tryouts. Not to mention the fact that school is winding down and they're trying to cram everything in before the end of the year. His quick test was negative, though they'll send it out to the lab to fester overnight and make sure it doesn't come back positive tomorrow. I don't expect it to. But for $18 and 30 minutes of my time, I have peace of mind.

Love it!