Thrush Be Gone

Micah was on meds for thrush for the requisite 10 days. And then it came back to seek revenge for the hurting the meds put on it. The thrush was clearly the winner. So after that ER trip last Friday night, we saw the pediatrician on Monday as requested by the ER doc.

The meds the ER doc gave pretty much cleared up the white mouth gunk, so by the time the pediatrician saw Micah, he saw no thrush. But the problem was that while the meds pretty much cleared it up, that was only as long as he was on the meds. It would be there the next morning because the overnight was too long to go without medication. I knew this, which was why we were at the doctor's office.

So the doc didn't see thrush, and therefore said that Micah did not have thrush but in fact said that he had cold sores on his lips. Please take him off the meds because thrush only needs medication for a few days to clear up, and clearly he's healed. So I mentioned that we were going on vacation next week and wanted to be sure it was gone before we left so that we didn't have to deal with it while away. He said if the white comes back to bring him in right away.

Of course, being off meds all day Monday and overnight as well, the horrible nasty overpopulated in his mouth like you can't even imagine. That's why I took a photo, because not even the doctor could imagine that. See?

Yes, it's nasty. Very nasty. And while it looks like sinus drainage all over his tongue, its not. It's anchored on and not freely sitting. It bleeds when you scrape it off. It comes off when he eats, and then grows back, which is why I took this picture before he had breakfast, just before heading to the doctor's office. And sure enough, after eating, it was gone, except for the white film on the roof of his mouth.

The pediatrician was rather shocked to see me back so soon, and took one look inside Micah's mouth and declared that the white he saw was thrush. I showed him this photo to further prove how bad it is, and really to prove that I'm not an idiot and I do know what thrush is and that maybe he should learn to trust me.

Yes, I like to be recognized when I'm right. Who doesn't?

And then to contradict that thrush only needs 2-3 days on meds to clear up, the doctor said that this poor child of mine probably has thrush the whole way down his esophagus and the mouth stuff that we get to see is just the tip of the iceberg. (Which is pretty much what I was thinking the whole time.) He said that Micah would need to be on meds for about 3 weeks to completely clear this horrible case up.

So there's that.

Here's hoping 3 weeks on Diflucan and Activia do the trick because I've been reading scary things about prolonged cases of thrush that don't make me happy, and my guess is that Micah has had this for close to a month already. Poor wee guy.