House Calls on the Hill

In the last week or two I’ve seen quite a few cases of croup. Watch out for high-pitched, barky, seal type of cough usually with a fever.
Put your child in the steamy bathroom or sit out on your stoop in the cool outside air. Push fluids and give Motrin™ for fever.
Child must stay home until no fever for twenty-four hours and cough calms.

I’ve seen a handful of school-age children (5 year old +) and heard of others with similar symptoms, with very high fevers this past week.  The fevers have been 103 and higher with or without a cough, and not much else.  Kids feel much better with Motrin, then the fever returns.   After a few days of this, they get better and are on their way back to school.  The key is most children feel fairly good between fevers, it doesn’t last more than a 2-3 days and they are able to tolerate fluids well.