We have the Mumps

We went to the Doctor yesterday thinkin Johnley had an ear infection. He complained Saturday that his ear hurt. I asked him if it hurt on the inside or the outside and he changed his answer 3 times. By Sunday night he had a knot behind his ear, that I thought was swollen glands. By monday morning it had gotten more swollen, but I still thought it was an earache.

The Dr. checked him out, and said he has a slight infection. Then he looked at his neck and immediately said, 'Oh, that's mumps'! I was horrified!

We had started the immunizations, but took the summer off! I don't know if we had would have gotten the MMR by now, or not. But at the time I felt horrible.

I had no idea what mumps was. For all I knew it was like polio. I mean, why else would there be a vaccine for it? The Dr. started to explain it to me, and it didn't sound that bad. It is an infection of some gland (I forget the name) and there is no treatment. It last about three weeks, and for children there are usually no side effects. I really wanted to say, 'Then why on earth do you vaccinate for it?'

So it turns out that it can be bad for teenagers or adults, but not so much for kids.

It hurts, tho, so everytime the motrin wears off, he cries. He feels fine, so he wants to jump around, and then it hurts.

Here is the little dude. Does he look pitiful, or what

Here he is smiling, tho. Much cuter!