MOOO!!!

Well, again I feel like a cow! This weekend I got pretty sick; on Saturday I had aches and pains everywhere and ended the day with a 102 degree fever. Sunday I actually started to feel better, no fever and fewer aches and pains but noticed some indications that I might have a breast infection. I went to a Minute Clinic only to find out after waiting almost an hour that they don't treat this kind of infection at a Minute Clinic! I had assumed that Minute Clinics were in the same category as Urgent Care clinics but I guess I was wrong! At that point in the day, I really didn't have time to then go wait another hour or so at an Urgent Care since most of them close at 5pm and the nearest one was 15-20 minutes away, it was already after 4pm, and I would have had to run home first and pick up my baby since she loves to eat every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. I decided that my body was just going to have to fight it off on its own cause I wasn't going to worry about it....until I talked to one of my sisters who said that after she had a breast infection she basically lost her milk supply on that side! I absolutely had no interest in starting my baby on formula just because I decided to be stubborn and not go get treated for something easy enough to treat resulting in loss of milk supply. So after getting kids all tucked in last night, Baby and I took off to the ER...I had noticed that the red streaking I had seen on my left side had at least doubled in size since mid-afternoon when I had first noticed redness so I knew that by morning it could be really bad. After being brought back to a room and explaining my symptoms to a nurse, the ER doctor came into the room, sat down and said, "So, I understand you may be dealing with mastitis?" The first thing that came to mind was, "MOOOOO!" Again, I grew up on a farm and the only time I ever remember hearing the term mastitis was when my dad would say that some cow had mastitis. Being a nurse, I should have remembered that the technical term for breast infection is mastitis but nobody I know ever calls it that!!! And I'm sure if I would refer to it as that ("Yeah, I haven't been feeling too good...running a temp, aches and pains everywhere, I think I have mastitis.") I'm sure my friends and family, especially those who grew up on farms would probably all either respond with or feel like responding with a big, hearty, "MOOOOO!!!!" To make a long story short, after confirming that yes, I do have mastitis, I was prescribed an antibiotic and sent home with a wealth of information regarding mastitis!