You Give Me FEVER

My kids could come running up to me with a bone sticking out of their arm, and I would react much more calmly than I do if they have a fever.  Being a student in the medical field I have read extensively about fever and I know the physiological causes.  Teachers, doctors and nurses have reassured my research with the details of their experiences, yet despite all this knowledge if I see a temp above 100° I freak!!

If you aren't as informed about fever please let me enlighten you to what I know.  Maybe it will help you out if you are a hypo like me.. or even if you aren't.

Fever is usually the body's response to infection.  I say usually because we all know that everyone is different and some people (like my husband, and thanks to genetics my kids too) can just randomly spike a fever, and be fine within a few hours. Anyways, when your body has an infection white blood cells go to work to fight this infection off.  The hypothalamus (located in your brain) is like your body's thermostat, it will elevate your core temperature to make the environment less favorable for bacteria to grow and flourish.  That is the short of it, and instead of getting super physiological and boring on you.. lets just stop there.

Back to the hypochondriacs perspective, I have to remind myself every time that I am in a panic: the fever is HELPING my kids little bodies, NOT HURTING them.  This is the outlook that our pediatric nurse always seems to push on me when I call her obviously sounding a bit frazzled.. yet although I know this.. the sight of 102° on that ear scan sends shivers down my spine and warrants immediate "cool down intervention".  Here's what I do.. cool water washcloths on the forehead, back of the neck, wrists and ankles.  Why? I find that cooling these areas has a direct effect on bringing overall temperature down.  I also immediately administer ibuprofen, unless there is some sort of stomach bug along with the fever, in which case I go for acetaminophen because its gentle on the belly.  Thankfully these methods are usually quite effective.  

Now let me explain to you what freaks me out..

First, an extremely high fever (greater than 105°) for an extended amount of time can cause damage to the brain, seizures and even death. 
Second, fever is something purely physical in that there isn't much you can do to stop it.  You can set a broken bone, put a band-aid on a cut, even have surgery to repair your appendix... but with fever there are no guarantees.

So for now, I have to take comfort in my research and accept that fever is pretty much out of my control, however the only thing that takes the knot out of my stomach is seeing that thermometer saying "98.6°"!