When my kids were babies I used to worry about them a lot -- the slightest fever, the smallest rash, every little snot. These things would keep me up at night praying like the dickens for their health and safety.

Almost 7 years after becoming a mother, it takes a lot to worry me healthwise with these kids. We've dealt with anaphyalxis, we've dealt with broken bones, we've dealt with glasses and allergies and scrapes and vomit. These things get handled in stride now.

And yet, I continue to worry about Cate. We're on day 8 of her fever. We've been in the doctor's office 3 times this week and spent about 3 hours today (Anchorage's most beautiful Saturday of the summer, I might add) taking blood, collecting urine, and zapping x-rays. Fevers of Unknown Origin (FUO) that have lasted this long are a bit frightful. Most likely, she has a virus. And in fact, one of her blood tests today suggested she's carrying a high viral load. That would be good news -- Cate can beat some virus no problem, even if it takes some time. But the other blood test suggested something infectious or imflamatory -- her SED test was 3x the normal rate. Sometimes the internet is a bad thing -- pointing out all the possible truly horrifying things that a high SED can suggest.

So, I'm praying that this FUO goes away soon. Or the urine culture shows up as a simple UTI. Nothing like this to turn you back to the days of praying like the dickens for the health and safety of your child.