First Posted: 2/25/2015
“Pie-rexia??” asked Mr. Amus. “Doc, last fall when Hypo wasn’t eating, you said he had ‘anorexia.’ You explained that was fancy doctor talk for ‘not eating.’ I knew he wasn’t eating when I brought him in. I think you charged me just to give me another word for ‘not eating.’”
“So, given my newfound knowledge of that medical jargon you’re so proud of, I’m guessing that if ‘ano-rexia’ means ‘not eating,’ then ‘pie-rexia’ means ‘eating of pie’?”
“Not exactly,” the veterinarian answered flatly. “Pyrexia means ‘fever.’ Hypo has a fever that is causing him to not feel good. Odds are that he picked up some sort of infection, but there are other causes of fever.”
“It’s kind of weird, though, Doc. His not feeling well seems to come and go. Sometimes he’s just laying around, and sometimes he gets up and acts almost normal.”
“His fever is most likely ‘remittent,’ Thal. That means it undulates, fluctuates, or just plain comes and goes throughout the day,” explained the bipedal dictionary.
“Have you ever noticed your kids when they have a fever or are not feeling well, Thal?” asked the doctor.
“Yeah sure, Doc. They drive me nuts! They say they’re not feeling well, so I lay them on the couch with a blanket and a puke bucket. Next thing I know, they’re sitting up on the floor digging in their toy box or playing normally. Why can’t they just lie still like I do all day and wait for the sickness to pass?”
“Did you ever ask yourself why you lay around all day, Thal? If you feel yucky all day, certainly you should rest until you regain your energy or strength. But if you feel okay, why shouldn’t you be up doing something? ‘Make hay when the sun shines’ is what my father always said.”
“I’m not suggesting you should be up making lunch or dinner or preparing any kind of food for anybody,” continued the public health advocate. “After all, you have a fever for a reason. Fever is the body’s response to some sort of inflammation. The cause of that inflammation might not be infectious; yet it could be something that is both infectious and contagious to other people. Therefore, it might not be wise to be preparing Christmas cookies, candy or dinner the day after having the flu.”
“Kids and pets may be on to something, Thal. They lay down when they are not feeling well. They get up, move around, and do things when they are feeling well. In many ways, I think that is what Mother Nature intended. It’s adults that may have things screwed up. We have it in our heads that we need to lay around for a day or three when we are feverish.”
“But Doc,” began Thal, “I love the attention my wife gives me on sick days. She waits on me hand and foot. She brings chicken noodle soup. And she lets me watch whatever I want to watch on TV. Just like my mom did when I was a kid.”
“Thal, you have been ‘sissified!’” claimed the doctor. “That’s not-so-doctor-talk for ‘you are a big old baby’!”
“You were wise to bring Hypo in today. We will run some bloodwork to look for the cause of his fever. We want to treat it as soon as we can, but we need to know what’s causing the fever. Prolonged fever can lead to dehydration and anorexia. Excessive fevers can lead swelling on the brain, bone marrow depression, and serious sickness or death.”
Today’s word bank includes: anorexia (not eating), pyrexia (fever), remittent/undulates/fluctuates (up and down in a wave-like pattern), bipedal (on two legs), and sissified. For bonus points: HypoThalAmus (the part of the brain that is the body’s thermostat, among other things).
