After Ryanne was sick all day, I finally took her to the Madigan ER at 3 am Sunday night/Monday morning when her temperature hit 104, in spite of dosing her alternately with Tylenol and ibuprofen. I arrived at check in, exhausted and dragging a sick toddler. The lady asked me her symptoms. "Well," I said, "she has a high fever, she has been congested the past few days, and she seems a little lethargic." "Lethargic means unconsious," the crabby lady snaps at me. "Is she unconscious?" Well, obviously she is right in front of you and she is not unconscious. At this point I am torn. In my imaginary world, I am saying, look you effing witch. I know what lethargic means and it isn't necessarily unconscious, and my hand is smacking her face and asking if she really think is I am in the mood for her semantics. But I don't want Ry's chart to get "lost" so I smile sweetly and say, "She seems listless and apathetic." So after we got home I looked up lethargy/lethargic.
Lethargy: 1. Abnormal drowsiness, stupor. 2. A state of indifference.
lethargic: inert, sluggish, indifferent; see lazy 1, listless 1.

Obviously this is a very sick child right here. As you can see she had fully recovered by the end of the day.