Child Rearing is Exciting

Exciting, yes, but not always in a good way.  My kid's got something.  And I have no idea what it is!  Tuesday, after our Playgroup birthday party, Sean has some diarrhea, which came out of nowhere, but I blamed it on letting him lick some raw cupcake batter that morning.  Cuz after it was over, he was fine, and all was hunky dory with the world, except for my exhaustion.

Wednesday, both Trey and I really noticed that Sean had been scratching himself a lot lately - on two places on his torso, but there was no signs of redness, just his scratching.  He has a history of excema, so I added it to his list to discuss at his 2 year check up next week, and pulled out the hydrocortisone for some relief.  

Yesterday, all was good with the world.  Sean and I had oatmeal for breakfast, and he went gangbusters on the pecans I added - eating more than he ever has before, but he had eaten them before, so like everything else this week, I thought nothing of it.  We played all morning, Sean torturing the dog, rolling around on the carpet, acting like a madman 2 year old.  

Around 1:30, I notice that Sean has a beet-red goatee, with red bumps.  Yikes!  Pecans?  Dog?  Dried food on his face?  Not having any idea where it's coming from, I get a cool, wet washcloth and gently wipe off his face.  Within 15 minutes, I noticed that he's scratching incessantly at his neck, and getting irritable.  He climbs up onto my lap, and snuggles in - not like him in the middle of the afternoon, when he's usually fighting the urge to nap.  He keeps at his neck, and I notice his entire neck, from chin down to the top of his chest, is red and swollen with hives, and now I realize that he feels hot!

Panic Mode!  I get the thermometer and take his temp - 100.3.  Not high enough to usually call the doctor, but with the red rash, I'm not sitting at home to wonder.  Call the doc, they tell me to come straight in - and they tell me to come to a side-entry door, so as not to expose any other kids, so I'm really freaking out!  Neither Sean nor I are dressed for public, so I lay him down on my bed, so I can run around getting myself and him together.  And I see that he's laughing, now, and being playful again.  And I think to myself - this will be cleared up by the time I get there, won't it!

Sure enough, in the time it took to get dressed, drag-race to Lake St. Louis in the rain, the rash is all but gone, and he no longer has a fever!  This is all in less than hour!  Gina, the nurse practitioner, checks Sean out, and after hearing the week's history, decides it's most likely one of two things, though there's no way to really know.  With the diarrhea earlier in the week, maybe he has a virus, and this is just a few of the ways that he's working it out.  Nothing we can do.  Or with his history of excema, maybe he's experiencing an overload of irritation.  Again, nothing we can do.  She, nor I, think it's the pecans, because the symptoms showed up three hours after he ate them, and a food allergy (as I well know!) typically shows up within 10-15 minutes.

She tells me to get some Zyrtec, and keep Hydrocortisone on for the next five days, and afterwards, keep him well-lubed up to prevent the excema from flaring up.  By now, Sean's back to his normal self, though he's obviously sleepy and fighting it.  We drive home, and he starts coughing like crazy!  So WEIRD!  I skip Walgreens at this point, thinking it's best to just get him home and in bed for some rest, as this must be the weirdest virus I've ever seen.  It's 3:30 by the time we're back, and he goes straight to bed, no fighting.  And he has no rash at all at this point.

Flash-forward to 5:30, when Sean wakes up crying (unusual), so I go in to get him.  My Kid Is Swollen!  His face is puffy, his ears are beet-red, and his entire torso and groin is covered in red bumps!  I freak, of course, and hand him over to Trey as I run to Walgreens for that Zyrtec - yes, I'm kicking myself for not having made that stop already!  Trey and Sean take a bath/shower, and Sean is acting just fine - he's just Swollen!  

Within 30 minutes to an hour after taking the medicine, it's obvious that Sean's swelling is going down.  He never had any breathing problems, and actually, besides itching like crazy, wasn't acting like he felt bad.  This morning, his eye lids look a bit puffy, but absolutely no redness or swelling anywhere else.  No coughing - yet - and no fever or anything else.

WTF!?  It's like a mom's worst nightmare - something's wrong with your kid, and not even a health professional can tell you what.  The best you can do is treat the symptoms, and hope it doesn't get worse.  It's a horrible feeling.  And it certainly keeps life exciting!