Downtime is Not Always Relaxing

We are on our spring break.  Both Larry and I really needed this downtime and were looking forward to relaxing and taking Zane to various places.  Sunday Zane breaks out in hives.  Not the sissy hives that are just little bumps that are itchy. Not my son.  No, he breaks out in these huge, raised welts that are red around the outside and whitish in the center.  Otherwise he seems fine.  Larry wants to take him to the ER.  No, I say.  He's breathing fine, he doesn't have a fever and he is eating and drinking.  But then my dad says, well, could it be measles? 

Part of me says, "no, Zane was immunized against measles." 

Another part of me says "But YOU had chicken pox three times and you were supposed to have immunity."  Good point.

Still another part of me says "MY POOR BABY IS SICK!!! MUST DO SOMETHING!!!!"

These three voices yelled at each other in my head while my husband looks at me to make a decision.  He always does that.  He complains about my making decisions without consulting him, but when there's a crisis he immediately wants me to decide the course of action.  Whether this shows good thinking on his part depends on the result of our crisis.  Whatever--the two voices that were in favor of the ER won.

We drove all the way over to Stone Oak, about eleventy miles, to the children's hospital.  Gorgeous hospital, not a soul in sight.  Got in there pretty quickly.  Zane was running around exploring everything, like he always does.  He got checked in, and they put a bracelet on my wrist and one on his.  This brought back memories of when he was in the NICU, which weren't too unpleasant.  The nurse put us in a smaller exam room and closed the door. Zane was bouncing off the walls.  I had given him Benedryl earlier and apparently it made him a bit hyper. 

The doctor who came in to see Zane didn't impress me.  He treated us like we were from a special group home, and not in a good way.  The visit lasted a whopping five minutes, and I am sure that we will get a bill for 150$ for that.  He basically said that it was hives, it would last about seven to ten days, take Benedryl.  He did look in Zane's throat and listen to his heart.  Then he left.  An older woman rolled a computer into the room and took all of our insurance information and charged us 100$.   Basically my panic cost a hundred bucks.  Before we left a nurse showed up with a syringe of Benedryl, which Zane was not too happy about taking, since it tasted horrible.  Larry was able to get him to take it, and we went home.

Zane had a horrible night because the hives started itching. I got four hours of sleep. We had to get up early to see the early intervention specialist, who was coming to see Zane.  I noticed at that time that the welts were now spreading all over Zane's trunk and that they were purple in the center, although they weren't raised.  I called the pediatrician.  They finally called back in the afternoon and said to bring him in.  This doctor said that it was an allergic reaction, but more severe than hives.  (And actually, I had this exact same sort of rash all over my legs when I took penecillin, except I didn't have purple, I had very dark purple or black.  And was I itchy!--I told my doctor that I completely understood how someone might self-mutilate if they were trying to get some relief from the itching. )  But the treatment is the same.  Lots of Benedryl and ride the storm out.  He's not contagious, he just looks like he is.  Which might not be a bad thing at the zoo.

What did my son have an allergic reaction to? Amy's Organic Bunny Fruit Snacks, which I bought because I thought they would be better for him.