Holy Hives!

**Remember how I said to remember the whole strep throat/amoxicillin deal from the previous post... here's the rest of the story***

After spending 10 days with the Thomson side in IL we headed to Washington to spend 2 weeks with the DeBoer side for Andrea's wedding. We haven't spent much time in Lynden since getting married (like 10 days, total, in 6 years) so we were looking forward to being back in Matt's hometown, relaxing with family and helping with the wedding preparations.

At some point during the flight from Chicago to Seattle we noticed that Luke appeared to have a lot of red dots all over his arms and legs. He had been playing outside at my parent's house the night before so I just chalked it up to mosquito bites. As time went on, however, we realized that these were no mosquito bites but hives, clearly an allergic reaction to something. We were racking our brains trying to think of what he may have ingested or been exposed to that may have caused this. I called his pediatrician while waiting for our bags at baggage claim and was told to give him Benadryl. So we stopped at a pharmacy and gave Luke a dose of Benadryl on the road... and another dose after dinner... and another dose before bed... it wasn't working. In fact, things seemed to be getting worse. He was noticeably uncomfortable and itchy and his lips and hands were swollen. So, I called the doctor again. He told me to up the dose and if things continued to get worse and his mouth kept swelling we'd have to take him in to be seen.

'mosquito-bite' hives - first night in at Grammie's house

Uncomfortable but putting on a happy face

The next morning thing were worse so we took Luke into see a doctor at Lynden Family Medicine. I must say, the doctor we saw was awesome. He was so nice and understanding, actually taking the time to sit and talk with us and really listen to all our concerns, etc. Since we weren't home and able to see our normal pediatrician, it was such a comfort to have a caring, understanding doctor see Luke.

We told this doctor that Luke had recently been diagnosed with strep and was on his 8th day of amoxicillin and that I am allergic to amoxicillin, so that could possibly be contributing to his hives. He told us that 'old-school doctors' used to have trouble diagnosing strep vs. mono. They would prescribe amoxicillin or some other antibiotic and if the patient didn't break out in hives, it was strep. If they did break out in hives (even after several days on the meds), it was mono. So he ordered a blood test. Ding, ding, ding... Luke had mono! How and where a 2-year-old got mono is beyond me but the next few days were absolutely miserable. We, obviously, stopped the amoxicillin and continued giving him Benadryl, alternating Motrin and Tylenol and pretty much just laid on the couch watching movies and resting.

Poor Baby!

After 2 days, Luke's hives were still horrible and he appeared to be in such discomfort that I called the doctor again. I'm talking, the kid, who is normally extremely active and doesn't want to be held/cuddled for long, would not move any body part except his eyes. He would wince and cry when we moved him at all. It broke my heart! The doctor (again, I have to sing his praises) agreed to prescribe him prednosone, a steroid, to help with the swelling and itching of the hives. Thank the Lord, this worked. By the time Luke had the steroid in his system for 24 hours, the hives were going down and he was getting back to his active, happy self.

I hated the fact that he was sick and so uncomfortable but on the upside, I got lots of quality cuddle time.

Still puffy (part from the hives, part probably from the steroid) but getting better! Ready to play ball, hives or no hives, that's the Luke we know and love :)

Proof that he made a full recovery ~ just 3 days after starting the steroid Luke was splashing in the creek, playing at the park, and wearing us out. :)