You Know What I Hate?

5:45pm pediatrician's appointments that end up encroaching on bedtime, that's what. Especially when you wait 90 minutes to see a doctor who pooh-poohs everything you say, does nothing except tell you to do what you're already doing, and then makes you wait another 15 minutes for your paperwork. I'm convinced that last wait would have been longer if the Beaner and I hadn't exited the exam room and plunked ourselves in front of the nurses' station, in full view of the doctor; she sort of gave a start when she finished her conversation with a nurse and saw us, reached for our paperwork (which had been sitting on the printer forever), signed a prescription, and handed the pages to us. GAH.

For the record, the Beaner is fine. We noticed he was warm the morning we left for Hawaii, and by the time we reached Chicago it was obvious he had a raging fever. We bought some Children's Motrin at a newsstand in the airport and dosed him every 4-6 hours with it (interval depended on when his temp seemed to be going back up). After a second day of fever we took him to a doc in Hawaii, who pronounced that one ear was infected and the other was on its way. The doc gave us Amoxicillin (which the Beaner also took the previous two times he's had ear infections).

On Monday night (this past Monday, more than a week after he started the antibiotics), the Beaner woke up screaming at about 11pm, and I was unable to console him for about 10-15 minutes. He didn't want to sit up, lie down, or let go of me. I asked him if he hurt, and he shook his head. I asked Al if anything unusual had happened that evening (I'd been out at hockey practice during the bath & bed routine), and he said the Beaner had had some bugbite-like bumps on him, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary.

I finally got the Beaner to lie down with me, and I noticed that he was scratching a bit before I dozed off. I ended up sleeping with him all night... and totally oversleeping in the morning. I didn't realize it until I brought him downstairs to find our bed made, Al gone, and the clock reading 9:40am. "Aura?" I called, and she responded from downstairs. I quickly got dressed for work while she fed the Beaner breakfast. At about 10:30 she called upstairs to ask if she should give the Beaner some of the medicine in the fridge. I thought, "oh crap, that's right—Al couldn't have given him his morning dose of medicine because the Beaner was still asleep," and went down to dose him. That's when Aura mentioned the rash, and I saw it for the first time.

What the Beaner had all over his chest and hips were hives. They weren't super fresh hives, but I put a little cortisone on him anyway, and then I went back upstairs. About an hour later, the Beaner finally consented to get dressed, and Aura informed me that the hives were now all over his back and down his legs. That's when I called the doctor to find out what to do. The nurse told me to give him Benydryl, which was totally logical; not sure why I hadn't thought of it (maybe because we don't have any? I take Zyrtec for my allergies...), and asked us to come in to see the doctor at 5:45pm. That's where the aforementioned fun began.

Right now we're all assuming that he had a reaction to the Amoxicillin, given that the hives developed (and worsened) after doses of the stuff. However, it *is* a little odd that he would have a reaction on day 10 of the medication, especially when he's had it before. My harebrained, half-witted idea is that maybe the medication became contaminated by a not-washed-well-enough medicine dropper, and that some new mold/bacteria/fungus/whatever grew in there, and *that's* what he had a reaction to. Either way, we've thrown out the Amoxicillin, and his chart now has a note about a suspected penecillin allergy.

After another dose of Benedryl at bedtime, the Beaner's hives are now no longer swollen and white-centered; instead, they look like the aftermath of a picked zit (or rather, about 100 of them): His chest, back, armpits, hips, and legs are covered by irregular red patches. Hopefully these will fade some more today, and he'll be fine again tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a prescription for the liquid form of Zyrtec, which I can employ if the hives return.

Posted by Lori in parenthood at 2:41 PM on March 14, 2007

Comments (2)

What an ordeal. I'm glad Beaner's on the mend. Looks like Hawaii was heavenly!

heidivoltmer [TypeKey Profile Page]:

I can't believe you waited 90 minutes! I start to get antsy after 30 minutes.

BTW - I love the new Spry accordion with the blog list in it. Great use of the widget!

Comments

What an ordeal. I'm glad Beaner's on the mend. Looks like Hawaii was heavenly!

Posted by: juliloquy at March 15, 2007 10:31 AM

I can't believe you waited 90 minutes! I start to get antsy after 30 minutes.

BTW - I love the new Spry accordion with the blog list in it. Great use of the widget!

Posted by: heidivoltmer [TypeKey Profile Page] at March 16, 2007 1:09 PM

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