Oh where to begin... I guess from the beginning! Yesterday afternoon I noticed that Emily had some hives/bites inside her right elbow. Since we had spent a good portion of the day outside I chalked it up to a bug bite - perhaps a spider since there was a little cluster. After dinner and bath there were more on her wrists, arms, and torso. Now I knew they were hives but they didn't seem very bad and I thought that she must be having a reaction to the soap from washing the car. After all, the hives were in all the spots she had been covered with soapy water and hadn't really been washed off until bath. She wasn't complaining so I left it alone for the night. During the night she whimpered a few times but nothing really unusual to cause alarm.
Then, this morning when she got out of bed she was limping. It seemed that her left foot was bothering her but no matter where I poked she didn't have much of a reaction so I figured she had strained something inside during a fall yesterday afternoon and wasn't really worried. I did notice that her hives had spread some more and so when I showed Paul we noticed that both of her knees and ankles were swollen! She was acting normally, minus the limp, and ate a really good breakfast, but because of the swelling I wasn't comfortable just giving her Benadryl and I called the doctor. As we waited for the return call we took some pictures...
(Emily was also complaining about being cold which she NEVER complains about)
These pictures were all taken around 9 in the morning and after talking to the doctor we decided to head over to the urgent care - about 10AM. The doctor said we could go today or tomorrow based on what I was telling her and we did hesitate because she assured us it would be crowded with a lot of sick kids - flu, etc. but I am SO glad we went because things went downhill FAST! As we waited in the hallway there were a few smiles...
but as the minutes passed Emily's normal happy, energetic personality was disappearing. She wasn't moving if she didn't have to and any movements of her limbs - now arms too - were labored.
The hives were spreading to her face, and her cheeks and ears were getting very red.
We made it into the room to see the doctor at 11:15 and Emily was in a lot of pain and was VERY uncomfortable as Daddy undressed her.
The clothes had been hiding the fact that the hives were also growing and spreading.
Emily cried if she was touched and cried as she scratched her inner thigh. It was clear that even though she didn't know what was going on, she sure didn't like it!
The doctor was very confident that this was an allergic reaction (*
serum sickness) to the amoxicillin she just finished taking on Saturday and did contemplate sending us to the emergency room when she saw just how miserable Emily was. At one point the doctor made her stand on her own and asked her to take a step. Emily did not move a muscle and just screamed in agony. The doctor reconsidered the ER because we would be there for so long and would risk getting the flu or something else and in the end, the test results really wouldn't change her treatment anyway. So, Emily was given a 10 day prescription for steroids and we are to get in to see our doctor tomorrow if she hasn't improved or Tuesday/Wednesday if she has. The doctor also mentioned that "improvement" is a relative term and that she could be suffering for a week or two. NO!!
Getting Emily into her car seat and back out again was very painful (for all of us) and when we got home she went down for a nap without issue (aside from the cries as we undressed and re-dressed her). She slept for about two hours waking up a few times whimpering but was unable to move her body to sit up, she just moved her head from side to side and told me she wasn't ready to get up. When she did finally wake up and want to get out of bed I had to lift her out and she quickly asked for Daddy to hold her in this bucket seat type hold.
The swelling in her ankles wasn't any better...
and she wouldn't attempt to walk - even getting her into this position on the couch was tough. She is just miserable - it is breaking out hearts.
But we are confident that all will be well soon enough. She started her steroids after nap and is certainly better than before the Motrin dosage at the doctor's office. The key will be keeping up with the meds so she doesn't have time in between for all of the pain to come back.
She is also happy to be watching all kinds of movies and having far more binky and lovey time than EVER before!!
*Serum sickness is a reaction similar to an allergy. Specifically, it is an immune system reaction to certain medications, injected proteins used to treat immune conditions, or antiserum, the liquid part of blood that contains antibodies that help protect against infectious or poisonous substances.
During serum sickness, the immune system misidentifies a protein in antiserum as a potentially harmful substance (antigen). The result is a faulty immune system response that attacks the antiserum, causing inflammation and other symptoms.
Unlike other drug allergies, which occur very soon after receiving the medication for the second (or subsequent) time, serum sickness develops 7 - 21 days after the first exposure to a medication.
https://health.google.com/health/ref/Serum+sickness
