Tales of Holiday Cheer, Volume 3 (and hopefully, last)

So, my aunt and uncle are in town, considering a move to Phoenix. I should point out that you have been acting out-of-sorts for at least a week now. We went to dinner and you hardly ate. You haven't been eating much with one freakish exception Monday night when you ate THREE bowls of spaghetti in a matter of minutes. Last evening, we were set to all go out to dinner together with the relatives. Grandma picked you up from daycare. I called on my way home to confirm the time and place of dinner when she notified me that you had a 102 fever and it was very possible our little family would not be joining in the dining festivities. I have a vicious cough myself or I might have gone to dinner and let Daddy watch you for a while. It's a darned good thing I didn't.

When I came home, I noticed you just looked sick, period. I settled in a bit and gave you some Motrin to fight the fever. We rested on the couch for a few minutes as I tried to get you comfy on me to sleep it off for a bit. You rested, but suddenly sat up and started scratching the right side of your chest below your arm. I've never seen you scratch. Curious, I peered through the armhole on your onesie... HIVES! I took you to your room and stripped you and found hives in various places all over your body. And your eyes were getting red. We called the nurse line and waited for a nurse to call us back. Of course, I jumped on the internet and checked webmd.com and askdrsears.com (latter much more helpful this time) for advice. All of it said Benadryl and wait it out.

By the time the on-call nurse called back and we'd already talked to Grandma Carol-Ann, your eyes were swelling, more and more all the time. We were told to call 911. Fortunately, we're closer to the hospital than an ambulance is to us, really, so we drove you there. You fell asleep in the car, sounding somewhat raspy (you always do when you sleep, though...), and by the time we got there your lips were swollen.

We waited for a nurse to see us in the PACKED standing-room ER, and when she did we were taken straight back to Triage. A thorough checking-out and confirmation that we'd done the right thing with both the Benadryl and the visit to ER, and we were shown to an observation room for a planned 4-6 hour observation wait. They gave you another Benadryl shot, and we got comfy and took turns holding you while you slept. But nothing really changed. About 3 hours later, we were told you were being admitted. You weren't responding and even though your breathing was fine, there was worry that could change.

That was last night. They finally got you in a room (with one chair - meaning only one parent could stay) around 11:30 p.m. I waited a while and we made our plans and I called Uncle Mason to come get me and bring me home.

Now I'm at work and thriving on no sleep and the occasional call from Daddy on your (lack of) progress. I'm racking my brain thinking of all the possibilities, but I just don't know. Nothing is changing and I worry.

So, in under two weeks, we've had crisis after crisis, ER after Urgent Care after ER. I've really frankly had enough. I'm ready for 2005.