Jack's rash started getting worse- much, much worse- on Monday. On Tuesday I had planned to take myself to the doctor because I was certain I had the flu, but instead I took Jack to the minor ER. I was truly afraid he was going to have some sort of anaphylactic reaction and stop breathing because his body was swollen. The ER doctor showed me a picture of a rash called Erythema Multiforme and said it would go away on its own. I declined bloodwork because I knew that we had a dermatologist appointment on Thursday and that he'd want to do bloodwork then.
Wednesday he started to look worse, but still he was acting pretty normally.
Thursday was the day of our appointment, and the first day he started acting sick. He had a slightly elevated temperature and "sick eyes" as we call them, was acting lethargic, and took a 3-hour morning nap! When we arrived at the dermatologist's office that afternoon he took one look at Jack and immediately told me that he should go to Texas Children's Hospital to see a pediatric dermatologist, who happened to be someone he'd gone to med school with. He talked to the other doctor and they decided to put him on 1/2 teaspoon of children's Zyrtec, to see if it would respond to that. (It didn't respond to Allergra, which is why we were sent to the dermatologist in the first place.) Within 30 minutes of that first dose of Zyrtec, he was starting to clear up! I'll mean, he still looked pretty bad, but you could definitely tell there had been a change.
Friday morning my mom and I headed downtown to TCH to meet with the pediatric dermatologist. Memories of Beth's biopsy flooded my memory as we entered the hospital and I remembered carrying my sick girl through those same halls.
The dermatologist was very nice, seemed very knowledgeable and very intelligent. I had asked so many friends to pray that we had a wise and compassionate doctor and I truly feel like those prayers were answered! We talked for quite awhile and she told me she had no doubt in her mind that his rash was due to a virus. My most hated phrase, our initial diagnosis! However, this time I had to believe her. She truly heard me out, gave me the opportunity to ask lots of questions (especially relating to food allergies), and agreed to do bloodwork for my peace of mind. (The bloodwork was all normal, I found out this afternoon).
I feel at peace now. Though his rash isn't completely gone yet, it looks much better thanks no doubt to the Zyrtec he takes daily. But I've prayed, I've asked others to pray, and I have to surrender. So for now we won't consult an allergist, and I will stop googling "baby red annular rash!"
In related news, Jack signed "more" today and I am sooo proud! I'm freaking out a little that his first birthday is already next month! Some days he seems so much like my baby, and other days I can't get over how old he seems. He's not too close to walking yet, since he's such a fast crawler I bet he thinks why bother? Ha!
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