WHAT a scare

njgal · February 25, 2009, 8:16pm

Oh my god, ambleeance

I can imagine how scary it is at that point when you have no idea what’s happening.

Here’s my scary story. A couple of years ago, when my older daughter was 4, her dad was out of town on work one weekend, we were still fairly new in this city (and state), and my 4 year old had a basic cold. So we were just painting that Saturday afternoon and killing time and after we were done, I decided to give the girls a bath. I noticed a weird looking rash on her back, thought it may be paint-related and got them ready. Within a few hours, I noticed more such rashes on her arms and legs and tummy. They were definitely not chicken pox, but were raised and red. So I called the doctor on call via our regular clinic and they said I should just watch and report back if she develops a fever. Then she started complaining of pain in her joints so I picked her up and she screamed. She said it hurt when her knees touched me. Oh man did I get a scare so I called the doctor back and he asked me to go to the ER. I rushed there and they did a whole bunch of tests on her. Meanwhile she continued to break out in rashes and now her knees and ankles were so swollen that she wouldn’t fit into her shoes. My husband casually called from out of town but I didn’t tell him anything and kept telling I’d call him back as the kids were cranky and were trying to sleep!

Eventually, the docs came back saying it’s a viral. This is her body’s response to this virus and that the only treatment is benadryl for the rash and ibuprofen for the inflammation round the clock. I was also asked to rub her with a cold pack for the itching and avoid scratching as that could flare the inflammation.

That was the hardest night for me as I had a 1 year old and this really sick 4 year old. She started getting better the very next day but was completely healed in 2 weeks.

When my husband returned on Sunday evening, he had no idea until my daughter herself told him about her exciting trip to the hospital…and when he tried carrying her, instead of getting comfort, she had tears of pain.

Aww poor baby! What a day/night! I hate waiting in the ER with two kids.