Obviously I love my son. If I didn't adore my son (and my daughter, too, but this post is all about my boy) to bits and pieces, I wouldn't have the patience to be at home with him every single day.
Today I was reminded, several times, that boys will constantly, consistently, and commonly do the following things:
1. Make you love them.
2. Make you want to hate them.
3. Make you feel so bad for them that you start back at #1 and start the cycle all over again.
M1 has been getting immunotherapy shots for his dust mite allergy for several months now. A couple months ago we went in for a check-up and they told us that he was getting really close to his maintenance dose and that we'd probably be there by summer... as long as he didn't have any major reactions.
Well, I'll be darned if the very next week he didn't have a small reaction - just a swelling the size of a quarter, but it was the biggest reaction to date. They repeated the dose the following week, the reaction didn't repeat, and so they kept going. No more reactions. Until today. Today he got his shot at 8:42 a.m. We waited the required half-hour, had it checked, and left because while there was a little swelling (and quite a bit of reported pain), there was no systemic reaction. Ice, ibuprofen, and keep an eye on it, right? Sure. I felt bad for the lil' dude, because clearly he was in pain, so it was a good thing that we had a fairly easy day of school planned. He got through everything and I fixed him lunch, and honestly I forgot about his arm because he hadn't said anything in a couple of hours.
After lunch, he asked to go outside until it was time to get ready for swim, and he asked so politely and calmly that I couldn't tell him no (not that I would have, anyway... a lot of times he begs for electronics, but he has lost all electronics privileges for the foreseeable future because he took his Fire out of my room, where it had been confiscated because I caught him on it in the middle of the night - again - and took it to his room - again in the middle of the night - and then lied to me flat-out when I caught him trying to sneak it back in). So outside he went. Adorable little dude.
Adorable little dude who had swiped an entire bloody bag of beef jerky. I caught the little bugger chowing down as fast as he could when I went out to the garage a few minutes later to take out some recycling and give him a 15-minute warning. REALLY??? He knows good and well that all he has to do to get food is tell me he's hungry. I will find something. And if I don't have any good ideas, he's totally allowed to suggest things - like beef jerky - and I'll say yes. So that really irritated me and I ordered him in the house and told him no more snacks for the rest of the day. (I also found a bag of mints he'd hidden in the van for 'later,' meaning he wanted to devour them while M2 was in her violin lesson.)
GAH. After he got back in the house, I asked him to go ahead and get ready for swim, and he did so... and when he came back out of his room, I caught a glimpse of his arm.
I felt AWFUL. It was so swollen it looked like there was a tennis ball tucked into the side of his arm. It was red, warm to touch, and he said it hurt like crazy. I gave him more ibuprofen and told him that we would skip swim, but he insisted on going. I let him, but I made sure the coach knew what was going on. Coach agreed to keep an eye on him and also talked to M1 about his own immunotherapy experience (have I mentioned the swim coach is allergic to chlorine?). He made it through practice well enough.
We picked up M2 and took her to violin, and I asked M1 to come in so I could keep an eye on him (and to make sure he wasn't going to swipe the remaining mints I had in the car). He brought in his latest reading book, White Fang, but soon abandoned it to read the violin teacher's copy of a Calvin and Hobbes book. He was soon giggling hysterically, trying to stay quiet but failing miserably as he kept pointing to various strips and whispering, "THAT'S ME!!!"
Yes. Yes, son, it is. I love you to bits. I wouldn't know what to do without you, and I know one day I'll really miss all the little things that drive me nuts!
Showing posts with label allergies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allergies. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Thwarted
Well, I was *going* to publish a lovely video of my son's latest robotic creation, but the photo card and the printer and the network are conspiring against me and my computer. They refuse to let me copy the file so I can edit and upload it.
SO, in order to show them who's boss around here, I'm writing a blog post about something completely different: M1 and his allergy testing results.
THE GOOD NEWS: He is allergic to precisely four things, two of which are fairly minor allergies to seasonal molds... nothing that we can't avoid or tolerate.
THE BAD NEWS: The other two things he's allergic to are species of dust mites, and those allergies are, in clinical terms, "severe." He reacted more strongly to either dust mite allergen than he did to a straight dose of histamine (the thing that makes your body allergic to anything). The doctor said that she'd rank his allergic reaction to dust mites as a 4+/5... and she doesn't give 5s.
So now Oz and M1 and I get to decide what to do. We could go the immunotherapy route, which we're considering. M1 doesn't want to get a shot in his arm every week, which I can understand, so I'm leaving that one up to him. Oz and I, of course, get to discuss the tougher decisions like A: ripping out all the carpet in our nearly-50-year-old house (ain't gonna happen because... well, see option B) or B: buying a house that doesn't have carpet and has two bathrooms and a fireplace and an office and a specific area to homeschool (also not going to happen, as much as I'd like it to). My vacuum cleaner is on its last legs, so my Christmas present this year is likely to be a Dyson Animal that I'll use perhaps a little more regularly than I've been using its Bissell predecessor that currently sounds like a lion with 'roid rage.
All in all, though, the results were a lot better than I expected. M1 and I were extremely glad that none of our pets made the list, and the doctor and I were both surprised that he didn't show any reactions to outdoor allergens. For now, we just keep doing what we've been doing and head back in six months for an asthma followup.
Assuming I can get technology to agree with me, there will be a video tomorrow - stay tuned!
SO, in order to show them who's boss around here, I'm writing a blog post about something completely different: M1 and his allergy testing results.
THE GOOD NEWS: He is allergic to precisely four things, two of which are fairly minor allergies to seasonal molds... nothing that we can't avoid or tolerate.
THE BAD NEWS: The other two things he's allergic to are species of dust mites, and those allergies are, in clinical terms, "severe." He reacted more strongly to either dust mite allergen than he did to a straight dose of histamine (the thing that makes your body allergic to anything). The doctor said that she'd rank his allergic reaction to dust mites as a 4+/5... and she doesn't give 5s.
So now Oz and M1 and I get to decide what to do. We could go the immunotherapy route, which we're considering. M1 doesn't want to get a shot in his arm every week, which I can understand, so I'm leaving that one up to him. Oz and I, of course, get to discuss the tougher decisions like A: ripping out all the carpet in our nearly-50-year-old house (ain't gonna happen because... well, see option B) or B: buying a house that doesn't have carpet and has two bathrooms and a fireplace and an office and a specific area to homeschool (also not going to happen, as much as I'd like it to). My vacuum cleaner is on its last legs, so my Christmas present this year is likely to be a Dyson Animal that I'll use perhaps a little more regularly than I've been using its Bissell predecessor that currently sounds like a lion with 'roid rage.
All in all, though, the results were a lot better than I expected. M1 and I were extremely glad that none of our pets made the list, and the doctor and I were both surprised that he didn't show any reactions to outdoor allergens. For now, we just keep doing what we've been doing and head back in six months for an asthma followup.
Assuming I can get technology to agree with me, there will be a video tomorrow - stay tuned!
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Oh, the Misery
My poor boy. I'll post some wonderful things about him tomorrow, but tonight I'm throwing him a pity party. This is not to neglect the girl, who is in her own special realm of reality and has been alternating between insanely happy and scarily despondent for the past few weeks, but the boy gets his own post tonight.
He is miserable.
M1 has had allergy problems since he was tiny. It started with eczema, which isn't an allergy per se but can indicate an inclination to them. By the age of 3, he was having regular sinus infections, and all the rinses in the world weren't enough to alleviate his misery, so we had to use antibiotics (and their other half, probiotics) to get the infections under control. We started him on Zyrtec to reduce his histamine response. As long as he was on that, he did okay, but I hated giving him a pill every single day, so sometimes I'd try to give him breaks. Inevitably, we'd wind up back at the doctor's office.
When he was five, he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. To paraphrase his ENT, they were gross. This helped his eczema and sleep patterns and some behavioral issues since he was able to breathe more easily, but it didn't help the sinus trouble. He also developed asthma triggered by cold, dry weather.
About two years ago, in the dead of winter, he developed a rash after being outside. *I* thought he must have been coming down with something, but when I braved the incoming sleet and hauled him to the urgent care center, they chalked it up to 'virus' and sent me home. Sure enough, the rash disappeared by evening. In summer, it reappeared at random intervals, like when we were having a Fourth of July party and he was being pelted with water balloons and running around in the sprinkler. At that point, I thought he must have had a grass allergy and began to try to wonder how on earth one deals with a grass allergy in an overactive 6-year-old when one lives in the middle of the country in an area well-known for being HORRIBLE for allergy sufferers.
Winter arrived and killed all the grass, but the hives persisted in appearing. I began to wonder if, in fact, my little boy was allergic to cold, not grass. My hypothesis was seemingly confirmed when we had a really warm day in spring and he hived up the instant we walked into the chilly grocery store. A few months ago, he developed these overblown, nasty-looking things and said they itched like crazy. I already knew that there was little to do for hives, but he'd never complained of itching before, so back to the pediatrician we went. We came home with antibiotics, which both helped and confused me as to why they helped. The pediatrician also suggested taking a daily Pepcid to up his body's histamine blocking abilities. It was too much. I asked for a referral to an allergist and got one.
We saw the allergist about two weeks ago. She agreed that it sounded like M1 had cold urticaria (a fancy name for hives) and made sure that I was carrying an EpiPen, which I do, since patients with cold urticaria can have an almost anaphylactic response to hives developing quickly and pulling all the body's energy away from vital organs. She told me that people who develop hives can also develop them whenever they're fighting an infection. That was what she suspected had happened when M1 looked and felt so awful. She then asked if M1 had ever had allergy testing done.
*sigh*
He had done a blood draw when he was four or five that showed a massive allergy to dust mites, but I'd been pretty diligent about taking care of the house since then - special pillow, mattress cover, HEPA vacuum used on a regular basis, air filters changed regularly, stuffed animals kept in a plastic container, etc. Oz and I even purchased him a separate HEPA air filter for his room after the Big Hive Incident.
Yet even on the daily Pepcid and Zyrtec, M1 is still sniffly. His nose still itches. The hives have pretty well stopped appearing, but if I forget to change the filters or if he steps into a dusty environment, M1 will have a sneezing fit. We still have to watch his asthma in cold weather, and I carry a rescue inhaler alongside the EpiPen. He's 8 - almost 9 - now. Developmentally there's a huge difference between 5 and 8, and it appears that his allergies have significantly worsened over the past couple of years.
As much as I had hoped to avoid it, allergy testing has become necessary. The doctor kindly explained the different techniques of allergy testing to M1, and he opted for the scratch test over redoing the blood test. We set up the testing date. Then the doctor gave me the pre-test instructions... including stopping all antihistamines one week prior to testing.
M1 has been off of his Zyrtec and Pepcid since Tuesday. He had been doing okay, but yesterday I noticed that his face was looking blotchy. He began complaining about his legs, too, and today they began to get spotty. I'm trying to keep him from scratching, but it's nearly involuntary so it's almost impossible to stop him. I don't think I can give him hydrocortisone lotion, but I'm using calamine in the hope that it won't mess with anything. I'm encouraging him to stay in his room with the door shut as much as possible to try to avoid all the airborne allergens that may be in the rest of the house, but again... he's 8 and he's active. I can't just shut him in a bubble!
He's asleep now, but Tuesday morning can't get here fast enough.
He is miserable.
M1 has had allergy problems since he was tiny. It started with eczema, which isn't an allergy per se but can indicate an inclination to them. By the age of 3, he was having regular sinus infections, and all the rinses in the world weren't enough to alleviate his misery, so we had to use antibiotics (and their other half, probiotics) to get the infections under control. We started him on Zyrtec to reduce his histamine response. As long as he was on that, he did okay, but I hated giving him a pill every single day, so sometimes I'd try to give him breaks. Inevitably, we'd wind up back at the doctor's office.
When he was five, he had his tonsils and adenoids removed. To paraphrase his ENT, they were gross. This helped his eczema and sleep patterns and some behavioral issues since he was able to breathe more easily, but it didn't help the sinus trouble. He also developed asthma triggered by cold, dry weather.
About two years ago, in the dead of winter, he developed a rash after being outside. *I* thought he must have been coming down with something, but when I braved the incoming sleet and hauled him to the urgent care center, they chalked it up to 'virus' and sent me home. Sure enough, the rash disappeared by evening. In summer, it reappeared at random intervals, like when we were having a Fourth of July party and he was being pelted with water balloons and running around in the sprinkler. At that point, I thought he must have had a grass allergy and began to try to wonder how on earth one deals with a grass allergy in an overactive 6-year-old when one lives in the middle of the country in an area well-known for being HORRIBLE for allergy sufferers.
Winter arrived and killed all the grass, but the hives persisted in appearing. I began to wonder if, in fact, my little boy was allergic to cold, not grass. My hypothesis was seemingly confirmed when we had a really warm day in spring and he hived up the instant we walked into the chilly grocery store. A few months ago, he developed these overblown, nasty-looking things and said they itched like crazy. I already knew that there was little to do for hives, but he'd never complained of itching before, so back to the pediatrician we went. We came home with antibiotics, which both helped and confused me as to why they helped. The pediatrician also suggested taking a daily Pepcid to up his body's histamine blocking abilities. It was too much. I asked for a referral to an allergist and got one.
We saw the allergist about two weeks ago. She agreed that it sounded like M1 had cold urticaria (a fancy name for hives) and made sure that I was carrying an EpiPen, which I do, since patients with cold urticaria can have an almost anaphylactic response to hives developing quickly and pulling all the body's energy away from vital organs. She told me that people who develop hives can also develop them whenever they're fighting an infection. That was what she suspected had happened when M1 looked and felt so awful. She then asked if M1 had ever had allergy testing done.
*sigh*
He had done a blood draw when he was four or five that showed a massive allergy to dust mites, but I'd been pretty diligent about taking care of the house since then - special pillow, mattress cover, HEPA vacuum used on a regular basis, air filters changed regularly, stuffed animals kept in a plastic container, etc. Oz and I even purchased him a separate HEPA air filter for his room after the Big Hive Incident.
Yet even on the daily Pepcid and Zyrtec, M1 is still sniffly. His nose still itches. The hives have pretty well stopped appearing, but if I forget to change the filters or if he steps into a dusty environment, M1 will have a sneezing fit. We still have to watch his asthma in cold weather, and I carry a rescue inhaler alongside the EpiPen. He's 8 - almost 9 - now. Developmentally there's a huge difference between 5 and 8, and it appears that his allergies have significantly worsened over the past couple of years.
As much as I had hoped to avoid it, allergy testing has become necessary. The doctor kindly explained the different techniques of allergy testing to M1, and he opted for the scratch test over redoing the blood test. We set up the testing date. Then the doctor gave me the pre-test instructions... including stopping all antihistamines one week prior to testing.
M1 has been off of his Zyrtec and Pepcid since Tuesday. He had been doing okay, but yesterday I noticed that his face was looking blotchy. He began complaining about his legs, too, and today they began to get spotty. I'm trying to keep him from scratching, but it's nearly involuntary so it's almost impossible to stop him. I don't think I can give him hydrocortisone lotion, but I'm using calamine in the hope that it won't mess with anything. I'm encouraging him to stay in his room with the door shut as much as possible to try to avoid all the airborne allergens that may be in the rest of the house, but again... he's 8 and he's active. I can't just shut him in a bubble!
He's asleep now, but Tuesday morning can't get here fast enough.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
More Light Reading
Well, it's not "tomorrow," but I'm finally getting around to this. It's been a long week. Let me start with some of the books that I started reading for M1 when I first learned he had Asperger's. Ironically, I never worried about his ADHD and don't have a single book relating to that. For some reason, I've never doubted my ability to raise a child with ADHD... it's the Asperger's that gets me.
This is to Asperger's syndrome what "The Bipolar Child" is to bipolar disorder. It's an amazing resource, and it's as useful for adults with Asperger's as it is to parents of children with the disorder. However, it wasn't very helpful for M1. So I got a couple books for him: First this one
and more recently,
The first one is written by a boy with Asperger's. M1 really enjoyed it and was thrilled to learn that there really are other kids out there who understand what he feels and what it's like to live with the way he thinks. The second book is a workbook that he and I are working through together. It helps both of us. He gains insight into the way he reacts to the world, and I gain insight into ways to help him. He can't wait to finish it and show it to all his relatives so they can help him when he gets frustrated.
That's all we have for his Asperger's, but since he's been struggling with his allergies this summer, I purchased the Kindle version of this book:
I'm not done reading it yet (I'm only reading it during swim sessions), but so far, it's been quite enlightening. It's breaking down the biological aspects of allergies and asthma, what the short- and long-term effects are, and - once I get there - will discuss treatment. I know there are a million different books on these subjects, but I chose this one because I wanted to start at the beginning... the hows and whys and understand what a treatment needs to do to get rid of the cause rather than just the symptoms.
Oh, and just for good measure, one last book:
Because all kids need to have fun. And some days, so do their mamas.
Enjoy your weekend... and stay cool!
This is to Asperger's syndrome what "The Bipolar Child" is to bipolar disorder. It's an amazing resource, and it's as useful for adults with Asperger's as it is to parents of children with the disorder. However, it wasn't very helpful for M1. So I got a couple books for him: First this one
The first one is written by a boy with Asperger's. M1 really enjoyed it and was thrilled to learn that there really are other kids out there who understand what he feels and what it's like to live with the way he thinks. The second book is a workbook that he and I are working through together. It helps both of us. He gains insight into the way he reacts to the world, and I gain insight into ways to help him. He can't wait to finish it and show it to all his relatives so they can help him when he gets frustrated.
That's all we have for his Asperger's, but since he's been struggling with his allergies this summer, I purchased the Kindle version of this book:
I'm not done reading it yet (I'm only reading it during swim sessions), but so far, it's been quite enlightening. It's breaking down the biological aspects of allergies and asthma, what the short- and long-term effects are, and - once I get there - will discuss treatment. I know there are a million different books on these subjects, but I chose this one because I wanted to start at the beginning... the hows and whys and understand what a treatment needs to do to get rid of the cause rather than just the symptoms.
Oh, and just for good measure, one last book:
Because all kids need to have fun. And some days, so do their mamas.
Enjoy your weekend... and stay cool!
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Surprises - The Good Sort
I suppose it's only fair that when Mondays kick you - repeatedly - when you're down, the rest of the week feels sorry for you and treats you a little more kindly. Now that I'm safely ensconced in Thursday, I say to Monday, "PTHTHTHTTHTHTH!!!"
I'm sure Monday will get its revenge next week, though maybe since it's Independence Day, I'll get a break.
HA.
Aaaaanyway. This week has not been as horrible as it looked to be when it first began. Thank heaven. I wasn't entirely sure I was going to survive at first.
The Z-Pak that M1's pediatrician prescribed has actually helped his hives quite a bit. He now generally looks like he has a weird case of chicken pox rather than the mumps, and he's stopped wheezing and complaining of stomach and chest pain. The allergist's scheduler just called, and we have a tentative consult in early August, though they'll try to get us in sooner if there are cancellations.
M2's mood has vastly improved over last week. Is she still having her difficult moments? Sure, but she's 6. It's what they do. The great thing is that we're not having entire days where she's pouting or crying or screaming or hitting or destroying or simply refusing to move/cooperate/speak. We visited the therapist for the first time today, too. M2 and I both really like her. She had already reviewed the file (a bonus of her being in the same building as M2's psychiatrist) and had some questions. M2 didn't really want to talk other than to offer a couple of random anecdotes, but the office was set up beautifully so that M2 was still able to communicate by writing on a whiteboard or making drawings. Our focus for now is going to be M2's anxiety, since she definitely has, at the very least, separation anxiety and the Lexapro EPIC FAIL proved that medication isn't an option to treat it... EVER. We'll go weekly until school starts in early August, and then we'll see beyond that. Our first assignment was to make 'mailboxes' for everyone because M2 agreed that even if she refused to talk to me, she could still write to me. So now we all have envelopes taped to our doors and M2 has been enthusiastically filling them all afternoon. I'm going to have to invest in several reams of paper before school starts, whether they're required on the school list or not.
M1 got a particularly special surprise today. After we got done at swimming lessons, I had the kids go to the bathrooms to change their clothes before M2's appointment. They had finished and we were headed to the van when the one of the teachers stopped me. I knew him vaguely as the swim team coach, and he had been running the location where our lessons were being held. He had been watching M1, he said, and had noticed that his backstroke was particularly good and his freestyle was solid, too. He pointed out that the only things holding him back from level 5 were his backstroke, which he just learned this week, and the way he held his head during freestyle (he tends to try to flip onto his back rather than side-breathe). I mentioned that M1 had been working hard since his aim was to eventually be on the swim team, and the guy grinned.
"You know I'm the coach, right?"
I nodded. He grinned again. "Well, I usually don't do this, but if the swim team is his goal and since he's such a strong swimmer, I do sometimes make exceptions. If he continues to take lessons [we're already signed up] to work on his trouble spots, I'd be happy to let him try out for the swim team now."
I was stunned. I hadn't even done research into what the swim team entailed other than the fact that you had to pass level 4 to join. I figured I had another year before I had to really think about it. I had the presence of mind to ask what the tryouts consisted of, when they were, about basic costs, practices, etc., and then the coach had another question for me.
"He's 11, right?"
"Um, no... he's actually only 8."
"YES!!!" the coach pumped his fist and grinned. "I'm in desperate need of younger swimmers. He'd be perfect."
So M1 gets to think about joining the swim team at the ripe old age of 8. Practices are late at night, so I'm not sure he's ready yet, but we'll see. He claims to want to be the next Michael Phelps... and, barring that, to be a lifeguard or swim teacher/coach himself. I can't think this would hurt his chances, do you?
I'm sure Monday will get its revenge next week, though maybe since it's Independence Day, I'll get a break.
HA.
Aaaaanyway. This week has not been as horrible as it looked to be when it first began. Thank heaven. I wasn't entirely sure I was going to survive at first.
The Z-Pak that M1's pediatrician prescribed has actually helped his hives quite a bit. He now generally looks like he has a weird case of chicken pox rather than the mumps, and he's stopped wheezing and complaining of stomach and chest pain. The allergist's scheduler just called, and we have a tentative consult in early August, though they'll try to get us in sooner if there are cancellations.
M2's mood has vastly improved over last week. Is she still having her difficult moments? Sure, but she's 6. It's what they do. The great thing is that we're not having entire days where she's pouting or crying or screaming or hitting or destroying or simply refusing to move/cooperate/speak. We visited the therapist for the first time today, too. M2 and I both really like her. She had already reviewed the file (a bonus of her being in the same building as M2's psychiatrist) and had some questions. M2 didn't really want to talk other than to offer a couple of random anecdotes, but the office was set up beautifully so that M2 was still able to communicate by writing on a whiteboard or making drawings. Our focus for now is going to be M2's anxiety, since she definitely has, at the very least, separation anxiety and the Lexapro EPIC FAIL proved that medication isn't an option to treat it... EVER. We'll go weekly until school starts in early August, and then we'll see beyond that. Our first assignment was to make 'mailboxes' for everyone because M2 agreed that even if she refused to talk to me, she could still write to me. So now we all have envelopes taped to our doors and M2 has been enthusiastically filling them all afternoon. I'm going to have to invest in several reams of paper before school starts, whether they're required on the school list or not.
M1 got a particularly special surprise today. After we got done at swimming lessons, I had the kids go to the bathrooms to change their clothes before M2's appointment. They had finished and we were headed to the van when the one of the teachers stopped me. I knew him vaguely as the swim team coach, and he had been running the location where our lessons were being held. He had been watching M1, he said, and had noticed that his backstroke was particularly good and his freestyle was solid, too. He pointed out that the only things holding him back from level 5 were his backstroke, which he just learned this week, and the way he held his head during freestyle (he tends to try to flip onto his back rather than side-breathe). I mentioned that M1 had been working hard since his aim was to eventually be on the swim team, and the guy grinned.
"You know I'm the coach, right?"
I nodded. He grinned again. "Well, I usually don't do this, but if the swim team is his goal and since he's such a strong swimmer, I do sometimes make exceptions. If he continues to take lessons [we're already signed up] to work on his trouble spots, I'd be happy to let him try out for the swim team now."
I was stunned. I hadn't even done research into what the swim team entailed other than the fact that you had to pass level 4 to join. I figured I had another year before I had to really think about it. I had the presence of mind to ask what the tryouts consisted of, when they were, about basic costs, practices, etc., and then the coach had another question for me.
"He's 11, right?"
"Um, no... he's actually only 8."
"YES!!!" the coach pumped his fist and grinned. "I'm in desperate need of younger swimmers. He'd be perfect."
So M1 gets to think about joining the swim team at the ripe old age of 8. Practices are late at night, so I'm not sure he's ready yet, but we'll see. He claims to want to be the next Michael Phelps... and, barring that, to be a lifeguard or swim teacher/coach himself. I can't think this would hurt his chances, do you?
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
How to Scare People
Bring a boy who looks like this...
... or this...
... into a store. Or a library. And watch 'em jump.
If you're polite, you can then explain to anyone who's huddling their child/ren out of the way that he is not, in fact, contagious. It's all hives. Big, scary-looking, itchy hives.
What really sucks is that I took him to the pediatrician today, and it's anyone's guess as to what is causing these giant welts. It could be his cold urticaria. It could be that I dared to be lazy last week and purchased some All Free & Clear laundry detergent (which we've used before!) instead of making my own. It could be something totally new. So I'm keeping him doped up on Benadryl, his inhaler, and the usual Zyrtec and Pepcid and just hoping this goes away. Soon. Because he's miserable, and when my baby is miserable, so am I.
*sad face*
... or this...
... into a store. Or a library. And watch 'em jump.
If you're polite, you can then explain to anyone who's huddling their child/ren out of the way that he is not, in fact, contagious. It's all hives. Big, scary-looking, itchy hives.
What really sucks is that I took him to the pediatrician today, and it's anyone's guess as to what is causing these giant welts. It could be his cold urticaria. It could be that I dared to be lazy last week and purchased some All Free & Clear laundry detergent (which we've used before!) instead of making my own. It could be something totally new. So I'm keeping him doped up on Benadryl, his inhaler, and the usual Zyrtec and Pepcid and just hoping this goes away. Soon. Because he's miserable, and when my baby is miserable, so am I.
*sad face*
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