Monday, January 30, 2012

Ear Goop and Hives


Nolan's ear was absolutely packed with gunk this morning. I called the pediatrician and managed to get in at 10:45am. The nurse practitioner was quite busy with sick kids this morning, so we weren't seen until 11:30. She took one look at Nolan's ear and prescribed Ciprodex drops AND an oral antibiotic. Thank goodness - this kid has a hard time beating ear infections, and hopefully we'll knock this one out in a week or less. We've been calling him One Ear for the past couple of days - it is amazing how much losing an ear really affects his ability to compensate for the other (hard of hearing) ear. We have to repeat things quite a bit more when one ear is completely gone, even when the "good" ear is aided.

Then it was time for Bumpy. Poor, itchy Matt. The nurse practitioner looked at the rash for quite some time, and couldn't decide if it was viral or an allergic reaction. The problem is that the rash looks viral when it starts off - lots of single, itchy, pimply bumps:


The rash is also spreading like a virus - only on the extremities and not over the entire body.

After the rash has been in place for a day or so, though, it turns into welts. Which look like an allergic reaction, not a virus.


A second pediatrician was called in to take a look. He said (and I quote), "Now there's a puzzle."

We don't really know what it is, so they said to keep him on Benedryl every six hours, and to keep him cool (heat can make allergic welts worse). So no school tomorrow and no hockey tonight, at the very least. If the rash gets worse in any way, we're to call immediately.

I hope it just disappears so we can forget about it.

We then went to Rite Aid and played "Have Fun at the Pharmacy."


Fortunately, my kids are easily entertained and think that a water cooler is the coolest thing on earth. Antibiotics (for Nolan) and Benedryl (for Matt) in hand, we went home. They're hanging out and enjoying the day off school - and Matt is thrilled that he gets a bonus day off.

The pediatric surgeon also called this morning, but that's enough material for another post (or two), so I'll save it for tomorrow. At least we have Bumpy and One Ear on the path to wellness!

3 comments:

Kyla said...

Hope they are both feeling better soon! Wonder if Matt is having an allergic reaction to the virus? Or if the itching from that is causing histamine to be released triggering the hives? Curious!

dlefler said...

I think that might be what happened- he got a viral rash and then developed an allergic response to the viral rash. I just hope it disappears quickly!

Herding Grasshoppers said...

Oh my goodness! Well, Nolan looks like he was feeling a bit better.

Julie