What the Luck!?

Lot’s of things going on lately. Let me see where to start.

So, last week, my 8 year old son, his eczema has been acting up. He gets bad cracks on his knees, elbows, ankles and wrists, and his face gets all crusty. Then he started developing a rash in new places. He had red rash on his chest, back, armpits, and other areas that he hadn’t really had his eczema before. So we thought he was having some other kind of skin condition, like perhaps an allergic reaction to something, maybe a food? So my MIL took us to a dermatoligist. There, they stuck a needle up under his skin near his knee, to numb it so they could take a biopsy of his skin and then they put a single stitch to sew it back up. He did not like that one little bit! But they said that we should take him to a regular doctor also, because there was something else going on there, and that my son might need to be hospitalized! I was in denial about that. No, he did not just say that! They also gave us some creams for his eczema that will clear him up good.

So, then we took him over to our regular doctor. Luckily they take wald-ins. I love our doctor place! While we were in the waiting area, the boy looked very tired, his eyes were red, he had bad chills, he was shivering. He said his tummy started to have pains too. He climbed up in my MIL’s lap and fell asleep. This is a tall 8 year old boy, but he was just like a sad baby that day. So she held him while he slept. This is making me sad all over again just telling this story.

We get in to see the doc, and he hears our story, and he looks at the boys tummy area, and the doc looked very concerned. He said that this was Scarlet Fever!!!!!!!! HUH???!!!??? WTH???? Yes, he has Scarlet Fever, and he needs a shot of penicillin right away, and he needs antibiotics to take oraly for 10 days also. So, my poor boy had to get another shot, this one in his butt cheek. He was not a happy camper at all!

So, his grandma took us to get him and his sister a toy after that hard day. His sister was being pretty good going with us through all of that. She held her ears when brother cried and screamed, and she was very interested in watching them take that biopsy of his skin. I kept telling her to sit back down, but she wanted to see what was going on. She did say, Yuck!

Well, before all of this, I had been planning on visiting my sister in the Houston area, a 6 hour car trip, with both kids, and to visit other family while we were there. The boy was getting better by the minute and the doctor said it would be okay for us to travel, so we were still planning on making the trip at this point.

But then….. on Sunday, I was getting ready to go to work and I got a call from my sister. She said that she had two bits of bad news and her voice sounded weird. She said that her husband’s brother had died and that one of our cousins had also died. So she said to call her later. So, I was wondering if we were still going or not. We were going to stay with my sister but they could be leaving town for a funeral while we were there. I could have visited other people while there, but then there might have been a funeral for our cousin also. Turns out that they want to cremate our cousin and not have a big ceremony. But they will have a small something with the family that was closest to her. I could have gone to this though.

But now I figure that it would be best if we stay home. I can keep a better eye on the boy and make sure he is healing right, and if he has any problems, I can bring him back to the same doctors that he has already seen. My sister said that she and my cousin’s mom ( also a cousin, I have a complicated family tree) will pick a time and come visit me.

I can’t change my week to visit, because the next week, the kids have VBS, and the next week, there is already someone from my work taking off that week, so that might not work, and then the next week is August, and there is back-to-school stuff going on like Meet the Teacher stuff! And both kids will be doing soccer this season! So, this was my chance, but all the signs were telling me to just stay home this week. I don’t want to tempt fate or anything.

Update: the boy is doing much better! Actually, his skin is feeling softer than I remember it ever feeling with these new eczema creams he is taking! And the red rash from the Scarlet Fever is almost completely gone! The redness is gone and the skin is just slightly rough where it was. So thanks everyone for your thoughts. He is also full of energy again, just like normal. His skin is better than normal! I love it!