Hives

I am so beyond frustrated.

I am a control freak. This is, by no means, a secret to anyone who knows me. Being a control freak can be good in some respects but when it comes to things like unexplained illness, well, it's not so good.

On Friday Sean and I took the daycare kids bowling. Connor had just woken from his nap, he was in his stroller and we noticed a great big red welt on his upper arm. It was also on his shoulder blade and down his side. I chalked it up to a spider bite. The stroller had been in the garage and I'd thought I'd seen a spider on it when I'd opened it up in the parking lot.

Saturday afternoon, Connor woke from his nap and had the same welts on his legs, back and shoulders. I scoured his room and thought perhaps a spider nest had hatched. There were two baby spiders on his ceiling.

Sunday, after supper I put him into the bath. When he came out of the bath his legs were really really red. I thought that it was just from the water, it was quite warm but no, it was hives, all over the backs of his legs, bum and some on his belly. I ended up giving him Benedryl because these were the worst yet.

Monday morning after his nap he woke up with hives on both of his cheeks. After supper he had some on his legs and while we were at the Dr he had them on the back of his neck and shoulder blade.

So the Dr suspects an allergy (duh) The problem was he was hesitant to send him back to the allergist. He said that the full allergy testing is painful and he wasn't sure the allergist would do them. I gave him 'the look'. He then said, well, you can be glad they aren't the kind that swell his throat shut. WHAT??!!! Now we'll side track a little here. I love my Dr. I've been with him since I was 16 and he was fresh out of med school. I drive 30 minutes out of town to his office because I refuse to get a Dr closer to home. Normally, he's an awesome Dr. But a couple of years ago he took time off to donate a kidney to his son and since then, he seems to be slipping. It could be because we were the last appointment of the day and he was tired. It could be because Connor screamed holy murder quit literally from the moment we walked into the exam room until the Dr left. Either way, I was not a happy camper.
So at that comment I gave him another 'look' and said, yes, but since we don't know what's causing it and it's happening frequently, it could very well turn into that kind of allergy.
So he said he would set the appointment up with the allergist and the allergist could decide which test to run. In the meantime I'm to keep a detailed food log (which really appeals to my control freak personality) and give him Benedryl every 4 hours as needed. I just hope now that being a return patient gets us in a little quicker to see the allergist.

For my American friends, you are now seeing what I personally feel is the only downside to our health care system. When my dad was sick his appointments and treatments were immediate. No wait. But this is not life threatening or critical and it's entirely possible that we will wait a month or more before getting in to see the allergist. And in the meantime I've got to try to figure out what it is that Connor can't eat.

So, I think for us it will be like it was when he was a baby. Today his meals will consist of banana, toast with butter, vanilla yogurt and avocado. From there we'll add foods until I find a trigger.

But the control freak in me hates that I don't already know.