Our Big Scare

Remember in my last post how I mentioned Camden was diagnosed with another ear infection at his last well visit? Well, his doctor prescribed Amoxicillin, just like the last time he had an ear infection. I didn't give it a second thought and gave it to him twice a day for a week with no side effects at all......until the 8th day. When I went to change his diaper early that morning, I noticed some spots in that area. Then, when I took off his shirt, I noticed more spots on his shoulders and back. My first thought was "oh crap, he has Chicken Pox!" We spread his vaccines out and haven't given him that shot yet, so it was definitely a possibility. Camden was happy as could be and didn't seem to be fazed at all which gave me some relief, but I still knew a call to the doctor was in order. Before picking up the phone, I remembered he was taking antibiotics and decided to look up possible side effects...and sure enough, a rash was listed. When I called the nurse, she was quite certain that's what we were dealing with but still wanted us to come in, so an appointment was made for 4:15 that afternoon. Since Camden was acting fine, and we knew where the rash was coming from (which generally is nothing serious), I wasn't worried and we went about our day. Kyle had taken that afternoon off, so around 2:30 he took over and I went upstairs to take a nap. When I got up a little over an hour later, Camden had really gone down hill, and fast. His rash had gotten worse and was spreading, and his knees and feet had started to swell. He also seemed to be in pain because he refused to walk, was becoming lethargic, and only wanted to be held. Originally, Kyle was going to take the boys to Camden's appointment and I was going to go to the mall....but after seeing my poor baby, there was no way I could leave him. We knew something was very wrong and we were scared.

The first thing they did when we got to the doctor's office was check his vitals and oxygen level. Fortunately, his breathing was fine and his pulse ox was 100% so we took a huge sigh of relief. Next, they (two pediatricians and a nurse practitioner) looked over his whole body to see where the rash had spread and checked his swollen joints (which seemed to be getting worse while we were there). They had seen the rash before and the swelling before, but not together, so that is what had them puzzled. Dr. Long explained that there was a good chance the swelling was just part of the allergic reaction but that she knew blood work would need to be done to rule out any other possible problem's, like a clotting disorder. Somehow I stayed very calm and took everything in stride, but man was that scary to hear!  And after observing Camden (who had actually fallen asleep during all of this), we all knew that a trip to the emergency room was needed. He was one sick baby boy and we didn't want to take any chances. We were told to go straight to Mott Children's ER and they would call to let them know we were on our way. We quickly jumped in the car, dropped Brett off at my parent's house (who thankfully live right in town!) and were on our way. I sat in the back seat with Camden so I could keep a close eye on him while we tried to stay calm and not focus on the "what if's". 

I took this picture of Camden's rash while he slept in my arms at the doctor's office. It was spreading fast and some area's looked more like hives and other's (like here) were raised bumps.

As soon as we arrived at Mott's ER, a nurse took us back to a room. During the 4 and a half hours we were there, many different doctor's (and student's) came in to ask questions and look at Camden's rash and swollen joints (his elbows had swelled by this point too). Fortunately, soon after we got there, we were reassured that he had the classic symptoms of something called "Serum Sickness" which is the type of allergic reaction he was having. But, to be safe and rule everything else out, they wanted to put an IV in him and get multiple viles of blood for different tests to be run. Even though everyone was pretty certain he would be fine, just the slightest chance anything could be really wrong with your baby is just plain scary. It was also pretty awful to watch Camden cry out in pain and fear as the nurses held him down and inserted the IV to draw his blood. After the blood was taken to the labs, the waiting began. Camden was completely worn out from everything so he soundly slept in my arm's until we were finally give the good news....that we were free to take him home! The lab tests had come back good, and thankfully, although we would have some rough days ahead of us, he would get better! 

Before leaving the hospital, the doctor's explained that it could take up to 2 weeks for the rash to go away, and unfortunately, it would get even worse before it got better. And other than IB Profin and Benedryl, there wasn't much we could do to help the pain. We were also told that if his skin started to peel or if red sores started to show up in his eyes or mouth, we would need to take him straight to the ER and he would most likely need to be admitted. More scary stuff, but we tried not to think of the worse case scenerio and instead focus on that fact that we could take our baby home and at least knew what was going on.

We got home about 10:30 that night and went straight to bed. Camden was quite uncomfortable but the medicine's seemed to give him some relief so we could get a few hours of sleep. The next day, Saturday, was probably the worst day of all. He clearly felt miserable and was in pain. He was in our arms pretty much all day, except for the rare moments he would let us put him down to watch Baby Boost on TV.

Here are some pictures of what his rash looked liked on Day 2. These hives were all over his torso, diaper area, thighs, and arms.

His swollen, black and blue foot. Looks awful, doesn't it?

By the evening, it had gotten even worse. Thankfully,the bath helped to soothe him for a few minutes.

What we did for two days straight....lots of cuddles and naps together.

Over the course of the next few days, the swelling went down and Camden started to act more like himself again (at least during the day....night's were pretty rough for about a week). BUT, like the doctor's said, his rash continued to get worse, spreading more and more and changing in its appearance. 

Snuggles with Papa always make things better.

By the 6th day, his rash was finally starting to get better and we were hopeful the worst was over. Then that night, about an hour after Camden went to bed, he woke up, clearly very uncomfortable. I turned the light on and was shocked to see his left eye swollen shut and blotches all over his face! I quickly called Kyle in to take a look, and then phoned the on-call nurse. We figured it was just part of the reaction, but wanted to make sure we were doing everything we should be. After answering what seemed like a million questions, the nurse told us to just keep a good eye on him throughout the night and then take him to our pediatrician in the morning. We gave him some more Benedryl and held him close all night long. Fortunately, by morning, he could open his eye again, but he still looked pretty rough so his doctor wanted to see him. Once there, Dr. Moore reassured us that he would be okay and that by this point he was out of the woods for any complications. We just needed to wait it out and let it finish running it's course.

Not the best picture, but the only one I got of his poor little face :-( 

And finally, a couple days later, Camden's skin cleared up and he looked like our healthy baby boy again!

Camden sure gave us quite the scare, and we are so tremendously thankful that his allergic reaction didn't get any worse and he is okay now. After witnessing everything Camden had to go through (especially his short stay at Mott's ER where he had to be held down to get an IV, all while screaming out in fear and pain) you quickly realize just how lucky you are that your baby is going to get better. You can't go through something like that and not have a new appreciation for your children's heath. Somehow, we are the lucky ones right now and I don't ever want to take that for granted. We are also so grateful for all of the phone calls, text messages, kind gestures, and positive thoughts from our friends and family! I even had an acquaintance who lives in another state contact one of her friends nearby who delivered some essential oils to rub on Camden's skin...and they refused any payment at all! I really think the oils helped too because soon after we started using them, his pain seemed to subside and overall, his rash went away quicker than most cases. Thank you Sasha and Jessica!! I'll be waiting for my turn to pay it forward :-) Camden is all better now and ready for the races.....well, maybe after his 100th cold for the season goes away, but that I can deal with!