December 21st

You would think that the most exciting thing to share today would be our Open House that we had, but instead, Charlie and I spent the evening at the Brenner Children's ER. About halfway through the open house, you could tell that Charlie wasn't feeling like himself. He didn't have any energy and he was coughing a lot. I thought it was just the upper respiratory mess he's been dealing with and called his pediatrician to schedule a follow up visit for him later this week.

Then when everyone had left for the evening, out of nowhere, Charlie started throwing up. He threw up several times in a row and then that was it. He cuddle up with me after that until bedtime and seemed to be doing ok.

However, after he went to bed, he kept coughing and couldn't get settled. I thought that maybe he needed one of his breathing treatments, so I sat him down with me in the living room to watch a little tv and use his nebulizer. He kept coughing, even when the treatment was done and then I noticed that he couldn't stop scratching himself. I pulled off his shirt and sure enough, he was covered in hives.

The coughing continued and he couldn't stop scratching, so Charlie and I headed to the ER. (Urgent care was already closed at 8:00 - go figure.) I gave his a tsp. of Benadryl before we left and while his cough seemed to calm down in the car ride to the ER, his hives kept spreading all over his arms and legs and body. The tops of his ears were bright red too. The waiting room was crowded, but they seemed to move him through quickly since he was having an allergic reaction.  You can see how enthused Charlie was to be there . . .

The doctor came in and treated him with a steroid and said to give him Benadryl and the steroid prescription for the next two day and to follow up with his pediatrician. Charlie did seem enthralled by the episode of Daniel Tiger that they were showing as we sat and waited for our discharge papers.

I ran through everything he ate all day and couldn't figure out what was going on. I kept trying to think if he had consumed any milk, but I really couldn't think of anything. But Michael mentioned the Chex Party mix and even though we had made it with vegan butter, it does have mixed nuts in it. We know that he isn't allergic to peanuts because he's eaten those before, but I wonder if he is allergic to some other kind of nut? I guess we will have to talk with his doctor later this week. I think we'll probably avoid the party mix though just to be on the safe side.

We're back home and everyone is in their bed, asleep. Michael said that Alex kept asking about when his brother was coming home. I think he was worried about him! Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful!