I always knew that I would some day have to face a harrowing medical situation as a parent. I also always knew that I would not handle that day with any semblance of grace under pressure... this was that day.
My little Finny has always been a rashy child. His eyes get red. He breaks out in eczema often. He's a little fair skinned Irishman. But on Wednesday night, this little Irishman looked like a little drunken leprechaun! After dinner, his eyes looked really droopy, so I put him in the bath at my parents' house to get him ready for bed. While in the bath I noticed red marks all up his back. I thought it was his eczema. When I got him out of the bath his "eczema" had turned to welts. Then the welts began to spread all over his body. In a matter of minutes, the welts were all over his back and belly and spreading up his hairline. His ears got red as fire engines and were puffed out like balloons. At this point, I gave him some Benadryl and proceeded to dress him and think about where I was going to take him to be looked at. I left Charlie with my Dad (thank God!) and raced out the door.
I wasted some time trying to find an Urgent Care center that was open. I raced across the island back to Marmora to go to the UC by my house. At this point, Finn's eyes were nearly swollen shut and the welts were creeping up the side of his face. I knew he could still breath b/c every once in a while I would hear from the back seat: "GUG!" (His favorite word. It means dog, but he says it for every animal he sees and it has really come to be an exclamatory word for him). As I was racing across the island I was formulating my plan in case a cop pulled me over... I was going to roll down the window and wave him on as a police escort b/c I surely was not stopping to explain!
When I walked into Urgent Care, the normally desolate waiting room had a couple patients, but when I walked up to the window with my swollen puffball, the nurse took him right back! The doctor saw him immediately and as I undressed him to show the full extent of the swelling the doctor exclaimed, "he is just one big welt, huh?" She looked down his throat and ordered the nurse to draw 3 shots. They were calm as could be. I was rambling on like a lunatic about how I didn't know what he could've eaten and I don't even know what else was coming out of my mouth. They gave him Epinephrine, Benadryl and something else. Whatever it all was, it worked like a charm! The swelling subsided practically immediately. He cried his little heart out for a while, but eventually fell asleep. The doctor turned out the lights and let us both calm down. They came in to check on us several times before releasing us. The dr said that his throat was swollen too, but she didn't want to tell me that at the time b/c she didn't want me to freak... hmm... she didn't just fall off the radish cart! I guess they thought if I got any more excited they would've had to give me a shot too!
Before leaving the dr and 2 nurses checked on us and asked if I was ok to go. I'm surprised they didn't call for a police escort home! The doctor told us to sleep with him to make sure he was breathing ok and prescribed oral steroids for a couple days. I held that little Finny so tight that night. He slept like a little angel on me. I don't even want to think about what could've happened. I'm glad my intuition made me race out the door. As a mother, sometimes you think you are overreacting and maybe sometimes you are, but to me I would always rather pay the co-pay and be wrong than do nothing and worry!
My mom has taught me a lot about being a good mother. I always try to think of what she would do in certain situations. She never let us see her sweat. We could be bleeding from the head and she would whip up a tourniquet and drive to the ER while whistling Dixie. I, on the other hand, freak out. It's my job. That's what I do. If I feel like I'm gonna cry, I cry, and if my kids are hurt I rant and rave like a looney tune! I would love to be more stoic like my mom, but I have to accept who I am and hope that the rest of the good that I do outweighs my slightly overdramatic ways!!
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