The Unknown

Sigh.

It's so hard to be a parent and want to take care of your kids, make them feel better, but it's almost impossible when you don't know what's wrong.

Charlie has been complaining this week that his "neck" hurt and with all the colds going around I assumed he had a sore throat. When he opened his mouth there was nothing odd, not even redness. I gave him lots to drink and lollipops to suck on when it got really bad, but didn't think much of it.

Then yesterday he broke out into hives all over his body and was really complaining about his neck. In the middle of a fit he was throwing he threw his head back and the side of his neck was bulging. Uh-oh.

I called his doctor and she was able to get me in that afternoon. She agreed that there wasn't nothing to see in his throat, but that the glands were swollen in his neck. She ran a strep test that came back negative and then gave me a form to take to Children's lab if it got worse.

Worse it got, that night. His hives got worse and he was writhing in pain last evening and nothing would soothe him, not even ice cream. Now, for this sweet-tooth kid that's a sure sign that something's wrong! I called the doctor on call and she said that I did everything I could (give him Benadryl and Tylenol), and by the time she called he was asleep on my lap so she had me set up a humidifier in the room and let him sleep.

This morning we went to Children's to get blood work done to see if he has mono. And we're waiting and waiting and waiting for results. Ugh. At least he's taking a nap. He did have ice cream today, a "reward" for having to go through the trauma of getting blood drawn. He seems to be ok, but I don't want him to have another night like last night!