We Were Wrong or Parenting is an Education Part 2

As it turns out, Caleb has not had Fifth Disease.  The good part of that is that now I can stop expecting the girls to come down with it at any moment.  The bad part of it is that what he does have is Scalded Skin Syndrome.  This morning he was pretty lethargic (in hindsight, probably dehydrated, will I ever learn!?!?) and his eyes were bothering him.  He lay on the couch and listened to an audio book all morning.  The girls played school and tea party with utter contentment upstairs.  I fretted.  I called Rob a few times and asked him to bring home some "foods he can eat with a straw" because his lips were so cracked and painful, he couldn't open it comfortably. 

When Rob got home, we decided to take Caleb back to the doctor.  The skin around his lips was cracked and flaky and yellowing and he had sores around his eyes.  Rob took him to the Pediatric Urgent Care nearby and they wanted to send him to the children's hospital by ambulance.  Rob asked if he could just drive there and they said ok, so long as he went right away.  I swooped the kids off to a neighbor's house and he picked me up and we went to Miami Children's Hospital.

At MCH, no less than 10 different doctors and nurses asked us the same questions - I'm guessing now to make sure we had our story straight, but at the time I just thought it was weird.  A lady who was the "Child Life Specialist" came in and talked to Caleb about what would happen and she let him play games on her iPad while they put his IV in.  He thought she was super nice (and she was) and he didn't even notice them putting the line in.  They all complimented him on how well he handled it and he asked in surprise if most kids didn't do well and one of the nurses said that sometimes kids hit and kicked them when they tried to put an IV in!

There were so many people in and out, but the one I assume was the main doctor said that most likely it is a staph infection that has caused the scalded skin problem, but that it is possible that it is caused by strep.  They did cultures for both, but we don't know the results yet.  It all makes a lot more sense than the Fifth Disease theory because the "rash" never really seemed "rash-like".  From the beginning it looked like patches of sunburned skin.  An infectious disease specialist came by and she said that all the red skin will likely peel.  Fun.

Once he had some fluids in him, he perked up quite a bit and was excited about the video games, movie theater, in-room movies, games and toys at the hospital.  They are giving him an antibiotic that would fight either a staph or strep infection and he has to stay in the hospital for an unknown amount of time.  I heard one person say at least 48 hours, but it seemed that we have to wait and see if this antibiotic will work.

I am so looking forward to seeing him smile again and even to hear him pestering his sisters.  I didn't realize that his picking on them was a sign of health!  God has funny ways of showing you how much you have to be thankful for.