Horrible Hives

Yesterday morning, as I was getting David dressed before we left for a church service, I was shocked to see big welts on his cheek and hands. I quickly called Jeff to look at them, and then my dear dad hurried up the hill to check on his littlest grandson. None of us knew for sure what had caused them--we discussed a reaction to food and tried to think if David had eaten anything different. Oddly enough, his hives diminished fairly quickly; and he didn't seem bothered by them at all. During the service, he was clingy, didn't want to look at any books or eat a fruit snack or do anything except be held. He even fell asleep in my arms--just like a little baby! It's been a long time since he did that, and I relished every second of it. :)

Later in the day, the hives returned and broke out fiercely over his legs, arms, and face. Today they're even worse--basically, over every part of his body.

Dad is having a hard time with this. He said he's used to having sick people come into his office, treating them, then seeing them go on their way...but when it's his own family, he wants to figure out what is causing the problem and then fix it immediately! :) We haven't made it easy on him recently--between Josiah's illness last week and David's condition now--neither one responded quite how he/we thought it should. I don't know how many times, in the past week or so, Dad has come up the hill to check on his little patients or has called (even in the middle of the workday) just to see how they are doing. We are again immensely grateful that we live so close!!! I remember when we lived in Israel, we would sometimes take a digital picture of some health problem and send it to Dad so he could diagnose us over the Internet...or we would call and try to describe our symptoms as best we could so he could figure out what was wrong with us. At least now, it's a tiny bit easier for him to treat us! :)

In David's case, after doing some research and consulting with a local pediatrician, Dad has come to the conclusion that the hives are the result of a virus. It could even be the same virus that afflicted Josiah so much last week, simply manifest in a different way in David's body. There doesn't seem to be anything to do for it except wait it out, and give him some cough medicine with Benadryl in it, and if he itches, put ointment on his skin.

The absolutely amazing thing is that the hives don't seem to be bothering David at all. It definitely bothers the rest of us because he looks like he should be just miserable...but, for the most part, he's his normal happy self...and that is a huge blessing!!!