Auds & Allie: My poor little Allie

07 June 2011

My poor little Allie

She has not had a good week.

It was Saturday night and we were on our way to the ER. My shirt and face covered in my daughter's blood. I'm pretty sure I ate some at one point. We left the house unlocked, and the eggs for the cookies Audrey and I had just started to bake out on the counter. Jeremy grabbed a wet paper towel and we climbed into the van faster than we ever have. The cut on her head was deep. My oversized rear tried to squeeze between two car seats in the middle row of the van as I calmed Allie down, dabbing her head with a damp paper towel, as much as she'd let me. Not only is she bloody, but her eyes and face are so swollen she's hardly recognizable. Again, the hives. Put it all together and she looked like a heavy weight fighting champion. Poor girl.

I've determined that if they see a mother, covered in blood, carrying her 17 month old child, also covered in blood they usher you right back and you bypass the waiting room. Total we spent only an hour and a half of our evening in the ER.

She fell while running across the kitchen and hit her head just right on the tile floor. It looked more like a puncture than a cut. It's not a straight cut. And it bled profusely as I learned, most head injuries do.

Poor girl. She'd already been fighting hives that started on Wednesday.....

I thought it was the beginnings of diaper rash or folliculitis, as we're frequent visitors down that road, but never with her. I sighed, but thought, at least I know how to treat it.

Thursday morning she wakes up and in that same spot has developed what I later learned was hives. Raised red masses that look like little lakes all around her diaper area.

Thursday afternoon after her nap she's covered in hives. I call the doctor on call and he tells me to give her Benadryl.

Friday morning is an already scheduled visit with the pediatrician. I add Allie to the schedule and the doctor confirms she's got hives. He tells me to give her Claritin, or Zyrtec along with the Benadryl at night. he has no idea why she has them and tells me I'll probably never figure it out. (Talk about initializing a challenge to a curious mom).

Saturday afternoon she wakes up from her nap and her face is swollen. We contemplate a trip to the ER. I call the doctor on call and explain that now her face and eyes are swollen. Again, since she's breathing fine, no need for the ER, just watch her and keep giving antihistamines. And then she fell and our trip to the ER was inevitable.

The ER doc opted to "glue" her head shut. $600 for super glue that we had for free in the garage. But we all know I'd never take the super glue from the garage and use it on my child. Allie, naturally, did not like being held down under bright lights by strange people, even though I was right there, trying to soothe her. It was close to 8 o'clock and she was tired. They upped her dosage of Benadryl, and said that whatever it is that she's "allergic" to, that she still must be getting exposed. (And her pediatrician's office kept saying it was a virus).

Monday, another visit to the pediatrician. He gives us steroids for her hives.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they just go away. Her head will heal in time, and we hope, doesn't leave a big scar. Since we already go to a plastic surgeon for her hemangioma, I plan to ask him what he recommends on Friday.