Eye Infection Continued (Penicillin Allergy)

By last Monday, Ivan was fine--fever free and with good looking eyes and ears--so we send him to daycare (I think this was the day when he got scolded).

But when we came home that evening, I noticed the nape of his neck was red--full of welts and red dots. If it hadn't been for the welts, I would've thought it was a heat rash. But the welts made me wonder, did he get into some poison ivy and where? Then I thought, well maybe they forgot to put sunscreen on him. But then why would he have welts, it's the middle of the summer.

His entire body was covered in red dots. They were bigger and further apart than the heat rash ones I've seen in the past. Chicken pox, I freaked out.

We called the doctor. Luckily, doctor Madden was on call, so there was some continuity with this entire two-week sick saga. She advised us to give him benadryl, take photos of the spots and come in in the morning.

Ivan was reluctant to take a bath that evening--the spots must have itched--by he eagerly posed for photos as we tried to get good shots of his neck, back and legs.

The spots were still there in the morning, despite the benadryl. Andy took him in.
Allergy to amoxicillin, Dr. Madden said. She had suspected as such when we called her the night before. We stopped givig him amoxicillin, as per doctor's instructions, although we were four days short of completing the course. Amoxicillin is a penicillin antibiotic, which kind of sucks because penicillin is still the first and most widely used antibiotic.

But if Ivan's allergic to penicillin, this was good way to find out because the allergy wasn't severe. I called Andy's mom later to chat (in the absence of my mom). Apparently, Andy's dad and one sister are allergic as well. I deduce it's genetic.

I talked to Beth, one of the playgroup moms about it over the weekend. Ethan, her son's allergic as well. She didn't seem that phased about it. It may be an allergic reaction they will grow out. Who knows.

By Thursday, the spots were gone and we stopped giving Ivan benadryl, which was much easier to administer to him, with the syringe, than the amoxicillin. I guess cherry flavored syrup does taste better than the white caramel-raspberry-orange amoxicillin concoction. Why would anything think that would taste good, when just the plain pairing of those flavors sounds gross.

All seemed good until Saturday when Ivan's eyes got all red and gooey again. This time it was the left eye that was oozing goo, while the right eye looked bruised. We called the doctor and went in yesterday, Sunday morning.

Dr. Madden was off and we saw another doctor in the practice. I hoped she'd be the one to see us but oh well.

The eyes and ears and throat all looked good, Dr. Gitterman said. No infection anywhere. He said that Ivan's probably having allergies (his nose is a bit stuffy and he does sneeze occasionally), and that the undereye bruising may be a bit of eczema. He gave us some eye drops and said to put Eucerin under his eyes.

I hope the doctor's right because now, a day later, Ivan's eyes look as bad as they did yesterday.

It's kind of ironic that all these doctors trips happened now when my parents are away. Ivan's been sick a couple of times in the last two and a half years, which, compared to other kids who seem constantly to be fighting off something, is really remarkable.

And now that my parents, who do help us a lot, are away, we had to take him to the doctor's three times. Logistically, it's been a nightmare. Everything falls onto Andy since he's the one with the car, and since my work commute is so long. The problem is that we need to wait until 8:30, which is really closer to 9 a.m., to get a hold of the doctor's office to make an appointment for later that day. So real takes up the entire work day. If my parents were here, then I and my dad could've taken him to the doctor's, instead of Andy having to do everything.

These last two weeks really made me appreciate my parents' help even more. It also made me appreciate my relatively flexible work set up, where I am able to work from home, if I need to say home with a sick child.