Happy? Birthday

Zoa's 3rd birthday has already come and gone, but I wanted to post something to the blog about it, since it turned out to be an ordeal rather than a celebration. The day before her birthday party, Zoa has an allergic reaction to Augmentin and was covered in hives. She also had a fever and her joints became so swollen that she began to walk like Frankenstein. So, we went to Urgent Care, who sent us to the ER. The ER Doc thought it was a virus, don't ask me why, and after about 4 hours of observation sent us home. The next day we canceled the birthday party as Zoa was still had a temperature, and although the rash was changing, it was not getting better. So, Saturday we headed back to the doctor's office where she got a steroid shot. The shot did not really help that much and so on Monday, her birthday, we went to see her regular pediatrician who referred us to an allergist. Monday afternoon we saw the allergist who gave us the initial diagnosis (serum sickness) and the treatment plan (oral steroids) first recommended by the Urgent Care doc 4 days earlier. After her 10 days of steroids and countless doses of Benadryl, the rash finally started to go away. It took about 3 weeks for it to really clear up. Needless to day, Zoa did not really have a great birthday. On the plus side, Grandpa was here visiting and she did get to eat cake, so it was not a total wash.

Grandpa and Zoa's rash on Saturday.















Sunday, rash turns into one big gray blob with a raised red border. Left eye practically swells shut. Very itchy!