The Flu.

Little Miss Avery ran a low-grade temp last Tuesday and was very irritable.  Just ask Grammie & Grandma Marian.  :-)  Wednesday she was perfectly fine; that is, until 2 a.m. when I awoke to her burning up next to me and she had a temp of 101.5.  Off to the Pediatrician's in the morning we went.  No strep, phew.  She was not swabbed for the flu, though.  I was told it was just a virus and I brought her home to spoil her, I mean take care of her.

Friday Shelby came home from school and said her throat hurt.  OK, I thought, she has strep.  I ran an errand and when I got home she had a temp of 102.  We took a deep breath and said, "better take her to immediate care."  We wanted to get her on antibiotics soon if it was strep.  Strep is really going around here in our area.

Nope, not strep.  Type B influenza.  Since her symptoms just started she was prescribed Tamiflu.  We got home and Riley had returned from a school dance...not feeling well. :-(  She had a temp, too.  ARGH!  

The night went OK between the trio of nose blowing, coughing, sneezing and snoring.  Saturday brought more fevers and 3 girls feeling yucky.  I did call the Pediatrician and was able to get a prescription for Tamiflu for her.  It was too late for Avery to start taking it.

Shelby did give me a bit of a scare Saturday as I noticed her left arm, chest and back had petichiae and she had 2 purpura under her right arm.  Her nose was also bleeding much more than usual.  Since she is on Plavix to help keep her shunt open this was all very concerning.  I called the on-call doctor in Chicago and was told if it got any worse she had to get labs done.  Thank goodness Sunday morning everything had faded.  Phew!

Scott woke up mid-Saturday afternoon (he had been sleeping for work that night) sneezing.  Like non-stop.  Poor guy.  He was the next one for the flu to take down.  He had to call in to work.  So far, no fever for him, but he did rest a lot yesterday.  He went to school today.

So far, so good for me.  We are definitely keeping kleenex in business in this house.  I keep using hand sanitizer between wiping noses (Avery's, not Scott's).

Right now I'm feeling pretty let down by the flu shots we received in the fall, but I've been told that everyone would be much sicker had we not gotten them.  OK.  Praying for health around here, BUT happy a certain little 8-almost-9-year-old-girl gets to fight this one out at HOME.  

Dermatologist Visit

Last Friday we trekked into Glenview for Shelby's dermatologist appointment.  By "we" I mean Shelby, Avery, my Super-Mom and Me.  Shelby hadn't seen the dermatologist since last spring, but we had been in touch by phone with them several times over her developing skin conditions.  Her face started out as very flaky eyelids which they called dermatitis.  Then, if you remember, this fall she had those blisters and red streaks (see pic above).  This continues unless we use her creams twice daily.  We used to be able to get them under control and not use the cream for a couple of weeks; not anymore.  We miss one day and its all back.  In fact, she still has quite a bit going on with her face despite using the cream (see lower pic above).  So, I decided it was time to see the good ol' skin doc again now that we have that whole "major" surgery behind us.  

Dr. Paller took a look at her and the pictures I had sent back in late November/early December, asked a bunch of questions and decided it really looks like Shelby has contact dermatitis.  But...to what is the million dollar question.  Turns out to determine this she needs patch testing done and its very rare to do it on children and there are very few specialists who do it.  Dr. Paller called Dr. Martini at Northwestern - her first choice of who she wanted Shelby to go to - and got Shelby in when there's no openings until August.  Its a 3-day process.  Actually we have to go in for an initial consult, then a few weeks later we go in for Day 1)  putting on all the skin patches on her back, Day 2) two days later getting them removed and Day 3) having them read and interpreted.  Wow!  Amazingly, I have it all scheduled for March despite our crazy busy life already!  This is really important to figure out what's causing this on Shelby's face because a)  she's a girl and just wants to look good and b) its getting worse even though we use fragrance-free products already.  So we shall see...

We got tons of more fragrance-free samples - shampoo, conditioner, soap, lotion - you name it, we got it!

Samples from the Dermatologist

I had my follow-up with the dermatologist on Monday.  No more spots so no need to do a biopsy.  She was amazed they were gone considering how bad they were.  If and when they reappear I am to get an appointment right away to have them biopsied.  

We are all enjoying be home together for the SNOW DAY!  Hope everyone is safe and warm!

February