Friday afternoon she started to whine and feel sick, so we stayed close to home. Saturday afternoon she felt ok and we went to the school Halloween party. She had fun coloring, stringing beads, watching 8th Count Dance and playing games. She bowled with pumpkins, threw footballs at cups, tossed rings on an octopus and spun the prize wheel. Kimmy was dressed up as a mermaid princess and Kelley was a ghoul, but she didn't want to wear the mask...even though it was the only costume she would wear at home. She did get the idea of filling your bag with candy. That was fun.
Shortly after we came home, Kelley sprung a fever. We administered some Tylenol and have been fighting it ever since. We had made plans to go out for Chinese buffet Saturday night and they were cancelled. We were in China for two weeks and I never ate fried rice or lo mein noodles! Most days they weren't on the breakfast buffet. I did have some dumplings, but I wanted some sweet & sour chicken and pepper steak and other yummies. We thought Kelley would like some noodles and fried rice, too. She did like the Contessa Fried Rice that I bought from Giant Eagle last weekend.
She took a little nap and woke up after 6:00 and was covered in hives again...all along her head and hairline. Her ears were red and her scalp was itching. And she had a fever of 104.1. When we were in China I asked the orphanage if she had any allergies and they said none. We talked about it and thought about it for another 30 minutes. We gave her some Benadryl and Tylenol and then packed her up and headed to the emergency room. Akron Children's has an office in Hudson that is open till 11:00 pm...usually with no waiting. I started the paperwork with the front desk, while Dan took her back to be examined.
I had her vaccination record, but we haven't had titers drawn yet to verify that she is up to date. We explained the situation to the nurse and physician. We've only had her for 2-1/2 weeks and have only been in the states for 1 week. We really don't know much about Kelley, other than that she is sick! I was hoping it wasn't a new strain of bird, swine or Asian flu that was going to have us quarantined since we just came from a foreign country! They examined her and found her ears were clear, but her throat irritated. Her fever had come down to 102 something and her hives had subsided some. The doctor thought that the hives and fever were unrelated. She may have picked up a virus from Kimmy, Grandma or Papa or anybody we came into contact with at the airport. He suggested Benadryl & cortisone cream for the hives and Tylenol/Motrin for the fever and follow up with her pediatrician. At least we slept a little easier that night.
Sunday morning she woke up with a fever and more hives on her back and abdomen. Her face was also puffy and swollen. We gave some more Tylenol, Benadryl & Cortisone cream. I remembered the orphanage told me that she would get a skin irritation, called urticaria, every spring and fall. I had to look thru all of the paperwork to find the correct spelling. I could have just googled "hives", because that is what it is. I looked up pictures of mild urticaria and that's what her back looked like. I spent the afternoon researching on the computer and have diagnosed her with acute urticaria via WebMD. Of course, we will go to the doctor's for an official diagnosis and treatment plan. It is possible the virus caused the outbreak of hives. Or they could have come from the change in weather (extreme cold), environment, food or any other stimuli that she has experienced in the past week. The internet says it may be one trigger or any number of triggers or a different trigger each time. It is hard to pinpoint one thing that causes it.
We gave her a cool bath to help with the fever, which I later read will also help the hives. She slept off and on most of the day and finally woke around 5 feeling better. Her face was still a little swollen on the left and she still had a fever of 100 something. The poor little thing feels miserable and she can't even tell us how bad it is. She has been good about taking her medicine, as long as it followed with a glass of water to wash it down. I'm going to call the pediatrician in the morning and schedule an appointment as soon as they have available, hopefully tomorrow afternoon. At least now, I know that is it not a life threatening disease and we can treat it! We will watch her fever and continue to treat with Tylenol (Motrin can be a trigger, too) and hope she feels better soon.
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