Hives *sigh*

This poor kid, man. I feel like he keeps getting put through the ringer.

Max has never done well with Amoxicillin -- it makes him sick to his stomach, have diarrhea, etc. This time around, it made him vomit twice. I don't know why we, as parents, don't just say, "Okay, enough." I guess it's because the idea of hearing damage via ear infection worried me more than puke.

Anyway, we were at the grocery store when Max started itching. It went on for ten minutes or so until I finally looked under his shirt. I just saw the welts around his shoulder at first; we rushed over to the medicine section and I grabbed a Benadryl topical gel. Then I lifted up his shirt. I wanted to cry -- he was just covered in hives. Poor guy looked so completely miserable. I doused him with the gel, before I'd paid for it, of course, and got us and our groceries out of there. I called Matt. My Mom. The Doctor. We got home and I doused him again. The hives went away.

Still, we went to the pediatrician -- if nothing else, I wanted his ears looked at. Of course, they were still infected. Not only that, but there was an internal build-up in his ear that had to be removed. It really hurt him -- enough, that I had to hold him in my lap with his head pressed against my chest. You could see the red on his face from where I had to hold him so hard.

As I suspected, they gave us another antibiotic -- so I went through the ringer again: i.e. we're on FG, we need dye free, etc. But in the end, we got what we needed. It's a once a day Rx, which is GREAT. Hopefully this will be the answer we should have gotten from the beginning.

Of course, now that we know he's allergic to Amox, it makes me furious that he was rx-ed it so many times - times after we begged for something else because of the pain and vomiting that Max went through. It's taken FG for me to advocate stronger and harder for my boy.

Getting Healthy

The last few weeks have been a joy in terms of Max -- while we only recently discovered his sensitivity to chocolate, he's made it three weeks without any major meltdowns, at home or at school. Of course, he's only been to school for two days this week and one day last week - and four days the week before. I hate to say this, but I'm sort of nervous that he's been doing so well since he hasn't been at school much. I'm telling you, if we went back in time to when Matt was rolling in Five Guys cash, I would have quit my job in a heartbeat. Now, we need my salary. It sucks.

Anyway, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were big FG victories for us. First of all, Max had been struggling for about 3-4 days with what I thought were allergies: coughing, stuffy nose, etc. He seemed fine for the most part -- and then, on Tuesday, he spiked a fever. Turns out he has the beginning of a double ear infection. What does the "beginning" mean? That he had fluid in his ears and that the ear infection was most likely going to take hold.

Max had chronic ear infections as a kid -- CHRONIC. But he hasn't had one in almost two years. Still, giving him an antibiotic was a conflict for me; first, because of his gut health and, second, because of the dyes/flavors.

I went to CVS. Walgreen's. The grocery store. The compounding pharmacy downtown -- no one could give me a kid's liquid antibiotic without flavor/color. I begrudgingly filled it. But I never gave it to him. Instead, I called the doctor the next day and had her prescribe plain old Amoxicillin capsules. I mix the powder in honey and he takes it orally. No colors. No artificials. No upsetting the FG balance. I feel vindicated. I feel like I've won a battle for my child, and all I had to do was ask.

We're trying some homeopathic stuff, too -- tea tree and olive oils in the ears, specifically. But since the fever is hanging on, I think the antibiotic is a necessity. We're hoping he goes back to school tomorrow. And we're hoping that next week we can get back to a daily routine.

Which still begs the question -- what about this summer? Am I keeping him home with me? Sending him a few days a week? It's a big decision...