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Tru has been a devil’s child lately. While she had RSV, she would not stop touching Heidi’s toys and handing them to her. As careful as we were, washing them every time we witnessed this happen, we couldn’t keep Heidi from getting sick. So Heidi’s battling Tru’s RSV now. She doesn’t have a fever, but she is developing a slight ear infection. Her doctor put her on amoxicillin with strict instructions to be on the lookout for erythema multiforme like Tru gets when she takes penicillin. So far, so good. No signs of reaction yet.

Yesterday, I moved a plant from the dining room into the toy room so that it could get some better sunlight. The plant is a peace lily that I brought back to Huntsville from my grandmother’s funeral. I stuck my head in the toy room after dinner yesterday to find that Tru had pulled off about 60% of the leaves, shredded them, and thrown them all over Heidi in her exersaucer like confetti on a partygoer. She was very apologetic when I started crying and told her how much the plant meant to me. When we were getting ready for bed, she told me that when it gets to be my birthday, she will buy me a new special plant.

This morning. she found the Elmer’s glue. She took things out of that same drawer and glued them to the front of our brand new refrigerator! At least Elmer’s is water based. I couldn’t punish her too badly, though, because she took responsibility for her actions and said she was sorry. She’s either becoming much more repentant lately or much more manipulative. I guess only time will tell.

I sure hope my poor peace lily pulls through.

Update @2:46 PM: Tru pulled another leaf off my plant.

Update: pictures of her rash taken April 27th.

Well, here we go again. Tru has erythema multiforme again. For background on last time, see here, here, here, then here, and see here for pictures. We went to the doctor Friday, April 18th because she had a fever, and she tested positive for strep throat that day. They prescribed Omnicef, a mild cephalosporin antibiotic which she’s had several times with no reaction. She got better but then developed a fever again by the next Friday (yesterday). We took her back in, and she had bad ear infections in both ears. They prescribed Ceftin, a stronger cephalosporin antibiotic, and told us to stop with the Omnicef. It tasted horrible, so we were only able to get her to take a half dose that night and another half dose or less this morning. We probably wasted 3 doses attempting to get that small amount into her! Since we were so unsuccessful administering the antibiotics, we called the doctor this morning and asked if they could do it in the form of a shot, which we knew would be much more effective and convenient. They agreed and we went in. Between the time we spoke on the phone and the time we got to the doctor’s office, Tru had developed a bright red, splotchy rash on her legs, arms, and face. They told us that it may be an allergic reaction to Ceftin, so they didn’t want to give her the shot, which would also be a strong cephalosporin. They sent us home with a prescription for Zithromax, which is not as effective on ear infections but is the only other option since Tru is also allergic to penicillins. By the time she woke up from her nap around 5, her rash had developed hives and become very itchy. We were positive by this time that she was developing erythema multiforme again. We took her to the emergency room because the doctor’s office had closed, so that she could be prescribed steroids. We’re back at home now, and she has steroids in her system. Last time, it took 48 hours or more from the onset of the rash to get steroids into her. This time, it took only 12 hours, so we are hoping and praying that the reaction is less severe since we caught it early.

As I understand right now, penicillins and cephalosporins are the two most effective classes of antibiotics for children under the age of about 15. However, we have to proceed now as if Tru is allergic to all penicillins and all cephalosporins except Omnicef, which means until she gets much older, she will be extremely limited in the treatment she can receive for bacterial infections. There are other antibiotics not in those two classes, but they are not nearly as effective as penicillins and cephalosporins. The Zithromax she’s on now is not in either of those classes, but it is one of those ineffective antibiotics. We’re basically just crossing our fingers hoping that it will be able to knock out this infection, especially since Omnicef was also ineffective this time for some reason, when it is usually much more effective than Zithromax. Please pray that Tru not only recovers quickly from her erythema multiforme, but that the antibiotic she is on now is effective against her infection and that she remains healthy enough in the next ten years that her allergies don’t prevent her from getting good treatment for any infections she may develop. About 5% of people who are allergic to penicillins are also allergic to cephalosporins.

Thanks for all your prayers and comments! Tru is doing much better now. The steroid and benadryl have really helped a lot. Her rash is about 90% gone now, and all she has left are the bruises caused by the peteciae. The doctor said these could take a week or more to go away. She is still very cranky, so I think she’s still tired from her illness. At least she isn’t itchy anymore!

Attached is a picture we took of her holding a picture of what she looked like when she was sickest.

Tru finally has a diagnosis! She has erythema multiforme as a result of a an allergic reaction to amoxycillin. Erythema multiforme (er-a-THEEM-a mul-tee-FOR-mee) is a specific type of rash that is characterized by spots that look like three concentric circles: an outer red ring followed by a normal skin colored ring, followed by an inner red ring. Swelling causes peteciae (pa-TEE-kee-ah) (bright red dots underneath the skin caused by bursting capillaries), which causes the rash to turn from red to purple after time. Its most common between ages 3 and 20, and is supposed to be very rare under age 3. There is a form of EM that can be very serious, but that form is even rarer and characterized by lesions in the mouth, which Tru does not have.

She is on steroids now and seems like it isn’t getting any worse. The doctor says it will be bad like this for about 5 more days then it will last 3-4 more weeks but not as bad. That is a *good* thing because she’s really unhappy now from what seems like constant burning and itching. She’s also officially allergic to penicillins.

All, please pray for her. It breaks our hearts.

More pictures here.

Erin left us by ourselves tonight so we decided to … order pizza! Tru had almost 2 pieces! Not only is the house a complete disaster when she came home, with both of our “snot rags” all over the place, but also their are empty pizza boxes.

From the “not so fun” news category, Tru has a bad rash all over. Right before Erin left for me to babysit, we woke her up from her nap. She was covered in horrible looking rashes from head to toe. If you look close at the picture, you can see it on her face (underneath the pizza). The ones on her thighs got so bad before she went to bed that they are bleeding a little Poor Tru. I wish it was me and not her. I’m sure she is feeling worse than I do and she’s taking it better.

We did go to the doctor. Erin was supposed to leave and it was my night to babysit. It was almost 5 so I knew the docs would be closign soon (they had already switched on the answering service). So off Tru and I went, both sick as could be, racing to the doctors. It took all the energy I had to get upstairs to their office and I could hardly speak, partially because of being sick, partially from being winded, and partially scared for Tru. I did get into the doctor and she said that Tru was fine, gave us some Benedril, and sent us on our way. Erin called while we were there to tell me that she left the car keys in the diaper bag! That means that even after all of that effort to get Tru to the doctor and Erin might has well have gone or at least come help because she was late and couldn’t leave until I got back anyways!

Michael

Tru and Michael are both sick. Tru had a sinus infection several weeks ago that was cleared up quickly by a run of standard antibiotics, so when she got sick last week, displaying the same symptoms as in her previous illness, we thought it was the same thing. We took her to the doctor, who quickly prescribed the same treatment. After four days on the treatment with no improvement, we began to worry that she had something different. Yesterday morning, we awoke to find her sporting a 102 degree fever. It spiked to 103 just before the appointment we had scheduled earlier that morning. She has a virus, although its not the flu. We’ve been treating the fever with Tylenol, Motrin, cold bottles, and bare skin. Today her fever broke, got up to 103.4 again, and has since broken again. She was normal when she went to bed a few minutes ago. I sure hope it doesn’t come back overnight!

We think Michael has something different from Tru though, because he has no fever. He’s got aches, headache, congestion, and a sore throat. He stayed home from work the first half of today and may take the whole of tomorrow off.

Update: Tru had a fever of over 104.4 at 4AM this morning when I got up and checked on her. I gave her Tylenol and Motrin and put her back to bed. It was 101 at 5AM and 98 at 8AM.

Update: Tru got her fever back around lunchtime. She woke up from her nap at 4PM with hives all over her body, concentrated on her hands, hips, legs, and feet. Mike is taking her to the doctor right now. Pray that it is just a minor allergy or reaction to the virus!