The Mohrmann Family: Ben's ER Visit

Ben had his second visit to the ER today. (First one was in October when he had the swine flu and then developed pneumonia. He wasn't admitted, just a chest x-ray and antibiotics before being sent home.) Here is the story. Ben woke up with swollen knees. I thought maybe he had been crawling around in his crib or something and didn't think much of it. Then when he was eating breakfast, I noticed a bump on his head, similar to many he has had from falling and hitting his head. He hasn't hit his head recently, so I figured he banged his head while he was crawling around in his crib.

Fast forward to around 9am. We are all getting dressed to go out and play outside in the snow and I notice the swollen knees again and some random rashy spots on his belly. When we come back inside and undress I change Ben's diaper and see more spots around his private area and on his thighs. Elbows are swollen now and also his feet. I decide that I might be the paranoid mom, but I am calling the doctor. Ben isn't acting like himself and was even shaking as he sat on my lap reading books.

I call Dr. Z (the pediatrician) and the nurse listens to me describe my son's swollen knees and how he is just acting weird, not himself. The nurse tells Dr. Z and he tells us to come in right away. I call Gregg (Henry's booster is in his work car, of course.) and he comes home and takes us all to the doctor. On the way we notice his ears (yes ears) are swollen and he has the spots on his face. He is lethargic and limp. Dr. Z thinks it's Fifth Disease until he sees Ben and talks to us. After that, he doesn't know and suggests we go to St. John's Pediatric ER and get several test done to rule out things. He is worried because the rash is spreading relatively fast and the swollen joints.

We arrive at St. John's Pediatric ER (love this place by the way) around 12:15pm. They were wonderful and the nurses and doctors were all fabulous. They drew LOTS of blood from our little guy and left in an IV to give medicine. They gave him benadryl around 1 and the spots and redness and swelling started to go down. His ears went back to normal and his hands/arms were a lot less red as well as his face. The ER doctor as well as Dr. Z felt that since he was responding well to the benadryl we could leave. They gave him some anti-nausea medicine as well as Motrin before we left. He was a whole new kid when we got home!

Ben ate dinner, played with Henry, had a bath and books before going to bed at his normal 7pm. He is now sleeping soundly and we hope he does until the morning. We go back to Dr. Z in the morning (thank goodness for snow day #2 tomorrow) to check the swelling and to see if we have any other test results back. Forgot to add that before we left, his initial blood work as all normal. Another reason they felt we could go home. On Monday we will see a pediatric rheumatologist to go over all of the comprehensive blood work and tests that they performed.

Please say a little prayer for our big guy! We thank you!!!

Refused to put on the gown!