Sun Allergy Effects

Our kiddos started summer day camp on Monday. We forgot Motor Mouth's sunscreen! That evening when we picked the kids up, The boy's sun allergy was in full force. He was itchy and in pain. Very uncomfortable.

The next morning, Motor Mouth's hands had swollen to 2x their normal size. He could not type or read. He couldn't button his shirt or brush his own teeth.

We were hesitant to take him to the doctor because they always say the same thing: Take over the counter pain meds and Benedryl. Our son was in so much pain we took him in. On the phone earlier, I actually told the nurse how frustrating a doctor visit is because that practice has done nothing for his sun allergy for five years.

The doctor was ready for us. He had researched the problem and had intelligent questions and viable options for us. Four doctors, two specialists and this was a first.

He asked if any fruit juices with red dyes had spilled on MM's hands. No. He asked if MM had eaten chips or salty foods. In fact, Monday morning I was solo parenting (J was out of town). Instead of defrosting the lunch bread, I burned it! We were going to be late so, for the first time in over 1.5 years, I bought my kids Lunchables. Guess what is high in sodium?! And a contributing factor to the swelling!!!

We did end up using an over the counter drug cocktail to get the H1 and H2 blockers because the combination made sense. I'm scheduling an immunologist appointment. Among other things, Motor Mouth needs to tested to see if he is a vampire. For real. Porphyria (sun allergy not madness) is attributed to vampires.

Motor Mouth was uncomfortable for two more days and his skin started blistering and has a very ugly red rash. But we are happy to report that the swelling has gone down. Motor Mouth is no longer in pain. He has full range if movement back in his arms. He has returned to talking non-stop and fighting with his sister.

Finger X-Ray

I should have posted this already. It's my broken finger. See the v-shaped line towards the tip? That's the break.

When it happened, there was so much blood and it was so incredibly painful. I thought I would need stitches. At the ER I felt like a baby but it really hurt a LOT. And even more when my heart would beat.

I was shocked when they told me it was broken. Shocked and relieved. It justified the pain and the ER visit....

Finger Update

Look! I can bend all of my fingers into a fist without pain!!! The road to recovery is paved with many little victories.

I pretty much only wear the splint when I'm working on our house or cleaning. Otherwise I wear a bandaid to protect my fingernail from getting snagged on something and ripping off in a painful, bloodied mess.

At work, I've been trying to type with my broken finger. It's a form if therapy the doctor said. I'm not allowed to do jujitsu. That's unfortunate cause I'm such a fan of the discipline.

The tip is still numb and bruised. It hurts if pressed. The nail looks gruesome but better. My nail bed is growing nicely. It will take 6 months to a year to fully recover my nail. Who knew???!!!

I'm thankful for a speedy healing. I am thankful that I did not lose the tip. I'm thankful it's not worse.

2 Weeks Later

You've come a long way, Baby!

Flip

23 hrs later...Look closely. That's not a shadow, it's still bleeding.

I was really loopy on pain meds this afternoon. How do people pop pills and function...? I was cra-cra on one pain killer every four hours.

ER Visit Tonight

At about 7:30 pm this evening I slammed my finger in the door. J rushed me to the ER where they determined my left middle finger was broken. The bottom part of my nail is gone. They had to create a new nail base so that I will have a nail in future. I will lose the rest of the nail as it is barely attached. Have to see a plastic surgeon in the next few days.

It is almost midnight. We picked up pain meds then got the kids from a friends' place. My finger continues to bleed and throb painfully.

I have an incredible husband. He was my hero tonight. J takes such good care of me and our little family.

The staff at Mercy Hospital's ER in Chicago were wonderful, kind, and funny. Mercy was the closest hospital and I am so glad we went there.

I feel blessed. And stoned. I'm on pain meds.

Important Sunscreen Information

Our son Motor Mouth has a sun sensitivity - or sun allergy as we refer to it. When exposed to the sun, Motor Mouth's skin becomes itchy and swells. To my son, it feels like he is burning from the inside out. Naturally, we are diligent to apply sunscreen. I thought we had a good sunscreen product from Whole Foods until I went to the  Environmental Working Group's website and saw this list of the 2010 Best Beach & Sport Sunscreens. 

The site states: "Our top-rated sunscreens all contain the minerals zinc or titanium. They are the right choice for people who are looking for the best UVA protection without any sunscreen chemical considered to be a potential hormone disruptor. None of the products contain oxybenzone or vitamin A and none are sprayed or powdered." Of these, they gave each sunscreen a rating from 0-2 Recommended, 3-6 Caution, or 7-10 Avoid. 

The sunscreen I had purchased was rated a 5. I went back to Whole Foods and purchased Badger, which is rated at a 1.  At $15.99 for 2.9 oz, I call it 'summer gold'. But when you consider a doctor's visit is $20-25, it is really inexpensive. So I bought 2. I'm testing it out to see how my boy does. I'll keep you posted. 

In the meantime, I recommend you read this article on sunscreens that they don't tell us about. I found it through my Twitter Friend JasonSimone. 

By all means, look 'em up.

Adventures in the ER - Painted Toes

I was sitting on a carpet when my foot was slit by a piece of glass. I tried to stop the bleeding, but blood dripped on the newer, off-white carpet!  My friend hopped on the Internet and read how to get blood out of carpet - a bowl of lukewarm water and mild detergent.

I ended up going to urgent care. 90 minutes later, I had received an x-ray to ensure no glass was in the wound, 5 painful shots of local anesthetic, 1 tetanus shot, and 2 stitches. I've never been awake while getting stitches!

Please note the condition of my toe nails while a very HOT doctor stitched me up. Let this be a lesson to you - Always have pretty toes. You never know when someone might see your toes!!

Like my MIL - She had pretty toes for her impromptu ankle procedure today!

Boyhood Right of Passage

Motor Mouth took a really bad tumble at baseball. It's a right of passage - skinning both knees and being on a concussion watch. 

I didn't realize just how bad a tumble 

it was until I checked out his body.

Right Knee

Left Knee

They don't make Bandaids big enough

Right hip

And he didn't even cry!!

Big Day

On May 5th, 1997, I was hit by a drunk driver. 

The ironic thing is that I was driving home from work - at a drug and alcohol counseling center. After the collision, I was stunned. My glasses had been thrown from my face in the impact. I remember looking at the other driver and thinking, "He looks drunk. But he can't be. It's only 4:40 in the afternoon." Even without my glasses, I could tell the man was drunk! 3x the legal limit, actually.

I was in rehab for almost 2 years. Why? Because one man made the choice to sit in a bar, drinking, for several hours one rainy, Monday afternoon and then made the choice to get in his truck and drive. Life as I had known it was gone.

If you drink even 1 glass, DON'T drive.

Motor Mouth Allergy Update #3

I got a call from Motor Mouth's allergist. 

No news is sometimes, no news. 

All of the tests came back normal. 

Motor Mouth does not have some crazy disease. 

But we still don't know what caused this. 

And we may never know. 

What we do know is we have pretty awesome 

medical insurance from J's job. Whoohoooo!

I Almost Killed My Husband!!

Church outside after hours clinic - Saturday

J got strep throat while on a crammed bus last Tuesday. He felt like crap all week. On Saturday morning, I told him he needed to go to an after hours clinic to get antibiotics. After he did the first wedding in our new church building, I drove him.

Diagnosis confirmed. Antibiotics and codene prescribed.

J went back to bed.

Now, I must say, I tried to maintain a great attitude. J kept asking me to keep the kids quiet. Friday through Monday morning, I shushed the kids and tried to get them to stay quiet so J could rest. All he did was sleep and moan. He was in a lot of pain. I don't think I won mother of the year, or wife of the year this weekend.

By this morning, I was stressed to the max. I wanted to kill J. Little did I know how close I was to actually ending his life.

J said he wanted to go back to the after hours clinic. It already cost us $70 on Saturday because they couldn't reach our insurance company to confirm coverage. I told him he didn't give the meds enough time to take effect and that he wasn't hydrating enough. I was pissed, but took him to the after hours clinic.

Church outside after hours clinic - Monday

To my great surprise and...sheer enjoyment...J came out with a HOT doctor in tow. The HOT doc, Dr C, was kind enough to explain J's condition to me. Basically, if we didn't take J to the ER, he could be dead tomorrow. Man, was he hot! Afterwards, I turned to J and said, 'He's hot'.

I had to drop J off at the ER because I couldn't take the kids in and I didn't have anyone to watch them. After texting and calling every Chicago person whose number is in my phone, I was on my way to drop the kids at Hippy Boy and Hippy Girl's. Apple Boy actually arranged it as I didn't have Hippy Boy's number in my phone. Now I do.

Thanks Hippy Boy and Hippy Girl! You rock.

It seems I took J to the University of Illinois at Chicago hospital. I thought I had dropped him off at Rush Hospital. That explains why my iPhone kept telling me to go 'the wrong way' when I tried to google directions to Rush. Ha ha! iPhone is only as good as the idiot using it!

J had strep throat which progressed in to peritonsillar abscess. He couldn't open his mouth bigger than the above photo. J's lower face and neck were so swollen, his bottom jaw was protruding so his bottom teeth stuck out past his upper teeth and you couldn't understand him. For my Okies - he sounded like a hick with a huge wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth.

Doogie Howser, MD

ER Resident....28 years old

Dr. Lowery

a.k.a. Doogie Howser's Younger Brother

Oral Surgeon Resident...Age 26

(I could be his mother!)

That is NOT hair on his chin - it's a shadow!

Doogie Houser said J would get knocked out.

Nope! Localized. J was PISSED.

Not as pissed as when J gave me the sign for 'shut up'

when I tried to set up his surgeon with the

Pharmacy Tech from Dominick's!

See that bed pan? The doc gave that one to J.

I asked for one as well. They asked if I was getting woozy.

I tilted my head and looked down in response.

It's for Widney Wednesday!! Hahahahaha

I busted out laughing a few minutes later. J was so PISSED.

If the doctor didn't have a knife in his throat, J would have had me kicked out for sure.

Almost 100 cc's! Wooooohooooo!!

The doc and I almost did a high 5!

Big, black, male nurse feeding J applesauce.

What? You HAD to know that was a bloggable moment

Okay. I am not a thief. I don't steal things. Never have. I REALLY wanted to take the scalpel the doc used. But J said absolutely not.

I am HAPPY - THRILLED - ECSTATIC - to report J is feeling 1,000 times better. Maybe tomorrow I can touch him - just his hand at first - for the first time in over a week. I've missed him.

Motor Mouth's Allergy Update #2

This is Michael, the uber friendly receptionist 

at the Allergy & Immunology Clinic

This is Motor Mouth on August 19th

This is Motor Mouth on August 9th in the ER

This is Moor Mouth having a skin test.

Motor Mouth is allergic to oak trees, dust, cats.

Sorry, no pictures of me dancing around and singing "What's up pussy cat" and "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Rehab" in the exam room for 15 minutes in a desperate attempt to keep Motor Mouth from scratching his itching, itching arm!!

(intentionally left blank)

This is Motor Mouth getting blood drawn for the 1st time.

This is how much more we know about what caused his severe allergic reaction.

(intentionally left blank)

Doc says they won't know what happened to cause his face to swell to unrecognizable proportions unless it happens - again.

We'll keep you posted.

Motor Mouth Allergy Update #1

As you may recall from my blog on Saturday, Motor Mouth had a severe allergic reaction, requiring him to go to the ER. 

There was a birthday party for Grandma Grandma at Widney Manor Saturday evening. Motor Mouth was so self-conscious about his appearance, he didn't want Skaterboy, his friend, to see his face. Motor Mouth went to the costume store and picked up a Batman mask and cape. 

Motor Mouth LOVES Batman!! 

He also picked up eye masks and animal noses (elephant tusk, mouse nose, etc.) for the other children so Motor Mouth didn't stand out and didn't have to worry about how he looked. It worked!!

I am happy to report Motor Mouth's face and hand swelling (yeah, his hands and arms were a bit swollen as well) has gone done. My beautiful boy is back!! He has a couple of scratches on his face from when he was rubbing it on the way back from the lake Friday.

The kiddos and I decided to take BUS by OURSELVES to the doctor's new office. 

Motor Mouth would have me to tell you we took the #8 Halsted bus.

Feed Mini Me and she is good to go!

The doctor prescribed an EpiPen Jr and a referral to an allergist. I called the allergist on the way out the door of the doctor's office. Good thing!! Initially, I was told Motor Mouth would not be able to get in for "MONTHS". Then, she found an opening for Tuesday morning. I don't know what I am doing with Mini Me yet, but Motor Mouth and I will be there!!

Sun Allergy

We went boating yesterday afternoon. Motor Mouth started having itchy arms and his face was burning/itching.  He kept putting water on to soothe it. At 11 pm when he went to bed, he seemed fine. A little coughing, but fine for the most part.

By 5 am, Motor Mouth looked like this.  

J and his dad took Motor Mouth to the ER. They gave him a steroid and we are giving him allergy meds. I'm happy to report Motor Mouth can now see out of his right eye. His eye is about 1/3 open and his face is still too swollen to recognize him. But we believe the swelling to be coming down.

I went online and typed in 'sun allergy'. From the sounds of it, Motor Mouth has this (technically, it is an immune system thing). I just thought Motor Mouth was allergic to Oklahoma!

When we return to Chicago, I will take Motor Mouth to be tested to confirm my net diagnosis and to rule out other things.  But it sounds like there really is such a thing as being allergic to the sun.