Do People Still Get That?!?!

If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that expression (or something very similar) in the past month I might not be rich but I'd certainly have a mani pedi for free.

Nathan was diagnosed on Monday May 13th with scarlet fever. This followed 3 days of a high fever, one day of blissful ignorance and 10 days of an ever worsening rash. His fever came on a Tuesday (April 30th to be exact) with one little ulcer in his mouth and a slightly irritated throat, and the pediatrician reasonably thought it was another bout of hand-foot-mouth or another virus that had been going around. And maybe she was right.

Then came the rash. Started on his back and was very innocent looking. We actually thought it was heat rash or a food allergy since we had just been to the zoo that day. When the rash didn't subside I thought maybe he had the roseola virus where you get a high fever followed by a rash. Reasonable. Something that goes away on its own.

Then the rash kept spreading and was obviously itchy and getting worse and more inflamed as it grew. By the time we went back to the pediatrician (7 days after the fever broke and 6 days into the rash) it was spreading but hadn't made it into his face or limbs yet. No sore throat. Pediatrician still voted for a virus. Treat with hydrocortisone and benedryl and instructions to come back Monday if it wasn't gone. This was a Thursday.

By Saturday morning  it was spreading into his face and arms and legs. At this point no one is sleeping for any decent amount of time. I also got a call from Nathan's daycare on Friday saying another child in the school had scarlet fever. Wait, what?! So we made an unplanned trip to the RediClinic to get a strep test done. Evidently scarlet fever starts as strep and gets out of hand. That's the extent of my knowledge. The RediClinic person took a throat  swab and did the rapid strep test. Came back negative. New diagnosis: petechiae rosacea because the rash on his back had a "christmas tree" pattern. Treat with benedryl and Calydryl lotion. Do NOT use hydrocortisone. Could last weeks. Sigh.

So much red it is actually hard to tell what is rash vs. normal skin.

Back view.  This look eventually made it down his legs, arms, face...everywhere!

I didn't have overwhelming confidence in the nice boy at the clinic, so I still made an appointment with our pediatrician on Monday. We were now 10 days into the rash. It continued to spread over his face and more aggressively down his arms and legs and in the mean time was worsening everywhere else. This is day 14 of being sick (between fever and rash). Our pediatrician looked Nathan over and wanted to consult with another doctor in the practice. Turns out diagnosing a rash with no other symptoms isn't so easy!  While she waited to catch the other doctor between patients she took a throat swab and started running a rapid test and full culture, expecting it to be negative because Nathan still didn't have a severe looking sore throat. She and the other doctor had just agreed on this being yet another viral rash when the nurse poked her head in with news that the strep culture was positive.

So now we finally had a diagnosis and real treatment path! Antibiotics for the strep, prescription liquid and cream for the itching, and eczema friendly lotion for everything else. What a relief!!! Unfortunately none of these worked immediate miracles and we still got no sleep for many nights as Nathan tossed and turned and scratched and cried. My poor precious angel. Thankfully after a few days of the antibiotics we noticed an improvement in the rash spread rate and it started healing in some places. Sadly, the healing process is much like a bad sunburn and involves extensive peeling of the affected area. More itching. Still no sleep.

After full 3 weeks into this mess the rash had almost fully healed and was only still peeling in a few places. We were able to control the itching with Cetaphil lotion and gradually got back on a normal sleep schedule - most notably one that involves Nathan spending the entire night in his own bed instead of ours. We finished the antibiotics on the Thursday before Memorial Day. By Sunday, though Nathan started itching again in the old familiar places and was acting a little fussy. When I got home from a weekend with my girls I saw he had a runny nose and the rash was starting to show up again on his legs most notably, although he was itching his head, ears, lower back and diaper line...all the places that got the worst before.

Of course Monday was Memorial Day and our doctor doesn't work on Tuesdays. So we took him in on Wednesday and sure enough, he still has the strep throat, and hence scarlet fever. I am SO glad we took him back to the doctor. A part of me was in definite denial that it could still be hanging around. But he is now on a slightly stronger antibiotic that should take care of everything (including preventing an ear infection that was threatening to form due to his little cold). Oh, did I mention that it is now June 1st and we have been dealing with this for an ENTIRE MONTH!!!! I hope this is a once in a lifetime thing because I never ever want to experience it again. Thank the good Lord for my even tempered child who takes medicine and the application of copious amounts of lotion like a champ!