Allergic Nightmare!

Before we left the park on Friday I finally got some cell phone reception and was able to talk to one of the nurses who said they would relay all the information they got to the doctor and then call me back and tell me what he thought.

She called me back around five and said that the doctor wanted me to stop giving him his Amoxicillan (he had a double ear infection and had been taking it for 7 days prior to the break out and had 3 more days to go).  She said that from what I described to her James was having an allergic reaction to it.  She told me to keep giving him Benadryl and monitor him closely.  I asked if James' doctor would call in a steroid for James and she said no that he wouldn't.  I insisted that she give him a message that I wanted to speak to him. 

The doctor called me back and I begged for a steroid.  I told him that my sweet little man was suffering and us being four hours away and not knowing any doctors in this area that we really needed his help.  He told me he could not call in a steroid without seeing my son in person.  He told me to monitor him closely and watch for troubled breathing.  I hung up and was very upset.  I understood but at the same time I did not like his answer.  It's hard to feel helpless when your child is suffering.

This is his poor little face Friday evening as we were headed back to the cabin.

This is what the rest of his poor little body was covered in.

Friday night/Saturday morning was the longest 12 hours of my life.  James started burning up and vomiting in the middle of the night.  We were so worried and James was so upset that Micah slept on the floor with him all night long.  Nothing in the world is scarier than wondering if your child is going to stop breathing.  Every little noise he made would catapult us from our beds.
Morning finally hit and we loaded the car as quickly as possible and headed for home to the Instacare.  This is James' face while we were headed on our 4 hour trip home.

We finally made it to the Instacare were we met Dr. Casey.  He took such great care of my little man and talked to him as he examined him.  He said that James had a "severe allergic reaction to Amoxicillan" and that it was the most "impressive case" he had ever seen.  He then asked if one of his colleagues could come in and see James, that he had never seen such a case and that it would be a great learning experience.
This is my poor little mans chest.

These horrible hives melted into each other causing huge, raised, welt like masses.  On some parts of his body the centers of them turned purple like he had been bruised.
His poor little face was the saddest thing, it made my heart ache.

His entire bum was red and purple.  It was awful!  His legs looked terrible too.

Saturday night/Sunday morning we had a scare when I went to give him his meds and his lips were slightly swollen.  He wasn't having a difficult time breathing but it scared us bad enough that we had him come sleep in bed with us so we could watch him better.
This is his little face Sunday afternoon.  The welts on his face were pretty much gone, but his poor little face was still very red and swollen.  His feet and hands were also very swollen and red.

Today my little man has no more hives!  He still gets very hot from time to time and it makes me so upset that I can't do anything about it.  He gets very upset easily, but I just blame that on all the drugs in his system (I even caught him yelling at his sister in his sleep this morning).  It is truly a miracle to look at his little face and see how far he has come.  I am so grateful for modern medicine and for the great doctors at the Instacare.  I am so grateful for the priesthood and that my Micah was able to give sweet little man a blessing.  I am so thankful for the many prayers friends and family made for James.  My greatest comfort came through prayer.  I can not believe the improvement that he has made in such a short amount of time.  We are feeling truly blessed.