Who knew?

**warning, the photo at the end of the post is of a sensitive nature, proceed with caution**

I know it's been quite some time since my last update.

A little follow up first. The FAAN walk last year was quite the experience and so worthwhile. I'm hoping to get an even larger group together for this coming September when the walk is back in San Francisco.

Mason's food allergies seem to be managed between home and daycare well enough. There's an occassional slip up, but we know what to look for and how to treat it, so it's managed. We have not done any food trials since our accidental experiment over Thanksgiving and I'm in no rush to try.

Now's the time of year that seasonal allergies are on the rise. About this time last year it seemed we were constantly fighting a stuffy runny nose, a wet cough and sneezes abounded. Speaking with his allergist on several occassions we both suspected seasonal allergies (Hay Fever), but since he was so young, just over a year, it wasn't commonly seen and we were dealing with it as any other cold. For a child his age, there's not much you can do to offer relief in the stuffy, coughey, sneezy department.

Well, seems the seasonal stuff is back in full swing. Not only are we constantly battling a cough and runny nose, but his eczema on his legs is a constant battle to keep under control. It doesn't seem to bother him too terribly bad, but I just hate seeing those little red welts and scaley patches. Dealing with it myself is bad enough, but I just ache seeing that he has to deal with it too.

So there were plans put into place to do a blood screening for allergies (RAST). The environmental SPT didn't really come back with any strong hits, and we are all well aware of his food restrictions, but there might just be something more we're missing or wasn't included on the first round of SPT's.

We had arranged to do this on Friday, tomorrow, but as always, plans with a toddler are never permanent. Last night, on my way to pick up Mason from childcare, I get a call from the provider. She's just changed Mason's diaper and there's a palm sized welt on his left hip/buttock - what should she do. Mind you, we've never had a hive that large before and there weren't any others popping up. I was only 15 min away and asked that she keep him isolated until I arrived to inspect.

No joke, it was the size of an adults hand. I quickly stripped him down to inspect every inch of him & found no other spots. Curious. Normally with a reaction there's a cluster of spots. Some I would call large, but nothing like this. I'd never seen anything on this scale before, so I wasn't sold that it was a hive.

Next step, temperature read. It was a digital underarm read and by the time it pinged 100 I dropped it, said a quick good-bye to daycare and called the advice nurse. It didn't seem to be an emergency, he was breathing fine, no swelling, but of concern and worth an office visit the next day.

Which brings us to today. The welt is gone, temp is still fluctuating, but it's manageable with regular doses of Tylenol.

We managed to get a pretty good photo of the welt before it vanished & I emailed that along to his Dr. before our appointment. His assessment? It was a hive! It's not unheard of for a child to develop an allergic reaction when their body is fighting off a virus. Instead of just flushing out the bad guys, they hung around, so his body went into agressive fight mode and there you have a hive. Now this is in the most simplest terms, but essentially Mason is allergic to his cold.

It's now, as I mentioned previously, vanished. It could come back in a completely different area and we shouldn't be surprised if another one pops up with his next cold. Unless it's bothersome to him or being irritated by his clothing, we are to ignore them. Otherwise, we treat him with his anti-histamine and it should fade away swiftly.

Now's the time for those who are sensitive to look away. This is a hive, if you can believe it.