Always an Adventure!

Today is officially Pediatric Cancer Awareness Day! In honor of this day, I wanted to share a link with you. If you CLICK HERE you can read all about the research grants funded by the Alex's Lemonade Foundation. I mailed our big donation check yesterday for...drum roll please...$2,700.48! Honestly, God was all over this project and blessed us beyond our highest hopes! Our goal was $1,000 and we had that before the end of day 1!!! On the website from the Foundation, they have a "fun fact" that says a donation of $2,000 will fund a research project for a week! I wonder which week we all will be funding soon...I wonder what developments will be made that week???

It's been a while since I have had a "ready to bang my head against a wall medical story" to share with all of you! Today is your lucky day my friends:) It all starts with me picking up fish fries for dinner last night. And they were delicious!! As we cleaned up after dinner we noticed Cara had a little rash around her chin and forehead areas. As the night went on it seemed a little worse, but not terrible. During the night she was up a lot, just crying and restless. By morning, her whole face was puffy and covered in a red, spotty, blotchy rash. She was really overtired and irritable all morning. I had Matt pick up some Benadryl on his way home from work this morning. She barely took a nap, and by 2:30pm was just inconsolable. The rash covered her tummy, back, neck, and her face. She was itching like crazy and I knew she must have had a reaction to the fish.

I called our pediatrician who told me not to take her to the ER unless she was having trouble breathing or scratching so hard that she bled. I just love advice like that. In those situations, I think to myself, "Oh yes, I will just sit here and wait until she can't breathe, or until she is bleeding...sounds like a plan." We decided I would take her to one of those Urgent Care places in Buffalo. On the way I called the insurance company and they assured me they covered Urgent Care for only a $20 copay (versus $100 ER). After a 40 minute drive, and a 20 minute wait, the triage person at the clinic told me that they don't accept my insurance because they are privately owned. She told me that another facility 10 minutes away would take my insurance. So, back in the car we went. We signed in, waited 10 minutes, got called up to the desk, and were told that our insurance was not accepted here either. With an itchy girl at my side, I looked at the lady in tears...she told me that there is another place, about 10 minutes away that takes our insurance. Instead of going totally postal (believe me,I was really close) I politely told her that I wasn't leaving until they called the other place to make sure we would be seen. She was very nice, and called and even got me an appointment for 20 minutes later.

Back in the car we went...only a 15 minute car ride, and 20 minute wait later, and we had a doctor standing in front of us!!! He quickly confirmed that she had a pretty bad reaction to some kind of food. By this point the rash was covering her entire body and she was quite swollen. He checked her tongue and breathing, which were fine. He explained that even though she had eated fish before without any problem, it was quite possible that she is now allergic to it. He prescribed some Prednisone and told us that we needed to follow up with our doctor and pursue allergy testing. Another 50 minute car ride and stop at the pharmacy later, and we were home, just in time for bed. I love when a 10 minute doctor's visit takes an hour and a half in the car, 3 different clinics, and 4 hours of my time:) I will tell you that I had the cutest, most well-behaved, rashy little girl on Earth with me the whole time. I love her SO much!

I will add *allergist* to my list of October appointments including Brady's cancer scans, Cara's eye surgery, Brady's spinal specialist, and Allie's spot on her leg being removed!