Eating My Words...

About a week and a half ago Daniel broke out with a fine rash all over his body. I hadn't seen anything like it so to make sure it wasn't some weird and funky disease I wanted to take him to the doctor. Only when I called for an appointment with his regular doctor they couldn't get me in for a few days. I didn't want to wait that long so I called a different office in which they could get me in that day, but only to see a nurse practitioner. Now with our kids and the various sorts of ailments they have had, my experience with physician's assistants and nurse practitioners have not been very positive. I have had a few doozy false diagnosis from them and I try to avoid them if at all possible, but in this instance I thought a rash is pretty harmless and I would take a chance. I took Daniel in to see the nurse practitioner, but with a very skeptical attitude. Looking at the rash she didn't quite know what it was until she got Daniel's allergen history then all of a sudden she just knew it was an allergic rash. I didn't quite believe it because Daniel has never reacted that way to anything ever. If he gets exposed to something he's allergic to he breaks out in hives along with an asthmatic reaction never a rash related to allergies. I had also been with him for the 3 previous days straight so I have seen everything he had eaten and come in contact with and there was nothing questionable, but you just never know. The nurse practitioner gave me a prescription for a steroid lotion to apply twice a day to help clear it up. She also told me to change all of my laundry detergent, his shampoo and his soap to the dye free scent free kind. She also wanted me to give him Clariten allergy medication in the morning and follow it up with a dose of Benadryl at night. Seeing as I was already skeptical of what the rash was (I thought it was some follow up to a virus he just got over and that it would clear up on its own within a few days) this seemed like a lot to do just to have it get better on its own within a few days. Well now I am eating my words. A few days have come and gone--I am ashamed to say it has been over a week and the rash is still persistent as ever so I am now really eating my words. I had to dig out the prescription and went to fill it a few days ago along with buying the special lotion and soap she recommended. This allergic rash HAS to clear up within a few days because Daniel has an appointment with the allergist in about 10 days to do the skin prick test for all his allergies. This allergic rash makes his skin super reactive to anything and everything so to get accurate skin prick test results the rash has to be gone. Also to get an appointment with his allergist she is booking about 6 weeks out (and that was before allergy season has started) so we have had this appointment for a while. The bad thing is with the skin prick test Daniel cannot receive any Benadryl, cold or allergy medicine (such as Zyrtec, Clariten, etc.) or steroid in any form 7 days before the test so she can get accurate results. Well I have approximately 3 more days to get this rash cleared up before the 7 days moratorium of steroids, allergy/cold medication or Benadryl starts. I don't want to cancel the appointment because if I reschedule in another 6 or more weeks I will have had a baby or will be so close to having a baby I don't want to take the chance. Oh--if I would have only followed the advice initially this would have all been better and I wouldn't have had to worry about it. Funny how hind site is always 20/20. I wish kids came with parenting manuals! In the mean time I am following the nurse practitioner's advice, but I am hoping it's not too little, too late. It's a good thing I love him!