Every day is what you make it..: ***Update on Clay..***

Last i wrote Clay had pneumonia and a viral skin rash.. a few days after that rash showed up it went away. His temp was down also so we were excited that he was finally getting better. Well the day after his rash went away he got up with new little hives on his legs. This time he acted like they itched. I couldn't get a hold of the doctor so I decided that i wasn't going to give him his antibiotics that morning.. and i would try benadryl instead to see if i could get rid of the rash. I finally talked to Clay's ped and we decided that if i dosed him with benadryl all day and the rash was still there i would bring him in that next morning. With benadryl in his system all day every 4 hours - his rash only got worse. He was screaming and scratching and just horrible. The next morning he got up and all i could do was sob at what he looked like. Will was working still so i drug both kids 45 mins away to Clay's doc. Official word - they weren't sure. It could be an allergic reaction to his amoxicillin, or something worse. She was leaning towards Kawasaki Disease . But the problem was that Clay's symptoms weren't fitting on exact diagnosis... so she started him on 2 more antihistamines... Zantac and Zyrtec and gave me a script for steroids just in case. After 2 days of meds he was only getting worse so we decided to give him a dose of steroids. Within 24 hours he looked 50% better! I called on Monday and let her know but she wanted me to stop the steroids and see if his body would fight whatever he had on it's own. :( so i stopped the steroids Monday morning..... that day Clay refused to eat or drink and had gradually started to break out again and itch and scream. A little after dinner i decided to take him back to the E.R. once again. Will was working but fortunately i had 2 friends here at the house with me so one stayed with Carly and one went with me to the E.r.

After a few hours of waiting... next diagnosis - Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease

OY!

So he was given a lidocaine mouth rinse and was asking for food and drink about 15 mins later!

The E.R. doc said he was almost sure it was an allergic reaction to his antibiotics and ordered that he be put back on the steroids... considering this had been going on for weeks.. and prior he had had a 105 fever... etc.. his body was in no shape to fight anything.

We went back to his pediatrician on Monday and she gave us another prescription for more steroids and the magic mouthwash he was given in the E.R. I am slowly lowering his steroid intake in the hopes that maybe his body rash wont flare up too bad once he is off of them. The steroids are wreaking their own havoc on his body. :( His tummy is upset and he is eating everything in sight... and they are making him extremely angry and moody :( UGH... Imagine a 2ft tall toddler / body builder with a bad attitude plus roid rage lol.

So - today he is at a little less than 2ml of the steroids and i will slowly decrease them as long as his body is doing ok... In the meantime i ordered him some infant probiotics and i am going to start those asap so maybe i can get his tummy and digestive tract feeling better.

We are just so exhausted. Having a small child with such a high body temp for so long is stressful enough. But to have one thing after another happen ... has just been horrendous. :( But we are hanging in there...

Also - to make things even more stressful Clay had his annual heart appt this past Tuesday. His hole is still there. Thus far his cardiologist doesn't hear that there is any damage to his valve. But - because his hole is right next to a valve there is a good chance that the blood rushing through that hole will damage it. Which would mean valve replacement. Of course we would want to avoid that so the doctor said that there is an 80% chance that they will need to patch the hole before it does damage and we should prepare ourselves that Clay will need heart surgery. :(

That was seriously the last thing i wanted to hear on top of all the other health issues right now and I started crying when she told me :(

The good news is it's NOT going to be right now... but if he falls into that 80% then he would most likely need the surgery by age 10. The longer he goes with the hole and no valve damage the better his chances are that he may never need surgery.. but as long as the hole is there it is always something that he will have to have checked.

We go back in 6 months for another ECHO of his heart and we will probably know more at that appt since they can look at his valve to be certain.

Here is pictures from Clay's last week or so...

Here's the start of his rash that he woke up with..