Big Boo Boo

On the second day of school, Nathan got of the bus and walked up to me saying "Mom, my hand's a little swollen."  He pulled his hand out of his pocket where he had been hiding it and I noticed immediately that he wasn't kidding.  His right hand was swollen to about twice it's regular size.

The night before, he noticed a bug bite on his wrist when it started to get itchy.  We put cream on it and sent him to bed.  When he woke in the morning he complained that his wrist felt stiff but I didn't notice any swelling.

As the day progressed the swelling got worse.  I asked Nate why he didn't tell his teacher about his hand and he said he did tell her but it wasn't too bad yet and he could still write easily so she didn't seem concerned.  Eventually Nathan could tell the swelling was getting even worse and instead of informing his teacher he kept it hidden under his desk and in his pocket.  I asked Nate why he didn't say anything about it a second time, and he said he was too embarrassed.  My mothers heart broke, poor kid.  I asked Nate what he did at recess and he said he walked around with his hand in his pocket and told people he didn't want to play.

I have had zero experience with bug bites that cause this type of side effect so I hopped on the trusty ol' Internet and started researching.  It didn't do me any good or put my mind at ease, so I called our doctor to see what I should do.  They suggested we bring him in to get checked out.  Even our doctor was a bit stumped with this particular case, mostly due to the fact that the bite/sting site was barely noticeable and didn't have any other tell tale signs besides the swelling.  We were sent on our way with instructions to give him regular doses of Benadryl to help fight the reaction, Tylenol for an as need basis for comfort, a prescription for an antibiotic because he had slight red streaks running up his arm and a follow up appointment for the next day to see if it was improving.

Nathan ended up missing the third day of school because his right hand was still swollen and it was difficult for him to write, plus he'd rather not have everyone see his awkward looking appendage.  He spent the day taking it easy reading books and watching movies.  By the time we visited with our doctor in the afternoon, the swelling had gone down a little and the red streaks had disappeared completely.  We could even see the mysterious bite/sting site.  It was declared that Nate would live!  He was able to return to school for the remainder of the week.  It took longer that I expected for the swelling to go away.  We kept giving him the Benadryl and antibiotic and after a week the swelling was totally gone.  

Moral of the story: avoid bug bites!