Second trip to ER within 24 hours of the first trip

Okay, if you haven't read about the first trip to the ER you really need to. So go read it and then come back to read the rest of the story and the second trip to the ER in the same day.

I left off on the last post stating that after changing Lil Kiwi I noticed the rash had spread to other parts of her body. We put her to bed at 5:30 in the afternoon and there was no rash on her belly but by 9:30 it was covering half of it.

Panic? No.... At first I figured it was normal.... maybe... Then I started to go over all the events of the past few hours... Thought about what the Doctors had said... What I had read on the internet about allergic reactions... and it started to seem not so normal....

So,  I called the ER to ask if it was normal or if I needed to be worried.... The nurse that answered the phone remembered us from that morning even though she never talked to us... She informed us that everyone she asked told her to have us come in ASAP...

We bundled up and headed back to the ER.

Since I was able to sneak in the back/side door last time I still had no clue where the ER really was. Thus, we had to walk through a parking lot and then up and around a building to get to it. We signed in and by the time I turned around to go to the waiting room one of the nurses from the morning told us to come with her.

This time we went to the Pediatric Triage instead of the general ER... Never even knew they had different ERs so I learned something new....

I had to answer all the same questions and got Lil Kiwi ready for another stay at the ER... Little did I know it wasn't going to be as long as last time. We were in and out in two hours...

The doctor walked in and was looking at Lil Kiwi sitting there... I gave the whole yada yada story and blah blah facts... He told me that he knew what was wrong and that she was misdiagnosed the first time.

He had an answer within the first few seconds he saw her!!  Erythema multiforme

The reason they didn't catch it sooner was because the first doctor wasn't a pediatric doctor otherwise he would have known. It is almost always misdiagnosed in children because it looks like an allergic reaction at first because in a way it is one. Since the treatment is the same it either gets better OR like with Lil Kiwi it gets worst.

Now the problem is that it will continue to get worst before it gets better... Plus, it moves! Yes you read that correctly... It moves across the body at will... Which is why it was suddenly on her belly a few hours after it wasn't... In the picture below you can see that it moved and is no longer on her belly but now on her chest.

The game plan is to treat it with steroids and try to keep her as comfort as possible... We also have to be watchful because if it gets worst it will turn into Stevens-Johnson syndrome and that will be very very bad.. Most likely it won't but since it is possible it was the medicine she was on they want us to keep a close eye on her.. So, for the next 2-3 weeks poor Lil Kiwi will have a moving rash. It's kind of eerie because you can almost see it move before your eyes.

In fact, I don't have the heart to take any more pictures of her right now because it's so hard to look at her and not feel bad... When I gave her a quick shower/rise off earlier she looked like a child that had been abused... It broke my heart.. The photos I posted are the good ones because the others are just too much to post.

They don't know what caused it since it could have been a number of things. So, now I'm a nervous wreck because I know I will be wondering what really happened; since so little is actually known about Erythema Multiforme and how/what causes it.

Here is an example of how it moves... These two pictures are from the same day just a few hours difference.. You can see what use to be red isn't anymore... It's the opposite...

A few quick facts about Erythema multiforme.

• Erythema multiforme is a skin disorder due to an allergic reaction or infection
• The exact cause is unknown
• The disorder is believed to involve damage to the blood vessels of the skin, followed by damage to skin tissues
• Occurs primarily in children and young adults
• One third of EM sufferers will have a recurrence of the disease

What is so scary for me is that this is something that might happen to her at anytime. Plus, it states that normally it takes days for it to spread that bad the first time and yet it was hours for Lil Kiwi. There really is not a treatment for it other than just being careful and catching it before it gets bad. It's rare for children under the age of 3 years to get this so, of course, Lil Kiwi just had to add it to her list of medical mystery issues. I swear when she starts school the nurses are going to hate dealing with me.  Speaking of which, I wonder if I need to get her a medical alert bracelet.

Why do I have this feeling that I am going to be that mom, like in the commercial for the baby wipes, that has her baby in a bubble... or be hauling around my own EMT bag which I might actually do since we have one for the dogs... Don't judge me..LOL...

So.... if you are at the play ground and you see an auburn headed mom with an EMT bag chasing down a bubble baby....... It's ME..... Come on over and say HI and join in the shenanigans....