A Virus & A Rash...Bleh!!

Since arriving home from the JV Conference we've been on a sickness roller coaster!

Abigail is having an allergic reaction to something that is causing a pretty severe rash all over her body. We originally thought she was reacting to a Dan Active drink and then anything dairy after that, but she hasn't had any dairy now for 2 days and the rash is still moving around in her body.

The other day she woke up early from her nap because the itching was so bad. Joel ended up taking her to the hospital where they gave her some medicine that really seemed to help. He also came home with a prescription medicine that seems to be helping as well. They weren't able to determine why she has the rash, but took some blood samples to, hopefully, figure that out.

Last night when we put her to bed we said, "it's looking so good, it'll probably be gone by tomorrow." Then at 1:30 she came into our room with a 102 degree fever and 45 minutes later the rash had returned all over her body. We have some hydrocortisone cream that we've been using like lotion on all her itchy spots. She just kept pointing out new areas of itching. We finally made a bed for her on our floor and put a fan on her and she slept until 7:30 this morning.

This morning the rash has pretty much subsided, but we're not sure if it's the "end" or not. It's so strange! She's never had allergies before and it seems so sudden to have developed one now.

The other difficult piece is determining how/where/when/why, etc. With traveling over the past week, we were in 3 different countries, interacting with people from 11 different countries, she had kids from 4 different countries in her class at the conference and was in the class from 8:30 till noon everyday. Elijah did as well and several of them were passing around a stomach virus, which he caught at the end of the week and brought home with him.

We've been having lots of cuddle and couch time since coming home Monday afternoon. If Elijah's awake, he wants to be held. We have suitcases in our front hallway that still need to be unpacked and the rest of the house is a mess but we'll get to all that eventually! The kids have been having a steady BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples & toast) since coming home. With Elijah still throwing up and having diarrhea, I don't want to put things in his stomach that would upset it further. Abigail is eating that as well, since we don't know what the cause of her rash is. I think they'll be ready for some tastier food soon!

So, if you think of us, could you pray for us? Thank you!!