Unwanted Travel Companions

After spending all day Saturday at Blue Haven we went back to the hotel for the night. I noticed that Thomas had about 4 red places on his back and I figured he had gotten some kind of bug bites from being outside all day. He never acted like they itched so I wasn't too worried about it. On Sunday morning he had a few more on his back, some on his tummy and about 3 or 4 on his face. I thought it was strange that something might have bitten him more during the night so I figured maybe he was allergic to something. Still no itching or fever. When we got to camp for church we had the assistant director's wife take a look (she's a pediatrician in "real life"). Considering the symptoms she thought it was bites, too and recommended calamine lotion. So after church we visited a little more and then headed back into Las Vegas for lunch. By the time lunch was over Thomas had lots more spots and I was beginning to doubt the bug bite theory ~ especially since he didn't have any bugs in his clothes! We went to the local drugstore and the pharmacist there looked at him and said he thought it looked like the Measles! Talk about panic on my part! We set out to find an urgent care clinic that was open on a Sunday afternoon on Memorial day weekend. Sure enough ~ there was one right down the street. The doctor there said he didn't think it was Measles or Chicken Pox because he wasn't itching and wasn't running a fever and he was still eating and drinking really well. That doctor decided it must be caused by an allergic reaction to the antibiotic Thomas was on for an ear infection. I thought that was strange because he'd been on the medicine for 6 days without any problems, but I'm not a doctor so I agreed! The doctor said to do the lotion and give Thomas Benadryl every 4 hours, so that's what we did. We drove on up to Angel Fire to spend a few days enjoying the mountains, but by Monday morning this is what Thomas looked like: The poor guy's entire torso and head were covered. He only had about 10 total on his arms and legs, but the rest of his body was spotted ~ even the top of his head! He still hadn't run any fever and the only place he was scratching was his scalp (that could be because I couldn't put any calamine lotion on his head, though). After much discussion and debate, Sam and I agreed that the spots must be caused by Chicken Pox, even though Thomas had had the vaccine in March and hadn't run a fever or really been itching. But the dozens of bright red spots that made little white blisters and after about 24 hours they scabbed over while new ones were popping up in other places helped us make our diagnosis! We really doubted the airline would let this spotty child on board in 2 days so Sam called to ask. They told him that they had the right of refusal to board at the gate on the day of the flight. Well, we didn't want to wait and find out and then have to drive home anyway, so we left Angel Fire Monday night (kinda late b/c we had to pack up our stuff) and drove to Albq to spend the night. On Tuesday morning we went to the airport to the ticket counter and the lady there got a supervisor to look at Thomas. She said that if we had a doctor's note saying he wasn't contagious then he could fly the next day. Soooooo, we headed out to find another clinic to hopefully (but doubtfully) get a doctor's note. When we arrived at the clinic this is what was posted on the outside sliding doors:
Needless to say, these warning signs didn't do anything to make me feel better! After sending a nurse and a PA out they finally let us in but only long enough to register and take Thomas' temp (which was still normal). They ushered us out the front door and around the back of the building to wait for a free exam room. We finally saw a doctor and she said it was for sure the Chicken Pox (much better than the Measles, if you ask me!) but that he was still contagious so we couldn't fly. So to make this very long story a little shorter ~ we headed to the nearest electronics store, bought a portable DVD player and a couple of Baby Einstein videos. Then we returned the first rental car ~ got a new rental car and hit the road! We made it from Albq to Lubbock on Tuesday and then got up and drove to Dallas on Wednesday to return the rental car and to pick up our van from the airport. We finally made it home around 9:00 Wednesday night. Which, ironically, is about the same time we would have made it had we flown home! Needless to say, we were all glad to be back. Thomas was a super traveler ~ bless his heart!