the healthy kid

Toby's my healthy kid.


I swear he hasn't been sick once since the last time he had malaria. Which was just over two years ago now.


Both Toby & Bri had malaria 3x each while we played missionary in Tanzania. Jonathan & I lived malaria free the entire term...which is kinda a miracle. But just over a month into our adventure Toby gave us a big scare. We were in the middle of stinkin' nowhere...although the indigenous would (wrongly) disagree with that evaluation. Because seriously...the nearest (real) hospital was over two hours away. Provided there was no traffic. And Toby's little malaria-infested parasites didn't want to give up the ghost. His fever kept rising...until he was delerious talking.


A local doctor...


(affectionately nicked "which doctors" by a fellow lingo school friend...because they would look at you and ask, "Which sickness do you think you have? Which medicine do you think we should give you?". And in VERY broken English would typically end the visit pronouncing you with either malaria or the flu regardless of symptoms) gave us some little yellow pills that he promised would rid Toby of the malaria. We were able to get the pills down our pathetically sick little four-year old's throat.


Only to see a bright red rash immediately cover his entire body. And puffer-fish his face.


There was an emergency (meaning not local...but at least English speaking) doctor to call. We frantically dialed his number and blubbered everything. By this point I was (ready to hop the next plane home) freaking out! He educated me that those little yellow pills are Sulfa based. And we were discovering that Toby was allergic. He calmly informed me that Toby's skin may start to bubble into open sores...and if that were to happen we should immediately pack the kids and head to the (real) hospital. In the meantime we were to keep him pumped with Benadryl. And NEVER EVER give him Sulfa again.


Obviously Toby survived. And quite healthily too. Other than seasonal allergies.


So last night when he said he was itchy I gave him a shot of Benedryl and told him to stop itching already. It was annoying. I was really shocked when he showed me his HEAD to TOE rash this morning!


Poor guy...I've had so much non-Toby health drama this year that I kinda got used to him being my healthy kid. And I felt really bad when Dr. Pedi said it looked like scarlet fever! Sheesh! A negetive throat swab at least let me off the Super Bad Mommy hook. Her best guess is that it's viral. She prescribed Benadryl, Cortizone Cream and Oatmeal baths.


And I promised Toby a day of babying (which does not equal school-free when one does their studying at home!) and a much hunkered after Cherry Coke.


Hopefully that'll get me back onto the Good Mommy grid!


::smile::