Panic Stations

I tend not to panic. I am generally pretty level headed. In fact,I pride myself on keeping my head when those around me are losing theirs and blaming it on me. Which is not to say I can't predict that the shit will hit the fan. I usually know when that's coming and often tell someone. Unfortunately, they usually don't believe me so we have to go through it anyway, but I digress.

Yesterday, our girl woke up covered in spots. My first thought was chicken pox. She's already had them once, but there are different strains and we are in a different country, so I thought it possible. Big red watery hives is what they turned out to be on closer inspection. We went through everything she'd eaten, worn and slept in for the past few days and couldn't figure out the cause. She didn't feel sick nor was she running a fever; she was just covered in these horrible itchy hives. Even her pretty little eyelid was sporting one.

I went for the antihistamine only to discover it was out of date. On the basis of this alone, we decided to take her to the doctor. It's a good thing we did. You see, our girl had a chest infection a couple of weeks ago. She'd been prescribed amoxicillin, which she's had before, so we didn't consider that it could be the culprit. Apparently, that's the difference between those of us who know a little something and your average paid professional.

According to our doctor, you can take penicillin twelve times but have an allergic reaction on the thirteenth. A first reaction is generally mild, like the hives our girl is trying not to scratch. A second reaction however, could be deadly.

Which made me think; what if the antihistamine had been in date? Would we have just treated her and not taken her to the doc? The consequences of that could have been fatal. So, I'm having a little post incident panic.

Excuse me while I go cuddle our girl.