If you’ve been visiting my site on and off for the past two weeks, you may have noticed that I’ve been uncharacteristically quiet. The truth is, I’ve been attending to Ryder, my sweet 7-year old, who has discovered a new nemesis in life. And the biggest problem with this particular opponent is that they outnumber him about ten billion to one.
It’s the mosquito.
It all started last October, when he was bitten in Mexico. The bite on his hand, which seemed innocuous enough, started out like any other bug bite – a small, itchy swelling. However, within 12 hours, Ryder’s entire hand was swollen, hot and painful, and it worried me enough to call in the resort doctor, who prescribed an anti-inflammatory and antibiotic to reduce the symptoms. And it worked! So we continued our vacation, and upon returning home I mentioned it to my doctor, who didn’t seem to think it was a cause for concern.
^^ That’s Ryder with his Hulk hand back in Mexico. I often marvel at children’s ability to stay bright and positive through the most distressing circumstances. He’s such a trooper!
Fast forward to a week and half ago, when Ryder was bitten over the eye. His entire face swelled up within hours, and since the eye is such a delicate (and integral) area of the face, we took him straight to the emergency room of our local hospital. Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather when the doctors immediately admitted Ryder to the hospital and hooked him up to an IV! It turns out that whenever anything involves the eye, they don’t take chances; they started him on antibiotics prophylactically and gave him an antihistamine around the clock. Three days later, he was released from the hospital.
I wish the saga ended there… except that yesterday, the same area above his eye began to swell again. What are the odds? Could he have really been bitten in the same area… twice? I didn’t want to take chances, so we took him straight to Sick Kids. It truly is a world-class facility, and we’re so fortunate to live nearby. There, the emergency room doctor was attentive, empathetic, and immediately took an ultrasound of Ryder’s eye to rule out infection. It turns out that he has some sort of allergy – a hive, an area of inflammation, who really knows – that gets triggered and begins to swell. It could just be that the toxin from the previous bite is simply not out of his system. She sent us home with (more) Benadryl and instructions to watch him carefully for signs of infection.
The unofficial medical jargon for people who experience a localized reaction to mosquito bites is Skeeter Syndrome. It is caused by allergenic polypeptides in mosquito saliva. It often affects young children, who have not yet had a chance to build up immunity to the toxin.
Sigh. So that’s how I spent 4 out of the last 10 days in hospitals. And that’s also the reason we were not able to take our Texas Traveller trip – Ryder was hospitalized during the time we should have been on vacation. (Also: thank goodness for trip cancellation insurance. Buy it! You never know when you’ll need it.)
I won’t post a picture of Ryder with facial swelling, because I’ve made a promise to never post photos which would embarrass or otherwise make my kids uncomfortable – now or in years to come. However, Ryder is pretty darned impressed with his Hulk hand above – I’m sure he wishes he could’ve got a few more punches in on his little brother.
Bear with me while I catch up, friends! It’s been an interesting few days – but then, life is never boring, is it?
Oh my, never seen a kid so happy to have a hulk hand haha! He is so cute!
Oh my goodness,he looks so happy.What a handsome boy!
Oh Lena I’m sorry to hear! The mommy-parenting-sagas never end do they? What a trooper your little man is.
I hate hospitals, they give me oodles of anxiety … but boy do we have some excellent ones available to us here and for that I am so grateful!
Hope he’s back to his usual self soon and those darned mosquitoes leave him alone!
What a time you have been having :( So is this going to happen every time he gets a mosquito bite? Not fun :( But he does look happy about his hulk hand!
what a sin , poor lil guy , hes a cutie and looks quite happy , he’s a trooper is right :
Awww, I feel for him! My brother reacted the same way to Mosquito bites when he was a kid. You said it though, what a trooper! He definitely does look pretty happy with his “Hulk Hand”.
Awww… at least he made the best out of a bad situation!
Awww, poor guy!! them skeeters need to leave him alone!! but looks like he loves his hand..lol
Poor kid, what an ordeal to have to go through.
Poor little guy! Sounds like he is pretty tough though to make it through all that!
Oh wow! I am so sorry to hear Lena! Poor Ryder! What an experience to have to go through… I can’t even imagine as mosquitos are horrid around here.
Wow! Good job getting him to the hospital, my kid would have lost an eye. Such excellent information – I had *no* idea! Thank goodness he’s all better now. Sorry to hear about Texas.
Wow, you just never know whats coming next. So glad he’s ok. I’m sure 3 days in hospital pretty nerve racking. BTW, he looks so much like you. What a gorgeous smile. He’ll be charming the ladies for sure.
Poor boy (and poor YOU – what a worry!). Glad he’s on the road to recovery.
Oh no – cant believe the swelling started again – poor thing! It was such a good idea to take him to Sick Kids though – they really are the best at what they do – so it must have been reassuring to have them check him out. Hope Ryder is feeling better and that mosquitoes stay far away from him!
Your son has beautiful eyes! So glad it was temporary and also I was very surprised to see what the Skeeter Syndrome can actually do!His hand was really swollen.
Poor Ryder it sounds awful to deal with Skeeter Syndrome. I didn’t realize that you could have such a bad reaction to a mosquito bite. Sorry to hear about your Texas trip too.
Poor little guy , that is quite the inflammation, must have been scary! Glad is ok. Hope you will be able to rebook your trip to Texas soon.
Oh wow I didn’t know such a thing was possible!! Good to hear Ryder is much better now. Hopefully you guys get to enjoy your Texas trip soon.
Ahh, travel insurance. So necessary when you have kids. Glad he’s feeling better. At least he looks quite happy even when sick!!
What a cutie! And I also had skeeter syndrome growing up (but I didn’t know that it had a name). Mosquito bites would swell up like balloons!
My neices daughter gets terrible reaction to those terrible Mosquito bites
It does seem that Mosquito bites are getting more dangerous as the years go by but i must say i have seen very few this year and we usually have so many you cant sit out in the mornings or evenings.
I’m glad that you were close to a medical facility and that it wasn’t any worse
The season has started and those little buggers are out for blood