Dylan Is BETTER.
Dylan is BETTER.
After a week in a fetal position, lying on the couch, sleeping and sleeping and sleeping, with a fever of upwards of 103 every day… Dylan is finally feeling better.
The fever is gone. I feel like shouting from the rooftops: THE FEVER IS GONE!
On Sunday, he developed a bizarre rash. It started as spots on his chest, then developed into a huge, splotchy thing that crawled up his neck and all over his torso, down onto his legs.
We took him to the doctor. They’d never seen anything like it.
“It’s a viral rash,” they said. “But we don’t know what kind of virus.” They whispered amongst themselves.
They ruled out strep and flu. They said maybe measles or rubella. “It’s rare,” they said. “But you can get these things even if you’ve been vaccinated.”
They said, “We need to get some blood work done to find out more.”
The doctors called the CDC – the governmental agency that monitors rare and unidentified illnesses. We had to wait for a call back, so that the doctors would know what to check for, when they did the blood work.
I wanted to vomit.
“Could he have ebola?” I asked. “Or West Nile virus?”
“No,” they said.
I thanked God. I thanked God again. We waited for the CDC to call back.
Why didn’t the doctors know what was wrong with my son? He’s had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever already. He has the little-known Reactive Airways Disease. And they diagnosed both of those. They are good doctors.
So why didn’t they know? And why did Dylan still have a fever after almost a week?
But today, the fever is gone.
The rash had a small, localized reoccurrence last night, but it’s gone, too.
The blood work is done. We don’t have the results. We don’t know what it is, or what it was, or even if it will return. We don’t know if he’s still contagious, or if he was contagious, or if his family will need to be re-vaccinated for measles.
But I am overjoyed. I am thanking God. I am dancing around the room (in my head). I am shouting to the world: “He is better!”
I don’t know for sure. I don’t know what it is, what it was, or if it will return.
So today, for now at least, I am rejoicing.