Not what we had planned

This is what we had planned to do today, play with Chloe!

After much contemplating back and forth, prayer and discussion, Jeff and I decided I would take Mark up to urgent care.  He hadn't been acting sick, but he had developed a rash the night before that was getting worse fast.  It wasn't any type of common childhood rash, which was cause for concern.

I took him up to a local Urgent Care and the doctor said she suspected it was HSP, but blood work and urine analysis were necessary to confirm.  She sent us straight to Scottish Rite CHOA.  We had been there many times before when Mark was a newborn.  I didn't panic, I just prayed.

 The wait wasn't nearly as long as I expected.  The staff at Children's is amazing- all are very nice and welcoming.  We got a room quickly and Mark became very lethargic, he just laid on the bed and watched cartoons.

The rash got worse, it was confirmation that we were in the right place.

 This picture below is when he got the IV put in.  He screamed as they put it in.  He said, "Don't do that" over and over- it broke my heart.  Then he kept trying to take it off.  He finally realized it was "stuck"

 We were in and out of our room for an abdominal x-ray, urine analysis and blood work.  The doctor couldn't have been nicer.  He was very thorough and explained all the possibilities to us.  Mark does have HSP- a very rare condition causing inflammation of the blood vessels and joint pain.  I could tell he was in pain, but he was such a tough boy.  The nurses were impressed.

 He was getting very tired, but didn't get to sleep much because of vital checks.

I love this picture below.  They gave him ibprofin through his IV and it was like my sweet toddler was back almost instantly.  It was the first smile I had seen from him all day- it perked him right up.

We put on PJ's just before we were discharged.

 Mark left the hospital in his stroller saying, "Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas" to the nurses and staff.  :-)

It was not what we had planned today, but God had our sweet boy in the palm of his hand the whole time.  We're so thankful it wasn't something worse.