December 19, 2007

You Live and Learn and then get Benedryl

This last weekend was rather interesting for Tim and I. Tim started to get a rather substantial tooth ache on Thursday evening, which, we found out later, was caused by an abscessed tooth. We ended up going to the Urgent Care on Saturday because the pain was horrendous and the dentist was closed for the weekend. Tim was prescribed amoxicillin (antibiotic) and some prescription strength Tylenol.

By Sunday evening Tim had taken 3 doses of the amoxicillin and was getting very itchy. He was so feed up with not being able to stop the itchyness that he pulled off his shirt to get a better angle on the matter. There were small lumps (kind of like hives) all over his torso. I looked on WebMD and it said to call a doctor if this occurred. I said to call urgent care and get the doctor on call, but Tim said that if we called the hospital, we could talk to someone immediately, so he called. The nurse said to come in and they'd check it out. We bundled up and headed out the door.

Amazingly, we had to wait at most 5 minutes before we got sent to a room. I kind of felt bad for the others in the waiting room who were there way before us. There was a young boy with a cast on his leg who was looking very miserable as he sat curled up tightly on his dad's lap.

We went into a room and the nurse asked some basic checking-in questions, and finished up by asking if he took any benadryl. NOTE TO SELF: IF YOU HAVE ANY ALLERGIC REACTION, TAKE BENADRYL BEFORE YOU GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.

The doctor came in and checked him out and said, "Yep, that's a rash." She gave him some prescription-strength benadryl and a prescription for a different antibiotic. So, we left the ER a littler poorer, but also a little wiser in the ways of allergies.

Now, when we think we should go to the hospital, we will pause and take three deep breaths; if we still think it's a good idea, we'll go.

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