The Adventures of HSP

I'm not quite sure where to start with this post, so I will kindof just give you the run-down from where it all started....

Thursday night I am out with Gabe having a "mom date" when I get a call from Matt saying Zoe is covered from head to toe with spots that look like a combination of mosquito bites and hives. So I called the pediatrician on call who reassured me that there was this really bad virus going around and one of the symptoms was breaking out in hives. She told me it was not serious and that since she had already broken out she wasn't contagious anymore, but she had been contagious before the breakout. So we give her half of a claritin pill in some peanut butter, some tylenol, and send her to bed.

The next morning, Friday, we decided to keep Gabe home from school since he could possibly have it and had not broken out....plus he has been battling a really bad cold. Zoe continued to become more and more miserable, her breakout increasing in size and color (the spots were a little brighter). She also started to complain that her legs and feet hurt. We just kept an eye on her and gave her children's benadryl instead of claritin this time, again sending her to bed hoping that rest would help the most. Well, Friday night she wakes up crying with a fever of 103. So I knew something was up.

Saturday morning I call the pediatrician's office again...same doc who had been on call...and they ask me to bring Zoe into the office. Dr. Kelly saw her, confirmed what she had already believed, that it was a viral rash. However, she also did a urine test just to make sure that everything was ok. That test came back fine so she sent us on our way, saying rest and tylenol, motrin and benadryl would keep her comfortable.

By noon on Saturday, Zoe was just much more miserable. She could hardly walk on her feet which had by this time swollen a lot. I also noticed that behind her knees it looked like she was bruising...which seemed odd. So I called Dr. Kelly again, feeling really dumb since I had already talked to her AND just seen her a few hours before. She seemed really concerned that Zoe had developed the bruising and sent us down to U of M ER because she said we really needed to rule out HSP. I have never before heard of such a thing. So down to Ann Arbor I went with Zoe while Matt stayed home with the other two. That was a feat in and of itself seeing as it was the Michigan/State game and I was driving down there right at game time.

Anyway, we get right into the pediatric ER (which is SO much better than the regular ER!) and they immediately start doing tests to see what's going on. Zoe had to get an IV which was very traumatic. Long story short, after observing her for 7 hours and doing blood work, etc, they were positive she had HSP. Also her spots had changed right before our eyes from hive looking things into these deep purple icky looking splotches. That was one of the main indicators that is was HSP for sure. So what is HSP anyway??? (I can hear you all asking!)

HSP stands for Henoch-Schonlein Purpura and is basically the body's allergic response to a respiratory virus that has been present in the body. You can read more about it here. It is so rare that it occurs in only 14 of every 100,000 people! So you can imagine, U of M had every resident, medical student and their brother in there to see the "rare rash." Poor Zoe. She just had a rough day.

We got home about 11 pm (again have to go the long way home to avoid the freeways which were a parking lot from post game traffic) and Zoe went right to sleep. She is looking and feeling much much better today. She still has the spots and is still pretty itchy, but hopefully she will be over those symptoms sooner than later. Everything I have heard and read says that her spots will eventually turn brown and then fade away completely.

So how is everyone else out in the normal world?? :-)