Slightly Swollen

Today was a scary day for me, very scary.

When Lily woke up this morning, she complained that her stomach hurt. I lifted her shirt to look at her tummy and found what appeared to be little, red bug bites. Joe took the girls to the park the day before and I just figured Lily got a few bug bites and since she is so sensitive, they maybe looked worse than they actually were.

It was a school day, so I asked her if she felt up to going and she said "yes". When I dropped her off at school, I told her teacher about the marks and told her to call me if Lily seems uncomfortable.

Two hours later, I was getting ready to go to music class with Sophia when I received a call from Lily's school...

"Mrs. Murphy, we have Liliana in the office with us."

"Is she ok?"

"Well, she seems ok, but she has some swelling around her mouth."

Jen offered to take Sophia as I drove to pick Lily up from school. After talking to my mom a few times regarding the situation, I knew what to look for, but I reassured her that her lips were just a little swollen. When I got to her school, I walked in the office and barely recognized my daughter sitting there. It wasn't just her lips that were swollen, but her entire face, including her ear. I felt sick to my stomach, but Lily was being a trooper and just smiling through it all.

The next few hours went by in a bit of a blur, but what I remember is:

*Drove to emergency room slightly hysterical

*Found emergency room was closed

*Ran to Lily's doctor office

*Watched as they gave Lily a shot of epinephrine

*Felt slightly relieved when the swelling started to recede

*Rode in ambulance to children's hospital

*After much thought that it was an allergic reaction to a food, finally had a doctor come in who said it looked like a reaction to the antibiotic Lily had been on

*Four hours later, we drove home with Lily looking 98% like herself

Below I posted a couple of the pictures we took of Lily. Just keep in mind that these pictures show Lily when she was doing better...

About one-quarter of the hives on her little body...

Although her face is still swollen, this was post Benadryl, post Epi-pen and post steroid. What I saw when I picked her up from school was twice as bad...

While going through all of this, I discovered two things, one about myself and one about Lily.

1.) I do not handle emergency situations well (Maybe I already knew that, but this just confirmed it)

2.) Lily is tough! Lily is strong! Lily is resilient!

I could learn a thing or two from her! I love you sweet girl and I am glad you are doing better!