The Hive

When I woke Cooper up for the day on Wednesday I noticed his eyes looked a little red. He sat up and I turned the light on to get a better look. That's when we discovered that Cooper had huge hives on his torso, neck, face, and head. His eyes were a little swollen, as if he'd been rubbing them a lot. I gave him a Benadryl and monitored the hives.

They appeared to go down and we all wondered what had caused them. All his bedding went into the washer, just in case the hives were from something he slept on.

Then, after lunch, the hives came back stronger.

The rest of the day went like this: another Benadryl, more watching, more hives, more Benadryl, sleep.

Bryan, Peter, and I each checked on Cooper throughout the night. When Cooper woke up this morning, the hives were significantly worse. His face was so swollen, he no longer looked like himself. Angry hives were all over his back and stomach. He was itchy and in terrible discomfort.

As soon as their office opened, I called our doctor. After explaining Cooper's symptoms I was transferred from the receptionist to one of the doctors at the practice. She listened as I went into detail about what Cooper was experiencing. Then she recommended that we take Cooper to the ER.

Bryan and Cooper spent about four hours in the Emergency room today. At that point the hives had spread to his arms and legs. After being evaluated by a doctor, Cooper was given Prednisone, Benadryl, and Pepcid through an IV and kept for observation. He attended his Art History class from the ER bed via Bryan's phone.

This is the only picture from this ordeal that Cooper was comfortable with me sharing. I have several others that show the extent of the hives. They're much calmer here than they had been earlier.

The theory is that the hives were caused by a food allergy. Because of how widespread the hives were, the doctor thought it must be caused by something Cooper had ingested rather than something he came in contact with. There are only two new things that Cooper consumed this week that he hadn't had before (though none of the individual ingredients were new), and neither seem like good candidates. It could also be an allergic reaction to something he's had for a long time, but his body is just now identifying it as unwanted.

He still has hives, but his face finally looks like his own again. We'll see what tomorrow holds.