Flashback Friday

I have been looking at old photos lately. I am amazed at the strong emotions that are evoked and the instant memories that fill my mind when I look at these life experiences. It makes me so grateful that we have captured what we have, the good and the bad, and makes me wonder a little at what I am forgetting.

So I have decided to periodically post some of these old photos that struck me in one way or another, whether it be "wow, that really happened" or "oh, I sure miss these great people"(there were so many, too many of those ones!).
So here is the first...

Sienna was 14 months old when she broke out in hives. We had no idea what was going on and I was very scared. The only other time I have ever seen anyone so swollen was when my sister Jen had had an allergic reaction to sulfur when she was a teenager. We were living in Columbus at the time and it was one of those instances where it sure came in handy to have so many friends/neighbors in med school. We called Erik Lyman and he came over and asked us all sorts of questions such as what we had used differently lately? Soaps, detergents, clothes, food? I could think of nothing. Then he asked if she was taking any medications. I couldn't believe that I hadn't thought of it, I had tried to think of everything possible but this never crossed my mind. Hunter is allergic to tree nuts but has never reacted in such a drastic way so I never thought that my daughter was having an allergic reaction. Well she was and we found that the culprit was...

...penicillin

Sienna was so miserable and there was not much we could do for her. It was heartbreaking to watch such a sweet little thing be so swollen, bruised and out of sorts. The pictures of her by the tub were two days after the breakout and the hives and welts started going down in size but they also started turning a ghoulish purple color like around her belly button. You can see how swollen her arms still were. Poor girl! I am grateful that medications are a much easier thing to regulate than food items since her reactions are apparently much more severe than Hunter's.

And here she is two weeks later. Fully recovered and back to her cute, chubby cheeked little self, not chubbied everything and the little monster she appeared as for a short stint.