On Friday night, it was still over 100 degrees in the evening here in Texas. We loaded our small family of four into our GMC Yukon to have dinner at a restaurant with an indoor playground. I was hesitant to visit Chick-Fil-A after I was verbally accosted in Chick-Fil-A by a single man for being a bad parent when I was wrangling five small children by myself.
On the way there, Stinkpot became his demanding self, repeating: “I don’t want to go to Chick-Fil-A!”
As I looked back at him to get on to him for making demands, I became immediately alarmed.
Stinkpot’s face, arms and legs were covered in hives!
“Oh no!” I exclaimed. “Pull over! Stinkpot’s covered in hives! It looks like a horrible allergic reaction.”
We quickly deduced that he was allergic to a new flavored drink from Dollar General. He was breathing fine and his tongue wasn’t swollen so a dose of Benedryl and an early bedtime in our bed is how we began our Labor Day holiday weekend.
In the morning, I woke to check our polka-dotted 5-year-old. The rash was worse!
A quick trip to the urgent care facility gave us the diagnosis: Fifth Disease
“What the heck is that?“
From the KidsHealth website:
Fifth disease is actually just a mild viral illness (from a type of parvovirus) that most kids recover from quickly and without complications.
Fifth disease begins with a low-grade fever, headache, and mild cold-like symptoms (a stuffy or runny nose). These symptoms pass, and the illness seems to be gone until a rash appears a few days later.
The bright red rash usually begins on the face. Several days later, the rash spreads and red blotches (usually lighter in color) extend down to the trunk, arms, and legs. The rash usually spares the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. As the centers of the blotches begin to clear, the rash takes on a lacy net-like appearance. Kids younger than 10 years old are most likely to get the rash.
A person with parvovirus infection is most contagious before the rash appears — either during the incubation period (the time between infection and the onset of symptoms) or when experiencing only mild respiratory symptoms.
The rash is the result of an immune system reaction that occurs after the infection has passed, so kids usually aren’t contagious once it appears. Isolating someone with a fifth disease rash won’t prevent spread of the infection because the person usually isn’t contagious by that time. The rash of fifth disease usually lasts 1 to 3 weeks. The majority of kids with fifth disease recover with no complications. By the time the rash appears and while it’s present, they usually feel well and are back to their normal activities.
We didn’t notice Stinkpot having any cold-like symptoms before. He has been playing, and his rash is clearing up quickly. And he will be returning to school tomorrow.
