Sad Face

This sad little lovey has a swollen face. Under his left eye is swollen so that his eye is almost half closed, and his right cheek is swollen so that it looks like he has a jowl. Admittedly in the above picture, he is being a little on the dramatic side and is making his mouth sadder than it actually looks. He likes to pose!

He woke up the other morning with what looked like mosquito bites on his face and then his eye started swelling. I let it set for a day before I called the doctor. He thinks that it is the mosquito bites mixed with the fact that he is already congested due to a sinus infection. Since all his lymph nodes are already swollen and then he was bitten on his face, behind his ear, along his jaw line, and his neck, that it is a secondary reaction to the being bitten in such key places. He said to try Zyrtec or Claritin, since I had already been giving him Benadryl without much of a change.

When I went to the pharmacy, the pharmacist said that the Zyrtec or Claritin would probably not do much, but trying wouldn't hurt either. She said to try Benadryl. When I told her I already had, she just looked at me with that "oh" kind of expression. I said, "So what you are saying is that it basically has to run its course." She said, "Sorry."

I did give him the Claritin and the Benadryl along with his antibiotic when we arrived home. It did look a little better today, and he said was not as miserable feeling as yesterday.

Tonight we were outside, and he didn't have a shirt on because he wants to be like the Incredible Hulk. He came running up to me and said, "You gotta look at my back!" Upon his turning around, I saw four large welts about an inch long each from newly acquired mosquito bites. I first said that it was time to put his shirt back on, and it was time to be inside for the night.

I have put on the mosquito spray and we have sprayed the mosquitoes in the house with Listerine, which kills them and is non-toxic so we are not spraying bug spray on ourselves. But these mosquitoes are everywhere this year since we have had so much extra moisture. The mosquitoes are outside and inside. A friend asked, "How do they get inside?" I said, "They come in because the kids come in and out about a hundred times a day, and half the time they leave the door wide open." It is like fighting a losing battle all day long against these tiny nuisances!

We will continue to spray away, but I look forward to the time when the mosquitoes are done for the year. I cringe everytime I look at a new bite mark on one of the kids!