We had a really great time camping this weekend. We decided to go to Gulf Shores for Ethan’s first camping trip. It is close enough to home that we wouldn’t have to drive far if it was a complete disaster and there are plenty of hotels in case we changed our minds about camping. The trip was far from a disaster. Ethan loved being outside. He loved the beach. He loved taking walks around the campground and waving at all the people. He thought it was really cool to sleep outside in a tent. The weather was great, warm during the day but not hot, and nice and cool at night without being too chilly.

Now I need to fill you in on a little back story. About 2 weeks ago, Ethan had a couple ant bites on his leg that caused his leg to swell up like a sausage. His leg was so swollen that the skin was stretched and almost splitting. I took him to the doctor because it looked so bad. I wasn’t even sure what had bitten him, and I was surprised when the doctor said it was just an ant bite. He’s not allergic to ants, and what he experienced is not uncommon. His doctor said that she has seen children’s feet swell up like a ball and not fit in their shoes for days. She told me to give him benadryl and ibuprofen, and not to worry unless he was bit on the face or neck.

Soooo… there’s the backstory. Knowing how Ethan would react to ant bites, we were very careful to keep him away from any ants at the camp site. We were successful until the last few minutes before we got in the car to leave. Ethan picked up a shell out of the dirt and put it to his mouth. I took it away from him and brushed the dirt off his face, then I noticed that there were disturbed ants where he picked up the shell. I checked him all over for ants and there were none on him, thank goodness. About 10 minutes later we were all packed up in the truck and ready to leave the campground.

Before we were out of the campground, Ethan started screaming and chewing on his hands. He was hysterical and appeared to be in serious pain. He was drooling profusely and chewing on his hands like his life depended on it. I noticed a couple bites on his hand and Aaron noticed a blister on his tongue. Upon closer inspection, I saw many more blisters on his tongue. We determined that he must have been bitten by an ant in his mouth and on his hand. We gave him some benadryl and ibuprofen and decided to take him to the hospital to be precautious.

We canceled our plans for the day and headed to New Orleans Children’s ER. Ethan screamed until the benadryl kicked in and then slept most of the way there. He would wake up occasionally and scream a bit, then go back to sleep. His face looked puffy and we were definitely concerned that the ant bites would cause swelling on his tongue and throat like had happened on his leg. We waited in the ER for several hours and his puffiness didn’t increase. The doctor identified about 8 areas on his tongue and also noticed that he had a tonsil infection. The doctor thought it could be ant bites in his mouth but he also thought it could be stomatitis. He wanted to treat Ethan for both and have him follow up with his regular doctor the next day for a second opinion. We stayed the night in Metairie so we would be close in case he did experience any swelling in the night.

Next morning we go to his regular doctor. She thought it was more likely stomatitis and not ant bites, but she wanted us to keep an eye on the swelling just in case. He seemed to be feeling better for the rest of the day.

Yesterday, Ethan woke up with a high fever and was incredibly crabby and insane. I could do nothing to please him. He was so angry and in so much pain that he was acting violent. He kept hitting me and screaming and he was at odds with everything I tried to do to help him. I had to call Allie to come over and help me. He behaved himself for a bit while she was there, and then he went back to being crazy again. And he was drooling like nothing I’ve ever seen. The doc wanted to see him again because of his new fever and crazy behavior. His regular doc was out, so we saw a different doctor in the practice.

She said it was definitely stomatitis and ulcerative pharyngitis. The fever and crazy behavior are classic symptoms. It is caused by a virus and it has the potential to last many days. The virus is not dangerous, but the ulcers can be so painful that kids refuse to eat or drink and have to be hospitalized to receive fluids and nutrition. She said sometimes they have to hospitalize kids for pain management as well because they almost go crazy from the pain of the ulcers and need to be sedated. Ethan was on the verge of crazy yesterday. His behavior was so far from normal, it was scary. She prescribed him tylenol with codeine to help with the pain so that he could eat, drink, and stay calm.

Today he seems to be doing much better. he’s in a better mood and he’s eating and drinking pretty well. The tylenol helped him sleep well last night and a good night’s sleep obviously helped him wake up in a better mood today. His tongue still looks pretty gross from the ulcers, but they don’t seem to be bothering him as much today.