A Mother's Life when her son is sick

When my son woke up with hives yesterday morning, my world stopped. It seemed like they were in almost all parts of his body: his torso, his back, his arms, his legs. Only his neck and face were spared. Gave him Benadryl and contemplated on staying home rather than hearing mass. He told us, my husband and me, that is, to go to mass.

While at mass, I did what I usually frown at when I see people doing it in church: text. I texted my son at regular intervals to check on him. At one point, while I was doing so, a hand patted my arm to say hello. This was during communion. The person who did this was on his way back to his seat. I smiled back. Later it occurred to me that perhaps he was thinking how rude I was to be texting in church. But who am I to feel bad if he did? I would have thought the same too, in the past. Now I know better than to judge.

At any rate, in one text message, my son assured me the hives were gone. I breathed a sigh of relief, we went home and had lunch. Around 2 p.m., the hives were back. My son drank Benadryl again. But he kept scratching and looking at the hives, his reflection in the mirror, etc. My husband said, "isn't that dengue?" I think the thought scared my son even as I reassured him that I didn't think it was dengue. He himself said "these aren't rashes." But I guess he was scared because when I asked if he wanted to go to the ER of Medical City, he agreed.

To speed things up, I decided I shouldn't go with them. If I did, I'd have delayed them. So off they went. The doctor in ER injected my son with Benadryl. And within minutes, the hives disappeared, the way chalk marks do when an eraser is passed over them.

Then it was 9 p.m. The hives were back. To a lesser degree, but they were back. I asked my son if he wanted to go back to the hospital, this time he said no. This time he drank Antamin which a cousin and a friend-dermatologist recommended. The hives subsided shortly. As he dozed off, I stayed awake. The TV was off, the IPOD was off. I wanted to watch out if he had difficulty breathing.

I got some novenas, prayed. I got his bible, read. I took a handful of my hair to check if there were frizzy strands, cut. I got the MIMs, read. I was doing anything and everything but sleep. Occasionally, he'd turn to me, smile, embrace and then go back to sleep. That more than made up for staying awake. At times I'd doze off and then suddenly awaken when he'd kiss or embrace me.

At 2:30 he began to scratch again. I applied holy water on the hives, even as earlier I had asked my husband to do the same. He awakened, went to the bathroom and listened to my suggestion to take some Skyflakes and Antamin. Before long he was asleep and our routine resumed.

A few minutes ago, he left for school. Though I told him he could stay home, he chose to go to school. He brought some antihistamines with him, just in case.

I hope and pray he'll be well soonest. If you happen to read this, please pray he recovers quickly.

Thank you