Horrendous Hives and the Weekend

So Daniel posted about last week and how he had hives, well they returned again on Thursday (July 2)....Full Force so he came home from work early and we couldn't get a hold of the doctor until 4p.m. He was absolutely miserable. itching, red and MISERABLE! The doctor was shocked that we were back, he was sure that they were an allergic reaction to something new that Daniel had encountered. They asked if we changed laundry detergent or anything different from our routine. Well the answer was no. So they did more lab work which I did not witness and it was a good thing because Daniel told me about it later and I was feeling light headed from just telling me about it...apparently the nurse had a hard time finding his vein, which resulted in fishing under the skin....(shudder) But I did have the pleasure (ha) of witnessing the butt shot of yet another syringe full of steroids. The needle was huge and I'm just a wuss (heavens I passed out when Madison was at the dentist and getting the numbing shot in her gums) ANyWAy back to Daniel and the Doctor, the doctor was stumped they did not know what was causing the hives. The physicians assistant Daniel went to even brought in his supervising physician to take a look. So they put him on prednazone, and an H2 blocker (histamine blocker). Well the family left for the rodeo with a miserable husband in tow. Well in and out of the canyon we get in and out of service, during a short time of service the Dr. got through to Daniel's cell and told him some very interesting information that caused us to leave directly after the rodeo to go home to the pharmacy. Daniel had....wait for it......STREP!!! He had a strep virus in his body that was presenting as hives. Phew! we finally knew what was causing his discomfort and hives. He didn't have any of the normal signs of strep...like strep throat...we believe this was a different strain. Which this did get pretty scary because Daniel was starting to become swollen, his fingers were plump and his throat started to swell and close off. But we came home and the Dr doubled the normal dose of ammoxicilan so he had to eat a huge meal to compensate for the medicine and it still upset his stomach, plus taking the steroids and H2 blocker. But we now have a week later a healthy happy daddy.

Here's a pic of Daniel's hives, he will HaTe me for posting it and say that no one wants to see a fat man's belly, but you need to see it to believe how horrid they were, and this wasn't when they were the worst.

Anyway off the hives. The weekend was great, the rodeo was a blast, sorry no pics, we were worried it would rain and have no protection for our camera. So I did post the rodeo link that you can see some of what we saw. Madison absolutely LoVeD the barrel racing, she had now decided that she wants to be a "super fast barrel racer" and she also enjoyed the bull riding which is a personal favorite of mine. We enjoyed the time spent at the cabin (yes Friday morning we went back up to the cabin) We had a photo shoot with the kids up in Kamas and Oakley and then we played on the 4-wheelers and went spot-lighting and Madison is the best deer spotter EveR! She rode in the suburban next to Grandpa and would spot deer that were on that sunny part of the mountain or look they are right there and oh they just walked into the forest....and on and on it was a hoot! We did spot two baby fawns still had their spots. It was so cool, they were so tiny. The kids thought that was awesome. Then Saturday we came home and went to the Clearfield fireworks! I won't miss them...seriously they are the best, and this year was no exception. And a first Madison actually stayed awake the entire time. Carter however was bored and kept asking "when fireworks be done?" McKinley stayed at home with B, we thought this was best because she didn't handle the loud noise at the rodeo very well so fireworks probably wouldn't be the best for her.

Sunday we sang the Star Spangled Banner as the closing hymn, which was quite controversial, because what do you do stand or sit? Daniel thought we sat but we stand for the flag, so I asked the Bishop he thought we sat as well but wasn't sure so he asked each member of the stake presidency. The second counselor said that it was the Bishops discretion, the first counselor said that we sat and the stake president said that during sacrament meeting you sit. So it comes time for the closing hymn and I stand up and was planning on having them remain seated when the decision was made for me because half of the congregation stood and then the remaining followed suit. It doesn't say in the music manual or in the hymn book. We asked our parents which both said that you stand, so then the question was asked what would Pres. Monson do? So I believe you stand.

Here's some pictures for your viewing enjoyment of our photo op of the weekend, we're trying to get our feet wet in the photography business. We will see....EnJoY!!!