A “Gift” from Tennessee and Easter 2016

A “Gift” From Tennessee?

We had returned home from our Spring Break trip on Friday morning, the 25th. That Saturday Stacy started noticing bumps appearing on her hands and elbows. Sunday morning the bumps were showing up on other parts of her body and starting to turn red, almost like a bad rash. She decided to take herself to the emergency room to get checked out. They thought it was bed bug bites and prescribed a cream and steroids. James and I were fine. Stacy is the only one that got bit.

By Monday morning it was continuing to get worse, so Stacy found a dermatologist that had an opening to see her. The doctor was pretty certain that it was not bed bugs, but some sort of viral infection, and prescribed an anti-viral medication to take in addition to the cream and steroids that the ER prescribed.

The one thing that Stacy really wanted to do was to soak in a bathtub. Unfortunately, because of our bathroom renovation last summer, we no longer have a bathtub in the house, so we had to improvise. I ran out and bought an inflatable pool. We may have to consider renovating our other bathroom, removing the shower, and putting in a bathtub, but for now, this inflatable pool will be fine.

 

Stacy sits cross‑legged inside a blue inflatable pool placed in a bathroom shower area. The shower has beige tile walls, a mounted showerhead with a flexible hose, and two towels—one yellow and one light blue—hanging on a bar. Colorful bath toys hang on the wall, and a blue patterned shower curtain is partly visible to the right. The scene humorously shows an inflatable pool used indoors in an unconventional way.
Our temporary bathtub

 

Fortunately, by Thursday the bumps/rash had pretty much disappeared.

 

A two‑photo collage compares the appearance of Stacy's hands on different days. The top image, labeled “Monday,” shows both hands with multiple red spots on the skin. The bottom image, labeled “Thursday,” shows her hands hands resting on a car steering wheel with a Dodge logo, the skin appearing clearer with noticeably fewer marks. The collage highlights visible improvement over time.
Stacy’s bumps and rash almost completely gone

 

Easter Canceled

Last Sunday we were supposed to have Easter dinner with Stacy’s family, but because we didn’t know what Stacy’s bumps were, and if they were contagious or not, we decided to stay home.

 

James

This blog is supposed to mostly be about James so I can’t have a post without him in it, can I? Stacy kind of took the spotlight away from James this past week with her own issues.

There really hasn’t been much to report on James, though. He came home from school on Thursday with some new artwork that we’ve proudly hung up on his art wall.

 

A classroom art display shows two pieces mounted on a brown background. On the left is a circular craft with a photo of James in the center, surrounded by cotton balls arranged to look like a lamb’s wool. On the right is a worksheet titled “I am most like a,” with the name JAMES at the top. The page includes drawings of a lion and a lamb, with the lamb highlighted on a yellow square. Below it are three yellow squares labeled “sweet,” “cuddly,” and “quiet,” each with a simple illustration representing the trait.
Art project James did at school

 

He thinks he’s a lamb…sweet, cuddly, and quiet…but this past week or so he’s actually been quite cranky and irritable. He’s also been a bit congested. We took him to the doctor yesterday to see what the doctor thought, and he put him on an antibiotic as a precaution.

That’s all that going on with James right now.

 

James lies on a cushioned surface covered with a sheet patterned with cartoon vehicles. He wears a blue Superman T‑shirt and dark pants with red lettering. A white cloth rests near his head, and a feeding tube is visible at his midsection. The setting appears cozy, with carpeted flooring and pillows arranged around him, creating a calm, supportive space for rest.