Allergy Fun

I just ran across this story of a family's fun preparing for an event with an allergic child.  Her child has severe allergies, and at the end of the post they tell how he did have a reaction from secondary contact-he didn't even eat the offending food!  Scary stuff. 

We're just coming down from an allergic reaction of some type.  We were in Allentown last Tuesday for an appt. and Jacob's skin was clearer than it had been, I assume from being removed from Wilson air/pollen (sue's yard is surrounded by trees and she has neighbors on both sides who don't cut their grass often).  So at first I just thought it was his skin going back to a Wilson normal.  By Friday night his body was hot all over and he was COVERED in red bumps.  He hadn't eaten anything (that we know of) and he actually wasn't scratching all that bad.  More confusing was the fact that the little boy Sue babysits had a couple bumps so they kept thinking it was something contagious.  I was pretty sure all along it was an allergy thing, but lost a lot of my confidence because everyone was panicking.  People got in a state worrying about impetigo and sandboxes.  There were phone calls and discussions with friends and neighbors!  It was turning into a VERY BIG DEAL.  We went to the doctor on Monday afternoon and they said that Jacob's body was in a weak state from the fever (and he's always compromised  because of the eczema to begin with since eczema is the immune system attacking his body) and was probably more susceptible to whatever it was that caused the reaction so that's why it spread out of control.  So now he's on 3 oral medicines and a stronger hydrocortizone and an extra skin med.(his rescue cream) plus double the normal aquaphor applications!  But it's going away! 
The good part is that Jacob is willing to take his medicines.  Amazing what a difference a year makes.  Last summer we couldn't get any medicine in him!!  He seemed to even know when it was in his food or chocolate milk, now he's willingly doing it.  No struggle!  This opens up the possibility of benadryl for whenever his skin get worse, not just emergencies. 
The little boy Sue babysits was diagnosed with hand, foot, and mouth disease.  They said it's going around.