Snow Day

Woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Beautiful, but it meant we had to cancel plans to see Elizabeth and MC today. After I saw a few cars skating down our street I decided not to risk it. I'm hardly the World's Greatest Driver at the best of times.

All for the best anyway as Toby suddenly developed a weird rash on his right forearm. It looked very strange to me and, being the well-trained Mom that I am, I did the glass trick. I'm sure all you parents know just what I mean. You press a glass against the rash and if you can still see the rash through the glass you hightail it to the hospital. Well, I could still see the rash.

I stripped Tobes down and couldn't find the rash anywhere else. I frantically ran upstairs for my meningitis information card and read through the symptoms while turning Toby this was and that, getting him to touch his chin to his chest, etc. The fact that I had to keep chasing him around the room was probably a good sign that he didn't have meningitis.

So, I didn't run to casualty but I did call the doc and I cancelled Toby's appointment for his development check. We got a Dr's appointment for two hours later but the receptionist recommended I call NHS Direct immediately (the National Health advice hotline) or take Toby to the hospital. I burst into tears. We took the appointment and I called NHS Direct. We went through the symptoms again and they said he sounded fine but to keep my doctors appointment.

Needless to say, Toby does not have meningitis. The doctor couldn't say for sure what the rash was but apparently there are many types of 'non-fading' rash, ie rashes that fail the glass test. I did not know that. It was finally put down to an allergic reaction to something but we were told to watch the rash and watch Toby for any other signs of meningitis.

What a morning.