Angioedema

Angioedema. Ever heard of it? Neither had we. Apparently it's what you get the day after you turn 9. Towards the end of our birthday skiing day, Matt started complaining that he wasn't feeling well and seemed to be coming down with a head cold. (Poor Grandma also came down with the cold while she was here.)

On Monday morning he woke up with a fever and he was pretty droopy most of the day. His fever topped out at 102.9, and other than head and chest congestion, he didn't have any other symptoms.

Around 6:00 Monday night as Matt was lying on the couch, I looked closely at him and his eyes were looking really puffy. I pointed it out to Brian and he agreed. While he had been resting he was biting on his lip and within minutes it puffed up to an unusually large fat lip. He couldn't even talk normally. Brian and I were completely puzzled and worried that his tongue or throat might swell up. I took him to urgent care and after a 2 hour wait, the dr. finally came and told us it was angioedema. As you read about it, it is very perplexing. Matt is very susceptible to seasonal allergies and I don't know if that made him more susceptible to this, but a visit to an allergist is on the calendar so we can get him officially diagnosed with whatever allergies he may have!

I have no idea if the angioedema was at all related to the fever and cold he was fighting. After getting a predisone prescription and some Benadryl the swelling went down really fast. By Tuesday morning his eyes still looked just a little puffy and his fever was down to 99. He enjoyed a day off from school and is planning to be back on Wednesday.

Our 9 year-old puff ball. (I thought it looked much worse in person.)