Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Only in this house

I was about to take my oldest in to the doctor because of a strange yellow color on the inside of his forearms - I was thinking Hepatitis or Jaundice (because I'm such an optimist). But the whites of his eyes were still very white. We had one problem - no van in which to transport him in his wheelchair (it's at the shop). The mother in me worried that this condition might be life-threatening and could not wait until we get the van back in two days.

Mr. O, who directs troubleshooting for a living, started watching him more closely and called a friend of ours, a PA, to ask him what he thought. The more they talked, the more they thought it might be something he came in contact with since it is only on the inside of his forearms, running from his thumb to his elbow.

Mr. O thought it might be from the new shirt he was wearing - except it was red, not yellow. However! He had been wearing a new Adidas shirt with an orange basketball on it yesterday. And he does like to rest his arms on his stomach. Hmmm, could it be? I grabbed a box of baby wipes and began to wipe down each arm.

Voila! Bingo! Eureka! The wipes came away with yellow dye all over them. Thank heavens the car was in the shop, or we might have spent a bundle on blood tests and a copay. AND, I might have felt really foolish when I took him down for his shower later tonight and it all magically disappeared.