I LOVE THE RAIN

     Suzy was just 11 years old when it all started. She was running through her sprinkler on a very hot summer’s day with several of her friends. Her best friend, Linda, was looking at her with fear in her eyes. “Suzy, what is that?” she yells as she points to what looked like a rash on Suzy’s left arm.” The other girls stop and come to see what the fuss is about.   One girl screams as she points to Suzy’s face. By then more hives have appeared all over her bare skin. Suzy’s mom heard the screams and came running to see what’s happening. What she saw shocked her. She bundles Suzy up in a towel and runs for her car.   Her neighbor also heard the screams. She came over to calm the other girls and see that they got home safely.

         Suzy was petrified. The hives looked so gross. She was crying all the way to the emergency. Within 2 minutes of them arriving at the ER Suzy was wheeled away with her mom holding her hand trying to comfort her. 

         The doctor made a quick examination of the hives and after asking Suzy if she was itchy or in pain. She said yes to being itchy, but hardly any pain. He sent her off for some tests. By the time the tests were completed and Suzy and her mom were back in the examination room, almost all the hives had disappeared. When the doctor came to report on the test results, he walked into a room of confused looking people. Apparently all the hives had disappeared. He examined Suzy once again to confirm what they all saw earlier but there were no more hives. He assured the mother that all the tests were good, but the sample they took from one of the hives has not yet been completed, so Suzy and her mom had to wait. The doctor left the room shaking his head.

         When Suzy and her mom got home, her mom called the parents of all the girls who were with Suzy that afternoon to report that all the hives had disappeared shortly after they got to the hospital. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

         After dinner Suzy went upstairs for a bath. Shortly after getting into the bathtub, she started screaming. Her mother rushed into the bathroom yelling, “What’s wrong?” She sees Suzy standing by the tub dripping water with a look of fear in her eyes. Her mother saw that the hives were back. She wrapped a towel around Suzy and again rushed her to the hospital. While her mother was explaining that they were just there earlier that day, Suzy is sitting, waiting with a blank look in her eyes. Again, as before, by the time a doctor came to examine Suzy, the hives were no longer there. But, this doctor did receive the results of the sample the other doctor took. They were inconclusive. This doctor would like to take another sample, but couldn’t, the hives were gone. After her mother explained again what happened, the doctor was perplexed. He needed another sample. He explained to Suzy’s mom how to take a sample at home if it happened again. There was nothing else the doctor can do, so he sent them home.

         Suzy was looking so exhausted that her mom insisted that she go straight to bed. There were no complaints from Suzy. Her mother and father sat up late trying to figure it out. Finally they did go to bed, as baffled as always. All they could do was keep an eye on Suzy.

         Next morning Suzy was quite rested and seemed to have forgotten the past day. But at school she had to relive her visits to the hospital to her close friends. The one main question they had was what it was like in the emergency room. Suzy was like a celebrity for that day, which made her forget the ugliness of the hives. It was an exhausting day all in all, so after dinner when her mom saw her head drooping, she sent her to bed early.

         The rest of the week was uneventful. It was hot again on the weekend, so Suzy asked if they could have the sprinkler on again. She wanted to invite her friends again, since they didn’t have much fun last weekend. Suzy just ran around the water spray, so she didn’t get completely wet.  But after receiving a dare from her friends, she stood under the spray and got soaked. Minutes later, she noticed the hives again and ran running into the house to show her mother. Her mom was about to caution her that she was getting the carpet wet, when she noticed the hives herself. She grabbed a towel and headed back to the emergency. The same doctor was on duty and saw her immediately. First he took a sample and had a nurse put some topical cream on them, hoping it would stop them from spreading. Seeing that Suzy came in with a towel and her bathing suit on, he asked if she was swimming. No, answered her mother, but they were running through the sprinkler like last weekend. While they were waiting for the results, the doctor went off to confer with a colleague. Within an hour the doctor was back with the lab results of the hives, and the hives were gone.   He told them it was a rare condition called aquagenic urticaria, which are caused by an interaction between water and a substance found in or on the skin. It generates a toxic material which leads to the development of hives.  It is not life threatening and it can affect a girl going through puberty.   There are several treatments to try. The one that would not be too hard on Suzy would be antihistamines. 

         The doctor sent them home with a prescription for antihistamines and instructions for its use. Suzy is to try not to get too wet, but if she does she must dry off as soon as possible. It is the length of time the water is on her skin that causes the hives. He assured them that she could grow out of it, given time, but to continue taking the antihistamines when they occur. Two years later the doctor pronounced that Suzy is no longer susceptible to those hives. 

         Going home from the doctor’s office it started to rain, really hard. When Suzy got home she stayed outside standing in the rain.