Upsetting Day

Today we found out Cooper has Fifth disease, which is really nothing more than a virus that caused a rash over his entire body. However it can cause problems for pregnant women. Unfortunately, he was around Amy and his Aunt Kimberly, which are both due in October. He had absolutely no symptoms on Tuesday when Davis came over for a couple hours. The next day Cooper started breaking out in the rash. We thought maybe he was allergic to something on his shirt, because at first the rash was only where his shirt was and a little on his cheeks. We gave him some Benadryl Wednesday night, and Thursday morning he seemed a little better. Last night, when we started getting ready for swim team practice, I noticed it had gotten a lot worse and was now on his legs and feet also. I called the Dr. office and the nurse called me back. She determined it was probably an allergic reaction, and said to give him more Benadryl. This morning the rash was even worse, so we went to see Dr. Wood. He said it was a classic case of Fifth Disease. He said since Aunt Kimberly was around Cooper when he had the rash, she would not get it (you are no longer contagious when the rash appears). But, we were with Amy before the rash appeared, so I hope you will join me in praying that she and Davis do not get it!

Compared to Amy possibly getting Fifth Disease, this is nothing, but it upsets me nonetheless. Scott called me from work yesterday and said he thought Cooper might have dyslexia. I had told him about my frustration with Cooper when we read Go, Dog, Go (the Dr. Suess book). Cooper diligently sounded out all the words, but I just didn't understand why he could not remember the word 'dog', without taking so long to resound it out every time. Shelby would tell him, it says Go, dog, go, Cooper, which of course made him mad. It just didn't make sense, because I know he has an incredible memory. He remembers things from years ago with perfect detail. He also had to go to a class in school called the Literacy Lab for the slower readers, and many times he told me he felt dumb in class. He tries so hard, though!

I pray he grows out of this difficulty, because it breaks my heart to think he may struggle all his life with reading. I checked out http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm and Cooper has just about every one of the characteristics listed. I spoke with Dr. Wood about my concerns today and he gave me some information to read, but he said children can't be tested for dyslexia until age 7.