We woke up this morning with the little guy’s rash still there, so we decided it was time to go to the doctor.  Fortunately they had time right away in the morning, so I rushed there with him, braced for the news.

So what was it?  The doctor says it’s just some viral infection, so we don’t need to worry about it, it will pass after about a week.  I asked if there was a name for what he had, and the doctor said we could run some tests but it would be pointless.  I agreed, the important thing was that it wasn’t any of the big ones (measles, hand foot and mouth, etc).

While I am relieved it is nothing super serious and it seems like all we have to do now is let the rash go away in due time, it feels a bit unsatisfying.  “Just a viral infection” is notoriously what a lot of American doctors say when they don’t know what something really is. So, what if this guy doesn’t know what it is?  Does it matter?  Does it help to know when the instructions of “just wait it out” are the same?  

I guess it says a lot about the power of a label.  Having the name allows us to state what the little guy has been going thru, without any question.  It also allows us to obsess on it by googling it for hours.  Maybe it’s best not to know after all 😉