A Mass of Tape

Last week in school, Joey had a sudden and dramatic reaction to... something. He turned red but not hot, and got his prickly rash on his back. He normally has a prickly rash, I had it when I was a kid, too. It doesn't itch, it just looks not smooth. But this was a really angry looking prickly rash, enough so that the nurse called, and so we took him over to the allergist. We did one of those scratch tests last week, and he's not allergic to any of whatever they were testing. Today we were to start a patch test. This is when they affix tape to your back with little squares of stuff to see if you have a contact allergy.

So we went over, and they put these tape squares on his back, and proceeded to "reinforce" the tape with more tape, none of which was sticking to his back very well. She kept telling him to stand still to put it on, but the minute he moved, there were puckers and pulls, and I was just not very happy. Somehow in my mind I had envisioned more like that sheet tape they used on me in the hospital, which sealed things in. This looks like a joke.

I was assured he should go to school, but shouldn't bathe. Sponge baths. OK. I should take the tape off on Wednesday and bring him back on Thursday. OK.

I dropped the child off at school, told the aide who fetched him what was going on, and continued on my merry way.

Skip ahead to 3:45. One happy boy hops off the school bus and scurries into the house. I get the coat off, then check his back.

There, clinging to his back, is a ball of mangled tape.

I called the allergist's office. They acted remarkably surprised, as if this has never happened before. I assured them that the nurse placed sufficient tape on my son's back to mummify a rat, but no avail. I now await instructions from his doctor as to our next move.

The good news is his back looks perfectly fine.

I shall keep you posted.