Hives...

My son is a Dalmatian. A peach and red Dalmatian. He is allergic to something, we know not what. Poison ivy doesn't look like this, and there's no rhyme or reason to the spots, they're ALL OVER. His spots have spots, in places. And they're still coming and growing, he had spots on his face when I put him down for his nap that he did not have when I took him to the doctor this morning.
"What is he in for today?"
Pulling up his shirt, "THIS!"
"Oh wow, how long has he had this?"
"To our knowledge..." checking time "two hours?"
It was a five-second diagnosis, he has hives. He was outside yesterday, he helped me pick up garbage down where we and our neighbors leave our cans (someone doesn't tie their bags well) and he went down in the ditch by the road. It could have been a plant, it could have been a bite (they're not bug bites, but an allergy to something that bit him could have caused it), he's eaten nothing new and I haven't changed any soaps or detergents. If it was a plant, it's not a rash from oils, it's a true allergic reaction. It's hives, plain and simple. What's not plain and simple is what caused it in the first place.
So now he's on prednisolone to get it GONE, and if it comes back, Dr. Hendricks already knows what allergist he'll send us to. I remembered only after getting the prescription and putting him down for a nap after his first dose, what he was like the last time he had steroids. It was when he was still in NICU, to give his lung development a boost. We went from having the happiest baby on the floor to having the angriest. Steroids can make children irritable, they say - this was infant 'roid rage. The second day of it, he screamed bloody murder for HOURS, apparently with circular breathing. "So do yah STILL think my lungs need help? What are you looking at? Huh?? HUH??" We didn't visit long that day. It was piercing. And we pitied the NICU nurses when we left, because they were stuck! So, um... this time WE might be stuck, if he reacts the same way! I guess we'll know by tomorrow... but we have to get rid of them completely to see if it was a one-time reaction or something that needs to be followed up and dealt with.