A couple of months ago I took DS (14) on a trip to my sister's house who had just adopted two guinea pigs. DS had a cuddle with one of them and five minutes later had an awful allergic reaction to the point I almost took him to hospital, though didn't in the end as his breathing wasn't affected/no tongue or lip swelling etc. Just huge swollen eyes that went bright red, hives where the guinea pig had touched his skin etc. He has never reacted to an animal like this before and we have 4 rats and a hamster, though he does get hay fever quite badly and is the only one of the DC's that struggles with it, he has also been prone to sinus infections etc over the years.
Now getting hives is almost a daily occurrence, mostly on school days rather than weekends and with no apparent cause at all. They seem to come and go quickly and completely at random. We are waiting on a referral to see a peads Dr at the hospital but I am just wondering what I can do in the mean time. My first thought would be he's developed an animal allergy to the other rodents too, however it seems to happen more when he isn't around them and he frequently plays and cuddles with his rats without an issue.
Just wondering how worried I should be and what it could be? Googled stupidly earlier and saw it can be a sign of lymphoma so now am having a bit of an anxiety spiral. He does seem fine in himself though it is more just an annoyance for him but nothing seems to be getting rid of it/stopping it from coming back and it definitely started after his first initial reaction to the guinea pig.