I wanted to get into more detail about Owen's initial reaction to peanut butter, but that was too much for my last post...it needed it's own.
JAN 5, 2013 Andy's on call for work, so it's like any normal weekday for me & the kids at home. Owen always had an aversion to PB, whenever I'd offer it on toast to the kids, he'd spit it out and refuse to eat it. So I just started giving him an alternative, buttered toast or whatever.
For lunch I gave Owen a bologna sandwich, which he disassembled and threw on the floor. Lyla & Noah were give PB&J, with strawberry jelly. Owen took a quarter of Noah's sandwich and tasted it, I never gave them jelly before (who needs that mess when you have 4 kids to clean up?!) and he loved the jelly, and continued to eat the sandwich. I thought nothing of it, actually was pleased that he'd finally started eating PB, and this was how to get him to get that extra protein in his diet!
I cleaned them all up and they were playing before nap time. Owen's face at this point was getting red around his mouth, and he was rubbing his eyes a lot! It was close to naps, so I was holding him and he kept putting his head down. When I would put him down he'd get irritable and rub his eyes and soon, within 10-15 minutes the redness spread all up his face and there were white blotches around his eyes. This is when I knew something was wrong. I had no Children's Benadryl, which is what some of my mom friends in an online group suggested I try, so I called the Pediatricians office...NO ANSWER. Mind you, this is a Saturday afternoon, 1pm-ish, and they have closed for the day, but they are supposed to have an on call service who can get you in touch with an on call nurse! NO ONE ANSWERED! I called my sister in law, who ended up coming over, because Andy was out on a call.
I didn't want to take him to the ER, he wasn't struggling to breathe at this point, just irritable and had a crazy face rash. So my niece & I took him to Immediate Care, who we called on the way to make sure we were doing the right thing by going to them and not the ER. We get there, I sign him in & we wait. After only a few minutes he's getting very fussy and then he vomits all over him & me. We get as cleaned up as possible, they take us to a room b/c now we are stinking up the waiting area, and Owen is starting to wheeze.
Andy shows up, fills out the paperwork for insurance & meets us in the exam room. His rash had spread to his trunk at this point maybe 30-40 minutes after he had eaten the PB&J. They gave him steroids, Benedyrl, and he had to do 2 nebulizer treatments. It was so scary. We spent a few hours there, doing the treatments and just waiting to make sure everything was working. I just couldn't keep my emotions in check any longer, and felt like this was all my fault. I knew he didn't care for PB, why did I let him eat the sandwich? I know I didn't know that he had an allergy, but he could've died! I am so thankful we have family close by and they were able to come help me.
He now has an EpiPen we have to take everywhere we go. He had an allergy screening and he's positive for peanuts, tree nuts & eggs. We had him tested for eggs b/c he acted the same when offered eggs. We have had to change our shopping habits, making sure not to buy anything that was processed on machines or in a facility that uses peanuts or tree nuts.
It's going to get "easier" as he gets older, to manage his allergy. He will be able to understand one day what nuts can do to him, and he can make sure to be vocal about it. But for now, We're all he's got. When we go out, if some one had PB on their hands and pushed a shopping cart and Owen sits in it, he could easily get it on his hands and rub his eyes or put them in his mouth, causing a reaction. We never leave the house without his EpiPens, Benadryl & wipes, to wipe anything he may touch, or his/our hands.
It's always been something I asked when I bring dessert or any food to some one's house that I may not know that well, "Does anyone have any food allergies?" I never thought I'd be the one dealing firsthand with a food allergy. Now when we go some where I make sure they know of Owen's allergies. I haven't gotten to the point to feel ok asking some one to make sure their menu is homemade, etc...such as a birthday party, there's cake/cupcakes, from a bakery, where nuts are used. Owen cannot have those cupcakes, because what if? It's not worth the risk to me, for him to have a cupcake. This is why I bring food for my children that I know is safe.
Looking ahead, we'll have to figure out how school life is going to work out. I know that some schools have tables for the allergy kids, so that's good. He will obviously be bringing his own lunch from home until he's old enough to know not to eat certain things. I hope that parents of his classmates and his teachers are supportive and understanding. I know how inconvenient peanut allergies are in the school setting...but this is my son's life we're talking about!!! We'll cross those bridges when we get to them!
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