March 18th 2007. Just a normal routine Sunday, got to church late (as usual) and sent the kids off to sit with their Primary classes. (Sacrament last schedule!) After I dropped Wesley off at nursery I also walked into Primary since I was the Primary chorister. (Don't start thinking I'm musically talented, oh no, they were just desperate). As I sat in the front of the classroom next to the piano I looked out over the kids and noticed that Joshua had some new teachers. I made a mental note to go talk to them about Josh's allergies as soon as I could break away. Although in the back of my mind I was assuming that the Primary President had already talked to them. When Josh got new teachers in January the whole presidency had made sure that EVERYONE knew about Josh's allergies. So when I missed my opportunity to step out and talk to them I didn't think too much about it.
After Sunday school was over Josh came back in to the Primary room for sharing and singing time. I noticed that Josh was coughing a bit, but I was in the middle of singing time so I didn't really pay close attention to him. Soon after Primary was over I walked back to Josh and asked him if he was okay, he told me his throat hurt and needed a drink of water. He ran down the hallway towards the water fountain, coughing all the way. Assuming that Josh had picked up a cold really quick I got my bags together, made sure Emily was by my side and went to pick up Wes from Nursery. We met Joshua slowly walking back to us in the hallway. I noticed his face was getting red and that his cough sounded congested like after having a cold for a long time. That finally set off an alarm in my head.
I turned to a member of the Primary Presidency and asked if she knew if Josh had eaten something in his class. She told me she didn't know so she ran off to find the new teachers. I bent down and asked Josh, who was 5 year old at the time, if he had eaten anything in class,. He told me yes, but didn't know what the candy was called. The Primary leader came running around the corner telling me that they had passed out Resses pieces to the kids, they had given each kid a small handful, but after Josh ate ONE he handed the rest back to the teacher saying they tasted nasty! (Josh had thought they were M&M's) As soon as I heard he had ingested peanuts, I knew Josh's airway was closing and that's why he was coughing and his throat hurt. And of course wouldn't you know it....I DIDN'T have his epi-pen bag...again!
I don't know if it was shock or dread, but I just felt like my brain was in a mud puddle and I couldn't think fast enough. Everything we've read, tells us that when you first see symptoms of an Anaphylactic reaction, you have to act fast--before the airway closes. I ran over to the chapel and peeked in to get my husbands attention (he was sitting up on the stand for his church calling) I can't remember if I found him, if he saw me or if it was someone else entirely that brought him out but finally we were all together. We had all converged in the foyer and at this point there was several people gathering, all of them seem to know what was happening. We quickly filled Shawn in on the situation and we decided that instead of trying to arrange someone at church to watch them and then someone to get them home and watch them their we would ALL just leave and go to the doctors. As soon as we made that announcement one of the Primary leaders grabbed her 12 year old daughter and TOLD us her daughter was coming with us--to take care of the rest of the kids. So we left the church dropped Emilee and Emily off at home, (Wes was freaking out, so we kept him) grabbed some extra clothes so Josh could get out of his suit, (yeah, that was dumb, I know that now!) then drove to the instacare.
It took forever to drive down the street and around the block to the instacare. It was a very long 3 minutes drive. Shawn drove right up to the doors, and I jumped out with Josh while Shawn went and parked the car. When I got to the front desk (carrying a heavy 5 year old) and explained the situation, they immediately led me into the back. As soon as I walked through the doors a nurse ran over to me and took Josh while another nurse ran to grab the doctor. The nurse immediately started in on a round of vitals, and I went and grabbed Shawn and Wes from the waiting room and brought them back. As I got back to Josh bed the doctor walked up to us and asked for the story. Really quickly we told her what was going on, and the nurse, right on cue, ended my story with Josh's stats. The doctor ordered several different medicine and the two nurses disappeared. One by one the nurses quickly came back and gave Joshua the shots and started him on oxygen and albuterol. The doctor was so cute with Josh, she walked over to his bed and talked with him and stared to tease him a little. After the meds were started, the doctor told Josh she was going to go have a chat with his mommy...and then the doctor turned on me!
If you ever want to feel like the worst mom in the world...have an Instacare doctor yell at you while your son lies struggling for air! Well, she didn't really yell, but she sure looked mad. She ASKED Shawn and I if we knew Josh had severe allergies to peanuts. She ASKED us if we were prescribed an Epi-pen. She ASKED us if we had the Epi-pen with us. Then she TOLD us the Epi-pen could mean life and death especially for Josh and TOLD us that we needed to always keep the Epi-pen with Josh. And then she TOLD us that yes, the Epi-pen would hurt him, but that she'd rather see a small wound to stitch (yep, that's common because the kid will jerk away with pain) than a small child to bury! Did we get the message? Yeah I think so!
I'm sure she was much more tactful, but I was a bit sensitive. Although to be fair we were a little baffled with this episode. We DO know the symptoms and what to do for an allergic reaction but with all Josh's past problems the first symptom was always HIVES! But Josh didn't break out in hives until well after we were in the doctors office. This time we had no warning, it attacked his airway first!We sat in the doctors office watching as Josh got more and more red and the hives started to appear everywhere! We were told that we would not be released until most of the hives were gone and Josh's breathing was completely cleared up. You can tell how miserable Josh feels, look at how red his ears are!
In the light of a very long wait ahead of us, we decided that Wes and dad would go home and mom would stay with Josh would stay until the doctor gave us the all-clear. Just before daddy left he grabbed his cell phone and took some pictures for us!Over TWO hours later, after Josh and I colored a few coloring pages and after we read a few little books...we finally got the okay to go home!
Sad little kid. He did NOT like going to the doctors and getting all those shots, He hated the nose tube for the oxygen (now he knows how Aunt Heather feels!) and he had felt horrible ever since he swallowed that one Reeses Pieces. Lucky for us, we found out that he doesn't like the taste of peanut butter. The doctor said that it was very common most people can tell right away if they eat something they are allergic to because it will hurt their mouth. As a side note: Shawn and I went and apologized to this new teaching couple for our lack of communication. As Josh's parents we are totally responsible for educating other about his allergies and we failed to do so. They had felt just horrible about feeding Josh the candies. Lesson learned--the hard way.
Now, truth be told we still sometimes forget to grab Josh's Epi-pen bag, I do have an extra Epi in in my purse, but sometimes life happens and we just forget. You probably all remember what happened last year when Josh had a nice little Ambulance ride. Our big mistake in this case was simply that we couldn't pin a known allergy to the reaction. Therefore, we decided not to give the Epi-pen. That was very risky and we waisted time in which the medicine could have been working to counter the effect of the allergen. (and maybe avoided the $uper fun amublan¢e ride!) Accidents happen, they are a part of life and are unavoidable. But accidents are more prone to happen when we become complacent about dangers, in this case...food allergies!
This experience is counted among one of my biggest blessings. Really! To have my eyes opened to how severe Josh's allergies were getting without a tragic outcome and right before I needed to send him to school to start kindergarten, I don't believe this was a coincidence. From this experience I was able to make sure my son would be well taken care of every where he went
Here we are four years later, Josh has started school (and loving it) and we have educated yet another group of students and a teacher about food allergies. Even the teachers who've had peanut-allergy kids in years past are surprised by some of the information we share during this meeting. So for tomorrows post, I'm going to share with you the lesson that I usually give to 7-8 year olds.
Food allergy emergencies 101. Stay tuned!
FYI: *Our Epi-pen bag contains:
Epi-pen
Benadryl fast melts
Albuterol inhaler
Benadryl cream (2%)
(remember not to use Benadryl cream and oral Bendaryl at the same time! It's the same medicine and you might use too much.)
Children's Tylenol/ibuprophen chewable tablets.
Food Allergy Week: Today is the last day you can sign-up ONLINE. You will still be able to sign-up at Wheeler Farm on Saturday at 11am. Remember it's free and all children who are signed up will be given a t-shirt.
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