Friday, September 4, 2009

Allergic

I'm not sure how many of you have seen this picture, but I think I'm ready to post the story behind it now.

I know it seems silly to have posted this picture on Friday and just now be getting around to explaining it, but I'm just now able to do so without my heart beating through my chest and putting a choke hold on my lungs.

I have probably mentioned before that on Friday's Michael helps out at the TKD school by helping to teach the "Little Dragons" class. So, Friday afternoon he took the boys to my mom's so that she could watch them until I got there to pick them up and so Mike could do the class.

Well.... it seems that shortly after they got there the boys decided that they wanted to play outside. I have also discovered in the last week that they have a new found passion for swatting at bees. This strikes fear into my heart because I am so allergic that if I get stung, I swell like crazy. I'm lucky enough to not need an EpiPen, but it's been years since I have been stung, and that could have changed by now. Anyway, Jacob got stung, by what we think was a wasp around 4:30 so he went inside and mom and Mike kept an eye on him and he seemed to be fine, then he was around the cat, which Michael is highly allergic to, and his reaction is itchy, watery eyes, and sneezing and he still seemed to be fine, so Michael went ahead to class. (Which is what I would have had him do since it had been 30 mins. since he got stung and there didn't seem to be anything other then a little splotchy red spot around the area of the bee sting.)
So, when I got to mom's Jake was sitting in the chair and I walked past him to the kitchen and he was fine, I checked out the kitchen for a snack (I'm not sure why, but that's what all of my mom's kids do as soon as they come in the door) and when I walked back into the living room, he was rubbing his eyes (with a pop tart still in his hand) stuffy nose, entire face swollen, and he was laboring to breathe. So I grabbed a washcloth and wiped the pop tart off his face and gave him a chewable Benedryl and scooped him up and rushed him to the front seat of my car, (not to worry, I did put him as far back as the seat would go and in his booster seat) I was scared he would stop breathing on me all together and I FLEW down the hill toward the hospital. Mom called Michael and told him what was going on and he pulled in right behind me.
We rushed inside, I filled out the sign in sheet, (with my name instead of Jake's, what can I say, I was a mess) and they took us straight back and checked him over. The whole time we were in triage he was talking and happy. A good sign, but not enough for my anxiety to subside.

Here are a few more pictures of him before we went to a room to wait for the doctor.

This picture doesn't show how red and swollen he was when I rushed him out the door and you can barely see it, but the bee sting is on his right arm. Like I said, he was still pretty happy and had started to breathe better.

Here he is in his hospital gown. Michael and I couldn't get over how cute he looked in, but let me tell you.... I sincerely hope that I NEVER have to see any of my three kids in a hospital gown again.




He wasn't a big fan of the band aid type thing they put around his finger to monitor his heart rate and blood oxygen level. But.....



He was completely into iCarly while we waited for the doctor to come in and see him. Look at his left eye. It's wrinkled and still a little puffy. Before we gave him the Benedryl at moms both eyes were swollen and watery and the left was almost completely swollen shut. We have given him Benedryl before and instead of slowing him down, he seemed to have more energy, not this time around, this time, he was quiet and sat still, just watching TV and patiently waiting. Totally not Jake like behavior.

Once the doctor come in to check him over, it had been almost an hour and he said it's hard to say what caused the reaction but that he was going to give him another dose of antihistamine and a steroid and they gave him an Epi shot.

I'm a very lucky mom, both boys are really good patients and they let doctors and nurses check them out and don't put up much of a fight when it comes to having their temperatures taken and they are champs at taking medicine. The nurse came in and gave him the two liquid medicines and he took them no problem, then when she went to give him the shot, he wasn't looking and it scared him (and I'm sure it hurt, because all needles do!) and he jerked. The needle came out and scratched his leg. The poor thing was crying and so was the nurse when she left the room after having to stick him again to give him the shot.
We had to wait for a while after they gave him the shot to see how he would react to the Epi. Let me tell you... that was a different experience all together. I guess it's an adrenaline shot and after the whole scratched leg and double stick he was sitting in my lap on the hospital bed and I could SEE his pulse in his jugular vein. I can't even begin to describe what that was like, but I guess, it was kinda like watching a frogs throat when it croaks.
We got to leave about 30 minutes later and Jake has been fine since then. I let him sleep in my bed with me Friday night to be sure that he was ok and he seems to be completely unfazed by the whole experience. Me on the other hand.... not so much. Every now and then I'll start thinking about it again and how severe his reaction was and it scares the shit out of me. That's the only way I can put it. By the way, we think now that what caused this reaction was the Guinea Pig. He had a less severe reaction about a month ago when Michael picked him up from moms and he had been playing with Pig that day too. Apparently, right before I came in the door the boys and Eden had gone in to feed him a few carrots and pet him and when Jake came out he sat down in the chair and rubbed his eyes. I don't know if it was the Pig alone or if it was the bee, cat and pig combo, but something set him off bad enough to make me panic and rush him to the hospital.
Of course, all of this means that we are going to have to do the horrible task of having him allergy tested. If his reaction to the Guinea pig was this severe, how can we be sure, without having him tested, that there isn't something else out there that will set him off again, and possibly be more severe. We came home from the hospital with prescription strength allergy medicine and two EpiPens. Why is the EpiPen a big deal? Because.. my dad is so allergic to bees that he has less than 10 minutes to inject the EpiPen or his airway will swell shut and he won't make it to the hospital...he's a grown man, how am I supposed to NOT be terrified of what could happen to my little boy?
I know that I'm probably totally over reacting but I can't help it. This was a total reality check for me. This little boy seems like an indestructible ball of energy and this one almost knocked him flat and made me realize just how vulnerable he can be.


3 comments:

  1. OMG!!! Heartattack! I can't believe you reacted so quick. I don't know if I could have handled it that good. GOOD JOB MOM!!!

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  2. You aren't kidding. I guess it was just adrinaline high that carried me through. It is still freaking me out if I think about it to much.

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  3. I missed a bunch of your new posts somehow, so I'm just now reading this...WOW! We had to have Micah allergy tested back in May or June and they were amazed at all the stuff he reacts to, even peanut butter. Thankfully, he hates the stuff and can smell it a mile away. Do you keep Benadryl in your purse now? I prolly should. Grass & pollen seems to get Micah the worst.

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