Rascal's Allergy

Well we had quite the eventful weekend. Our sweet Rascal had his worst allergy reaction yet and get this.... it wasn't to peanuts!! Yes, you read that right. Let me explain what happened (trust me I never want to relive the experience or anything worse but it helps me to have all reactions documented, some of this is more detailed for that reason too).

Sunday we got up got ready for church and headed out like we do everyday. Once we got into the service I realized Rascal didn't have on his peanut allergy bracelet. We were consumed with a potty training toddler and it totally slipped our mind. I held my breath and quickly checked the list of volunteers that would have Rascal in their care and I knew they all were fully aware of his allergy. I breathed a sigh a relief.

Everything went smoothly and we left church and headed to my in-laws for lunch with the family. Baby A was taking everything out of me with potty training this particular day and my patience was running thin.

 We sat down at the table to eat a yummy meal. Pork tenderloin, bruschetta, zucchini, rice and a pesto to dip our bread in. None of that sounds scary does it?? Rascal was sitting between Tim and I and I helped Rascal fix his plate. He had a piece of bread smothered in pesto, it never entered my mind that it could have nuts in it. We prayed and all dug in, a few minutes (maybe 5 minutes) later Rascal told me his lip hurt. I looked at it, saw nothing and asked if he bit it and he said no. I told him to eat some more and we would check it out later. A few minutes later he told me his tongue hurts, I look at it saw nothing and asked again if he bit it or had a sore on it. He said no and we continued eating. Then he starts whining and telling me his tongue hurts. Running on very little patience, I told him to stop whining and if he wasn't hungry to just get down (For this statement I am forever beating myself up over). He pouted for a minute and then looked at Tim, I saw Tim's eyes get huge and then Rascal looked at me. Suddenly everything started to click as I stared at my son covered in a rash around his mouth. By this time around 10 minutes had gone by since his first symptom (his lip hurting). I jumped up and rushed to get a double dose (2 tsp) of liquid benedryl in him. After that it was a waiting game...... wait to see if his symptoms stop, wait to see how bad it will get, wait to see what's the next move. Everything in my inner being was screaming and panicked but by the grace of God, I remained calm on the outside and handled the situation the best I knew how without scaring Rascal. I sat watching his face and his breathing for what seemed like eternity. It wasn't going away quick enough......... we head to the bathroom so we could start wiping his face down. By the time we got to the bathroom his bottom lip had swelled up and there were sores along his gum line (approx 5 minutes had gone by since he took benedryl). I started shaking and everything within me shattered as I see the fear sweep across his face. He had seen himself in the mirror and knew then just how bad it was. I remained calm, only by my wonderful God, and tried to calm Tim down, who was ready to sweep him up and rush him to the emergency room. Don't get me wrong I figured we would be in the E.R. for sure but I didn't want to do anything to scare Rascal more, if it didn't have to be done we weren't going to do it. I asked the allergist at our last appointment when I should use the epi pen and she said only if he has trouble breathing. We weren't at that stage yet.

At one point Rascal whispered to me.... do I have to get that shot (epi pen)? I hugged him tightly and told him I didn't think so but we would just have to see.  

I wanted him to be honest with me and let me know the way he felt but I knew the thought of getting a shot was scary for him. All this was very scary for us all.

After what seemed like an eternity (more like 10 minutes after he took Benedryl) some of the symptoms seemed to stop progressing. He still had the swollen lip but it wasn't getting bigger and the rash was starting to creep up his face and down his neck but it wasn't big welts it was just very red. We stripped him of his clothes and got him in the shower. At this point Rascal started to come out of his fear stricken daze and I started to relax some.

We could finally think a little more clearly (everything before this point was nothing more than just a quick reaction to get him help.... I promise you God had my hands in his and He was the one doing everything..... I was in a fog). We headed to the kitchen to check out the "toxic" pesto. Sure enough it had cashews and pine nuts in it. We had no clue he was so allergic to either one of those but there was no peanuts at all in that product so it had to be one of those.

All this happened within approximately a 20 minute time frame.

Rascal wanted just to lay around after that. He wanted Tim and I close by and I could barely stand to take my eyes off him. Tim and I did have to pick up a mattress and take it home but I made sure to get back ASAP. I needed him in my sight.

I knew the protocol.... Rascal needed to be in my sight for the next 24 hours with round the clock doses of benedryl for 24 hours. Once the first dose of benedryl wears off, the pesto would still be in his system which in return would cause him to start reacting again. His body needs 24 hours to break it all down and get rid of it, only then can we stop the benedryl and watch him the rest of the day.

I set my alarm to wake me every 4 hours at night. I went in woke up Rascal check his breathing and gave him more benedryl. He woke up this morning a tad swollen, not sure if this was from the pesto or from being woke up so much at night. Probably both.

I called his allergist and they assured me that I did everything exactly right and that he needed to be seen in a few weeks for testing and blood work.

So we now know that he is HIGHLY allergic to all nuts. We are instructed to not even eat them if we are going to be around him.

I can promise you that this reaction scared everyone so bad that we will not be eating ANY kind of nut. They are poison to Rascal and so in return we will not have them in our home or close to him.

These pictures were taken 5 minutes after he had a double dose (2 tsp) of liquid benedryl. It had stopped getting worse at this point and may have lessened a little but not much. I also want to note that these pictures do NOT do it justice. It looks good in these pictures compared to what it looked like in person.

This one is blurry but you can kind of tell how swollen his lip was. It looked like he had been hit in the mouth.

I seriously had heart palpitations for the rest of the day. My heart would race and I would feel really weird for a few seconds. I know it was all from the stress.

Today that has all stopped but now emotions are surfacing. The thought of "what if" terrifies me.

I am in constant prayer for God's will. I have so many questions and I surely don't want to act on my emotions.