Oh Nuts!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Well, it was inevitable - bound to happen sometime - a ticking time bomb, if you will...

Tree Nut Consumption

If you don't know Pooh Bear is allergic to tree nuts, specifically, walnuts and pecans, but we have been instructed to avoid ALL tree nuts. {side note: she is not allergic to peanuts - which are not even a nut, they're a legume} We visit the allergist every ear to have her school paperwork signed and to have a new epi-pen prescription written and filled. I carry 2 epi-pens with me all the time, we have 2 epi-pens in the cupboard at home and the school has an epi-pen in the office with her name on it. We had successfully avoided the need to use one for 5 plus years.

Until Saturday.

Saturday afternoon she called me from her friend, L's, house...

P.B.: "Mom, get my epi-pen ready. I ate some tree nuts."

Me: "What!?" "How!?" "When!?"

P.B: "They were in a cookie. My tongue is itchy and kinda getting big. L's mom is bringing me home right now."

When she arrives home, L's mom is so worried and apologetic. I'm sure I seem totally rude telling her it was okay, we'll take care of everything and pretty much blowing her off because I needed to follow P.B. into the house to give her the epi-pen.

Mark and I have a brief argument discussion about whether or not to give her the epi-pen, wherein I convince him we have to give it to her and then take her to the ER. I then hand him the epi-pen and tell him he gets to give it to her. {I'm such a pansy.} I did volunteer to hug her tight, which was a huge help I'm sure.

Epi-pen given, Pooh Bear and I head to the ER. En-route I ask her 8 to 23 times if she was still okay. 

We check into the ER and I realize that it's going to be traumatic not because of our situation but because of all the other interesting people there! The guy shaking in the corner of the tiny triage area, the crazy vocal lady without insurance on the other side of the curtain in the bed next to Pooh Bear {she may have hurt her knee but now it's totally better?}, and finally the little girl who had split her finger open falling off her bike, screaming while they performed a block on the finger. We both covered our ears for that part.

Anyway, they gave her some benedryl and a steroid that would help her body deal with the allergic reaction. she was really shaky with all the adrenalin and epinephrine coursing through her body. Then we waited to see if she had any other adverse reactions. We were there for about 2.5 - 3 hours under observation and then she was cleared to go home.

Thankfully before the doctors had to start more work on the little girl's finger next to us.

An exciting and, at the same time, utterly boring Saturday afternoon.

It was a favorable outcome {P.B. alive} and we learned a lot that afternoon. First, never assume that your friend's mom knows you have a food allergy. Always ask if the homemade cookies have walnuts in them! {I'm not sure what happened here. P.B. is so good at asking about the food she is given. She even asks me if I have put tree nuts in her food! Maybe she doesn't trust me!} But she did everything right after and was so great through the whole ordeal.

Statistically, it will happen again, but we'll be ready and we know how to handle it. Maybe this incident bought us another 5 careful years.

As an added bonus, she now has a great "What Happened This Summer" story when she goes back to school in the fall!