OK, so I had my first official mama scare this week. I have been really lucky up until now not having to deal with anything really scary. No SIDS, illnesses, falls..nothing until two days ago. There we were at home, hanging out in our PJS at noon and reading books on the couch. In my defense, I am not normally a couch potato but the little senor and I were getting over our cold and chillaxing at home all day. It was all going well until I got the urge to eat some trail mix. There were almonds, raisins and cashews. Munchin, munchin, munchin and then the little dude had some boogers coming out of his nose. So, I did what any mom would do and squeezed his nose, got the boogies out and then went to wash my hands and grab a paper towel for the next booger encounter. Well, somewhere in there I must have gotten a cashew crumb in the little guy's mouth or just had the cashew oil on my hands but his face started turning bright red. Then his cheeks started swelling and the redness was traveling dow his neck. The little guy started scratching his neck and cheeks and little white bumps were starting to form. I was panicking and called the hubs who suggested I call the advice nurse at Kaiser. Panicking more and feverishly checking my little one's breathing and checking to see if his lips were turning blue…the nurse finally came on the line. She asked nonchalantly if he was blue…NO! She then asked if he was still breathing..YES! She then went on to explain in the slowest manner possible that should these two items change I should most definitely call 911. Really lady?!?!?!? What am I supposed to do right now??? She said she would recommend Benedryl. OK…that would be a very fast, easy solution except that I didn't have any Children's Benedryl at home. As I was explaining this very quickly to the nurse, she went on to put me on hold because she wasn't comfortable with me driving to the drug store. WHAT?!?!?! What am I supposed to do here? If I stay at home, i can watch the little guy and check his symptoms but it does not get us any closer to stopping the allergic reaction which was getting worse by the minute. The redness was creeping up to his eyes and more white bumps were appearing on his chin and neck. I was panicking more by the second. Call the hubs on the home line and he beelined to the drug store to pick up the meds for me. Somewhere in there the nurse said to call her back should things continue to worsen or call 911. Ay yay yay1 Husband was home within minutes, little guy got his liquid Benedryl and within minutes the allergic reaction was reversing. THANK GOODNESS! So this experience has taught me several things:
1) How much I love my little guy and that I freak out at the thought of anything going wrong with him
2) Always have liquid benedryl on hand
3) Do not put off food allergy testing any longer
So the question remains about cashews after this disaster…Love 'em or leave 'em…LEAVE Em!
