My Wish For June

I wrote this yesterday and could have sworn I posted it last night, oops!

 

It’s the first day of the month; time for a fresh start and a new beginning.  May was an exciting month for us because of our trip, but it was also a very trying one.  Both children experienced trips to the emergency room.  My wish for June is to spend these next 30 days doctor, ambulance, and E.R. free.

As I wrote about in an earlier post, we had a big scare with Miss Tess the weekend before we left for Maui.  This little accident resulted in an ambulance ride and an evening in the Emergency Room.  It seems as if little brother wanted to compete with his sister and he ended up there as well.

It was late on Saturday night when we arrived in Okoboji from our vacation.  My siblings and their families were there celebrating the Memorial Day holiday as well.  It was so great to see everyone and it was nice for all the cousins to have some play time together too.  On Sunday morning my mom and I were cleaning up a breakfast.  Some of the adults were getting ready for the day, the grandkids were playing in the living room, and my dad came at sat on a stool at the bar to join us in our conversation.  As we were deciding what to do that afternoon, my mother suddenly yells my name.  I look at her and then over to my dad who had just moments before picked up Brady.  There I see my little man on grandpa’s lap, itching his face as little welts begin to appear everywhere.  I shouted for David to come down and we immediately tag-teamed getting him into the bath and administering the Benadryl.  As we were bathing him, his breathing became difficult.  We removed him from the tub, threw him in the car, and drove to the Emergency Room (luckily my parents’ house is just moments from there).  They triaged him and administered the Epinephrine right away.  The team worked well with him even though he was not a happy camper.  This boy is all too familiar with these types of settings and ultimately becomes hard to handle once he figures out where he is.

While we were in the ER, my sister-in-law called to let me know that she and my mom were cleaning the kitchen and eating area top to bottom in an attempt to find what may have caused Brady’s most recent attack.  While doing so they found some remnants of peanut butter on the side and bottom of one of the barstools that we think may have been left by one of the grandchildren from their breakfast.  Unfortunately, this just so happened to be the stool that my dad was sitting on.  As he was picking up Brady to hold, Brady’s hand and/or body must have come in contact with the peanut butter causing his anaphylactic reaction.  What a nice welcome home that was….vacation over.  

What I learned:

1.       This incidence wasn’t anyone’s fault.  My parents and siblings are very accommodating and mindful of Brady’s allergies.  Yet, with this many people in the house it is simply impossible to monitor everyone 24/7. 

2.       Based on the above comment, we need to take strides to eliminate all allergy foods from the house when there is a large group of us.

3.       We do have two Epinephrine pens and should have used one on Brady prior to our ER visit.  His O₂ levels were not ideal and his throat was too swollen by the time we arrived, despite the Benadryl we administered.  Either way we would have ended up in the ER (required after the use of the epi pen).

4.       It pains me that my son has been to the ER/doctor more in his 22 months than I have in my 30+ years of life. I pray that he will outgrow these allergies for fear of losing all sanity and hair on my head.  Aren’t the kidney concerns enough for this kid?

5.       I hate peanuts.