Our outing to Charlottesville turned out to be more eventful than planned. While waiting for our food at Five Guys, Finley asked if he could have one of the peanuts that Granddad was shelling (Granddad loves peanuts!). I said, "sure," since he'd tried peanuts and peanut butter (never liked them) and I was pleased he wanted to give them another try. Unfortunately, as soon as he chewed it, he got upset and I encouraged him to just swallow it down with some water. I said it was okay that he didn't like it, but he shouldn't spit it out. Oops. After a tear filled lunch at Five Guys, Finley threw up in the car and then threw up after his nap and again after that. Then, he broke out into hives. Double oops. My dad rushed out to CVS to get some Benadryl while I called our pediatrician's nurses line. She said to give him the benadryl and then take him to the ER since the vomiting could be a sign of anaphylaxis. Yikes. Finley was feeling better after throwing up for the third time and was enjoying a popsicle to keep him hydrated, so we gave him the benadryl and headed to the ER which was about twenty minutes away.
By the time we arrived at the ER, his hives were nearly all gone (thank you benadryl!) and we checked in. We were seen right away and the nurse was super nice. We waited a while for the doctor and then he asked us what had happened and gave Finley the once over. He still had some red splotches from the hives in a few areas and the doctor said that despite not having anyway airway problems, this could have been anaphylaxis. Apparently, children can get an allergic reaction even after trying a food a couple of times previously with no reaction. Who knew. He prescribed an oral steroid and Finley took the first dose and then we waited to do paperwork and make sure the meds did their job. Finley didn't seem to mind getting some bonus iPad time and about twenty minutes after the meds, his appetite suddenly appeared and he ate every snack that I had packed! Our boy was back!
Thank you to my dad for buying the Benadryl and driving us to the ER. Thank you to Gilda for suggesting the Benadryl over the phone. Thank you to my mom for recommending the popsicle and to Caitlin and my mom for putting Dagny to bed while we were at the hospital! It was the little girl's birthday, afterall, and thank goodness we were planning to celebrate the following day when my brother and his family arrived!!
We followed up with steriods for the next five days and then saw our pediatrician back home the following week. She prescribed EpiPen Jrs for us to keep with us and for Finley to have at school, while we made an appointment with a pediatric allergist to get a blood test to find out the extent of the allergy. Stay tuned for the August appointment report :) We have also taught Finley how to say "No thanks, I'm allergic" if anyone offers him peanuts or peanut butter. The pediatrician also explained to Finley that if anyone offers him a cookie or brownie, he needs to ask if there are any nuts. At Trader Joe's yesterday, Finley saw a bag of trail mix with peanuts and he said, "I can't have that, because I'm allergic to peanuts." What a quick learner!
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