Zachary's Allergies

There was one week this summer when Emma had three appointments. One of the other days that week, August 10, that she didn’t have an appointment, we still ended up going to Primary Children’s.

I met my friend at the Gateway Mall fountain. She had had a baby girl the week before Emma was born. This would be the first time I got to see her baby and she got to see Emma. It was a beautiful day. There were lots of people at the fountain.

I took a bag of pistachios to snack on. Zach saw me eating them, so he wanted one. Of course I offered him one.

He chewed it up and said, “Hot.” I was confused. He acted like it hurt his mouth—like he bit his cheek. I started watching him and he acted strange, but not too strange. He kept playing. But he would come over to me now and then and tell me it was “hot.”

I tried to look in his mouth. I couldn’t see a bite mark. I also couldn’t see any swelling, so I didn’t think that he was allergic to it. Not to mention, I swear he’s had nuts before.

He finally came over to me and sat on my lap. He was not well. And then he threw up. And again. I still couldn’t see swelling.

I called our pediatrician’s office. They said if we could get there in 20 minutes, to come in. Otherwise, we should go to the emergency room. They said to ask the other moms around the fountain if anyone had any Benadryl.

I finally started seeing on Zachary’s cheek, just the right side of his face.

I didn’t know what to do about the throw up.

My friend walked around asking the other moms if anyone had any Benadryl. She finally found one lady who said she had some Benadryl tablets in her car. I told her I would go to my truck and that my friend could bring me the tablets while I was packing up my kids.

While I was trying to get to the truck and put the stroller in, my friend came up to me with another lady. This lady happened to have a bag of medicines, including children’s liquid Benadryl. She just happened to be a pediatrician. She told me that if Zachary was her son, she would take him to Primary’s right away. Angel.

Well, that sure didn’t make my decision hard.

My friend found someone to clean up Zachary's throw up. Angel.

Zachary threw up two more times in the truck. And the right side of his face kept swelling.

He fell asleep on the way to Primary’s—and it FREAKED me out. I couldn’t hear him breathing, and since he wasn’t awake, I couldn’t tell at all.

When we got to Primary’s, there was hardly anyone there. So we got to back quickly. Miracle.

By this time, Zachary’s swelling had started going down. It never got freaky big or anything, but it was apparent.

Melanie Ray came down after I texted her to tell her I was there. Angel. She is one of my angels. She got some formula for Emma to eat since I had NOT planned on being away from home long enough to have to feed Emma again. And, thankfully, Emma ate it without fighting me. Small miracle.

So, two weeks later, I took Zachary to see an allergist.

Oh. My. Word.

Zachary is allergic to peanuts, all nuts, grass, trees, mold, dogs, and cats. I had NO IDEA. None. I mean, he’s never wanted to eat peanut butter. Or apparently, it must have made him sick. Great…. I’m just glad I never forced him to eat a peanut butter sandwich when he hasn’t “wanted” to eat it.

Now we have to carry EpiPens with us. Two EpiPens. I also have two in our kitchen. Those things are expensive too! Without insurance, they each cost like $100. So, four of them? Yah. Ouch. But we only had to pay $60 for all four of them.