Last night we had some new friends from our ward/branch come over for a visit. They brought over a plate of cookies for us. When they arrived I handed the plate of cookies to Madi and asked her to take it to the kitchen. She did a great job and put it on the counter in the kitchen and then went about playing with her new friends. Awhile later as we were visiting in the living room I saw Madi walk by with a cookie. At first I thought, “Oh crap!” So I asked what kind of cookies they were and if they had any peanuts in them. They told me that the cookies did have peanut butter chips in them. I immediately excused myself and went after Madi to get the cookie from her. I told her that it had peanut butter in it and she shouldn’t be eating it. She seemed fine to me. She didn’t appear to have any hives or that she was having any trouble breathing. She was running around playing like normal so I wasn’t too worried at the time but I kept my eye on her. Our new friends felt bad that they brought us cookies that had peanuts in them because they didn’t want to make Madi sick. There was no way that they would have known about her allergy I just need to be more proactive and make sure that I find out ingredients when something comes into our home or any where near Madi. So we visited for a few more minutes and then they left to travel back home. After a few minutes I decided that we should get in the car and drive to Spencer partly because we needed to go to the store but mostly because if she did have a reaction we would be really close to the hospital and not 30 minutes away. So I sent Madi up to her room to get her shoes on and she let out this pained cry. I was already on alert so I went running and yelled out to her to find out what was wrong. She said in a very said voice, “I puked.” At this point I could hear in her voice that she was sounding a little stuffy but I couldn’t tell for sure because she was holding all the spit in her mouth because she was afraid to swallow. She was still complaining about her belly so I didn’t know if she was going to get sick again. I decided to call the ask a nurse hotline to see what they thought about her symptoms. When I told the nurse about what had happened and what her symptoms were she told me to give Madi the EPI shot and a dose of Benadryl. “Give her the EPI?! Really?!” My heart just about jumped out of my chest. The nurse said that she would stay on the line while I gave her the shot. I braced myself and tried to brace Madi. When she saw that EPI pen come out she said, “I don’t want a shot!” I felt so bad that I was going to have to jab that thing into her little leg. I tried to calm her and told her that it was medicine that she needed and it was going to be ok. Then I just did it. Madi let out the most shrill horrifying scream that I have ever heard come out of her. The nurse back on the phone tried to comfort me by telling me that I did great and that it had to be done because her symptoms would keep getting worse. The nurse gave me a few more instructions about Benadryl and that I needed to take Madi to the hospital to get checked and then said goodbye. Poor little Madi was so sad. I was trying really hard to stay brave for her but giving her the shot was the worst thing I have ever had to do. I gave her a hug and kissed her sore leg. We all put our shoes and coats on since it was raining outside and loaded in the car to make the drive to Spencer. Brett was at work at this time and I couldn’t reach him on the phone so I sent a quick text to him and facebook so that at once everyone that needed to know what was happening would know (I’m so glad for facebook just for this sort of thing it saved me from having to make a million phone calls when I was in a hurried situation). About 5 minutes into our drive to the hospital I called Tifany to see if she could get me the directions I wasn’t sure how to find it. When she answered the phone and I tried to ask her my question but I couldn’t even talk. I was so brave until I had to say aloud what was going on. Thanks Tifany for helping me find the way, it helped to know how far into town the hospital was because I would have been turning down the wrong streets looking and that would have sent me right over the top so thanks so much!
When we got in to see the doctor they had me undress her so that they could check her over. When her shirt came off I could see she had hives all over. By this time other than being itchy she seemed just fine. The nurse asked her if she still felt sick and she just answered no. She was just happy to look at the Mermaid book that she found in the waiting room. The doctor instructed the nurse to give Madi a dose of Benadryl and then after I don’t even know how much time they sent us on our way. We probably could have been fine not going to the ER but because of how serious her reaction could possibly be I’m so glad that we went and it was a good way to ease my mind.
Brett was at home waiting for us when we got there. It was after 11PM at this time so I was good and ready to get to bed myself. I checked on my sleeping Madi throughout the night to make sure that she was doing well. She was sleeping very peacefully so nothing to worry about. Crisis diverted.
Now hind sight being 20/20 and all that when I accepted the cookies I should have asked then what was in them which is what I have always done but for some reason I didn’t this time. Anyway, my new plan is this. When we get a treat that I don’t know what it is I’m just going to ask what they are. Is it dumb that I feel like I’m being rude asking? I just don’t want to make someone feel bad that they have brought us a snack and we can’t even have it. So if we do get a snack again that Madi can’t have I am going to get it and put it out of her reach immediately.
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