PARENTS are the worst. Who's heard that statement before? (raise your hands) Well I hear it all the time, and the truth is we sometimes can be. But I say this with all the honesty in the world. We are just trying to make sure our children are being taken care of and getting the best care possible. Sure that comes off a little ambiguous but it's the truth, and that is why sometimes we come off a little strong. This could be why a week ago today when I had the scare of my life I felt like it could have gone a little better.
We put my daughter to bed around 8:30-9 PM and then around 12:30AM she woke up crying. So she cries right? WRONG. It was a totally different cry from her normal come pick me up cry. So I went and got her and I noticed she was itchy, REALLY itchy. So I turned on my nightstand lamp and I about had a heart attack. My daughters ears were beginning to swell and her body was starting to break out in hives, I turned to my husband and said hey wake up Aria is having an allergic reaction and then I kept looking at our daughter and I began to panic, her ears were getting bigger and it was starting to travel to her face. I then went KYLE WE HAVE TO GO TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM. He immediately gets up and we began running around like chickens with their heads cutoff and gathered up her favorite I cannot live without bunny and blanket and we put on some pants and got her in her carseat and off we went to the ER. When we got to the ER I ran out of the car in a panic and did not really know where to go since there were two entrances to the ER, and well I was freaking out and did not stop to read that one was for the ambulance and the other for walk-in patients. I run up to an ambulance and the guy cracked the window open. (like really what am I going to do to you, I have a 1 year old in my arms) But I probably looked crazy and frantic so I don't blame him. Me: My daughter is having an allergic reaction. Ambulance guy: the entrance is that way (and he points) and so I run to the other door and run in and go to the front desk and go MY DAUGHTER IS HAVING AN ALLERGIC REACTION. So they take us into a room and they are all calm while my heartbeat is going a thousand miles a minute! They tell me to take her onsie off and put her on a scale to weigh her(which was inaccurate since it said she weighed 11 lbs and she's actually 25 lbs), and me as a mom am thinking WHAT ARE YOU DOING, can you please just look at her she's still swelling up. At this point her eyes are almost swollen shut. Then he calmly and very slowly takes her temperature (through her bum) which was traumatic to say the least, to her as well as me, then he takes her sock off and puts the oxygen reading/blood pressure(I assume) thing on her foot and puts her sock back on. Then he starts asking us questions, like how long has she been like this, when is her birthday, what did she eat, has this happened before, is she allergic to anything, and so on. At this point I was about to SCREAM because I only knew she was having an allergic reaction, I'm no healthcare professional and I was freaking out because what if this keeps getting worse. Then he hooks up the thing on her toe to the machine and goes her oxygen levels are good, and her temperature is a little down, let me get her a blanket. UM HELLO my daughter is swollen up and we're talking about her temperature. Then they send us out to the waiting room to wait. STILL NO MEDICINE OR ANYTHING. We wait for about 10-15 minutes and some girl calls us up and starts asking about our medical insurance, and who's her pediatrician, etc. Another 5 minutes pass and FINALLY they take us into another room where a nurse brings Benadryl and a steroid for her. We then wait for like 15-20 minutes then a PA (physician assistant) comes in and looks at her and goes we will wait a little longer for the medicine to work. We wait yet again, no explanation, no anything. She comes in again after a while (at that point I stop taking time because what is the point) and she goes oh it looks like her swelling is going down some, lets wait a little longer. So we wait and by that point my one year old(starting to feel a little better) who hates being still is freaking out because she wants to walk and is tired. The PA comes back in and goes here are her discharge papers, here is a prescription for a steroid, and give her Benadryl every 4-6 hours and follow up with your pediatrician. If the nurse and PA would have just done a few things differently I would have felt better about the ER. As a first time parent who was literally having a meltdown because our baby girl, the most precious person in our life was going through this horrific thing if:
1. Said it's going to be okay mom and dad, we are going to help your baby girl.
2. We could have seen a Doctor
3. More updates on what is happening, there was absolutely no communication between us and the PA or nurse.
Let me tell you as a parent who knows nothing of what is happening and why it's happening besides maybe this happened because she ate a cashew lara bar, it's unsettling to say the least. It was not until we got to the pediatrician that we got sent up to get blood drawn for a food and allergy test. Which by the way takes a WHOLE week for a food and allergy test to come back, so all week we've been tiptoeing through our kitchen and are scared to even look at any food that may give her an allergic reaction once more. Our pediatrician also prescribed an epi pen and said oh this is what happens in your body when you have a reaction, it's good that her oxygen levels are normal, and he explained other things such as tree nut allergies and peanut allergies. So here I am still waiting for results on what happened, and hopefully we can get an answer as to what caused the allergic reaction. I have got to say it was the scariest moment of our life and I would like to never experience it again.
Have you had any experience with you or your kids having an allergic reaction? Did you have any trouble when you went to the ER or your doctor?
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