Allergist

Ok so time for an update. Yesterday was a pretty hard day for me. I took Owen to the allergist to see for sure if he is allergic to peanuts. Well the Doctor was saying that if he is allergic to peanuts, then usually there is also another food allergy so he wanted to test out a few different things on him. So they wrote 1 through 5 on his back and on each number they wiped the chemical from the food and did a small prick. After 5 minutes they check to see if he had hives and how his skin reacted. Well Owen does have an allergy to peanuts, but that's not all. He also has an allergy to eggs! EGGS! Everything has eggs in them. He told me that he had about a 20 percent chance of growing out of the egg allergy but he needed avoidance. He kinda went through some things with me and told me that Owen needs to stay away from ALL peanuts, nuts, eggs, and seafood. He also told me that we can't have other people cook for him due to the possibility of cross contamination. No restaurants either. Also they gave me a prescription for EPI pens. I have to carry one at all times in case Owen does come in contact with anything. They had a practice pen and had me practice a few times (there was no needle or medicine in it). I must admit that it is a bit overwhelming to hear all this. I just kept thinking what if someone tries to give him candy or something and it has peanuts or eggs and he dies. I also kept thinking, Halloween is going to be so hard for him and for birthdays he won't be able to eat cake or cookies. And then I was thinking of all the foods that have peanuts or eggs in them. It seems like almost everything does. So I cried for a bit, then I had to start thinking positive. There are so many other things that could be wrong with him and I am so Thankful that it is only an allergy. True, his life may be a bit different but if you don't really know the difference it wouldn't be so bad. Plus as long as I did all the cooking and cooked without eggs and peanuts I could probably make him cakes and stuff with an egg substitute. I just love my little boy so much and it already terrifies me to think of him going to school and eating something bad. I just want to follow him around the rest of his life and monitor every thing that goes in his mouth! Really, it just boils down to the fact that he is still happy and healthy and will still have a perfectly normal life and I am so thankful that of everything that could happen, this is it (hopefully). Also the doctor gave me a website that I can go on and he was also telling me of support groups. And right now, I do feel overwhelmed and do need all the support I can get.

Peanut Allergy

Last night was so crazy! Yesterday I made peanut butter cookies. I like to make cookies on sunday. Well right before we put Owen to bed we were down in the kitchen eating cookies and Owen was crawling around us as usual. We then went upstairs bathed him and his eyes started to get red (which they usually do when he is tired) and he was rubbing them...again, what he does when he is tired so we made him a bottle to put him to bed. He didn't really eat his bottle because he was itching his eyes like crazy but I assumed he was just really tired and didn't want to eat because he didn't nap. Well he went down and fell asleep and we went downstairs. About an hour later, Owen woke up screaming. We went upstairs and made him another bottle (thinking he hadn't eaten the first so he must be hungry) and we went in and got him. Well, he had thrown up everywhere and was sneezing and he just wasn't breathing right. My first thought was that he had maybe eaten some cookie and was having an allergy to the peanut butter. So we decided to take him to the hospital. On our way he started to calm down a bit so I thought we should just stop at the store to see if maybe there was medicine for an upset tummy because maybe he just was a little upset. Owen is in the phase of EVERYTHING goes in his mouth! Literally! So maybe he didn't get cookie and maybe he had grabbed something else and put it in his mouth and upsetting him. So I ran in the store to see what I could find and when I had come out he had thrown up again and doing the weird breathing. I told Lee that we should just go to the hospital because I would rather them send us home with an upset tummy then go home and have something bad happen. So we continue to the hospital. Owen then started to throw up again and was choking on it so as we were pulling into the hospital I was yanking Owen out to slap his back and take off his clothes. Lee dropped us off and I went running in the ER with Owen in nothing but a diaper and a blanket wrapped around him. And when we got in I could see that Owen was puffy and had hives everwhere! All over his neck, back, tummy, face, legs and even down his diaper! I was freaking out! The nurse took us back immediately and you could just tell he was in pain! My heart was breaking for my baby! He was crying and sneezing and scratching everywhere. But poor, cute Owen still was a smiling baby. All the nurses came in. We probably had like at least 10 nurses in there saying how cute he was that with his puffy red eyes and body he was still smiling at them. Anyways, it pretty much took all 10 nurses to hold him down so they could try to find a vein in his arm for an IV. That made him angry! After about 50 pokes and an EPI shot they got his IV in and gave him benadryl and some steroid to help with inflammation. I just sat there and held him and he started to look and feel better and drifted off to sleep. They then monitored him for another hour and a half then sent us home with benadryl and prescriptions for more steroid and benadryl. My poor baby! I was so sad! We really don't know what exactly he ate, but my personal feeling is that he ate some cookie and is allergic to peanuts. I am so thankful that he is okay and we decided to just go to the hospital. In a few weeks we will have to take him to an allergist to see if that is what it is or if he maybe ate something else. And if he is allergic to peanuts then he might be to all nuts. I love Owen with all my heart and it just kills me to see him have any pain or problems. I am so thankful I have him. I think I need that little boy more than he needs me. I love him so so so much! These are some pictures after he got his medicine and started to feel better. Everyone please pray for him! You can see his puffy eyes :(Sad Lee holding Owen after he fell asleep. We were so worried.This is where the IV was in his arm. They covered it with an ace bandage so he would rip at it.

I am hoping that maybe if it is a peanut allergy that he will grow out of it. Maybe he is just so young and couldn't handle it yet. Who knows. I feel a little overwhelmed too thinking of all the things we will have to do to make sure that he never eats peanuts or anything with peanuts or peanut oil in it. I am just so thankful that Owen is ok today!