I’ve had several moments of weakness this week.  Just when we seemed to be getting the hang of things, just like that, a few unexpected curve balls were thrown at us, and I’m back on the emotional roller coaster.

Dean had a fever last Friday through Saturday evening.  We were administering ibuprofen every 6 hours.  Saturday morning, we took him in because we suspected an continuing ear infection.  This was confirmed, and he was put on augmentin.  Somewhere in the middle of all this, he had a horrible allergic reaction on Sunday afternoon.  He woke up from a nap and while I was changing his diaper, I noticed several very large hives forming on his legs.  Within ten minutes, they started spreading to his back and torso, and his leg started swelling.  I ran downstairs, and Matt got the epi-pen ready.  We were confused on what to do.  Fortunately, a dose of Benadryl ended up clearing it within 10 minutes.  The reaction was really unexplainable.  He didn’t have anything unusual at lunch, although he did have a large serving of soy and a new bread with sunflower oil.  I wondered if soy was it since he is allergic to pretty much every other legume but soy (thus far).  I also wondered about the antibiotics and the oil.

Around 11:30 PM, I went to check on him before going to bed, and his fever was raging after being fever-free for almost 24 hours.  I gave him ibuprofen again, and as I was giving it to him, a thought occurred to me.  Is he allergic to ibuprofen?  At this point, I should also stop and frame up the scene.  For the past two days, the poor kid has been pumped full of ibuprofen every 6 hours, antibiotics twice a day, and now Benadryl to boot.  When he even sees the medicine dropper coming, he literally starts wailing.  He’s so upset, he can’t catch his breath and starts coughing.  Twice this last week, he was gagging so hard from crying, he threw up.  He flails so hard and violently, I almost dropped him twice.  This situation is both heart-wrenching and extremely nerve-wracking when you’re trying to quickly administer Benadryl to prevent an allergic reaction from getting worse.  Anyway, after giving him ibuprofen, I laid him back down to bed.  I couldn’t sleep because I was worried about him being allergic to the ibuprofen.  I watched him in the monitor and even though he wasn’t making any noise, his body movements were odd.  After fifteen minutes of this, I couldn’t take it anymore.  I checked on him.  His face looked fine but I unzipped his sleeper sack and pajamas, and his hives were coming back.  I flew into our bedroom into a panic and awoke Matt, “It’s starting again.  His hives.”

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The end of the year is here and so is busy time, with work, holiday shopping, parties, and trying to take some personal time to unwind, relax, and reflect on the year.  With that, I’m about three weeks behind on “present state.”

To catch you up, we had to take Dean into the allergist for his flu shot this year.  I didn’t even know if he could have one.  Last year, he had one before we knew about his egg allergy and that shot has now likely been his only egg exposure (you typically don’t experience an allergic response your first exposure).  His allergist said he could have one, and recommended it, since the amount of egg protein is so small but that she had to administer it in her office vs. a pediatrician’s and indicated we had to wait the full 30 minutes afterward to ensure no reaction.  Thankfully, he received it with no issue…well, minus that shot part!

Since we were in anyway, we had him tested for the items that were currently on our watch list.  She performed a prick test followed by a blood test to check the suspected allergens.  We’re getting into more uncommon ones now so two of them (avocado and black beans) had to be sent to the Mayo Clinic for testing.  Who knew?!  At the same time, contrary to my knowledge, I asked her about other gluten options.  Seeing as we know he’s anaphylactic to wheat, I inaccurately had assumed this whole time that he had to avoid all gluten (barley and rye) but she explained that food allergies don’t work the same way intolerances or sensitivities do, like celiac disease.  Someone can be allergic to wheat but be totally fine with barley and rye.  I was excited to learn this and of course, had her test him for barley and rye then.  Anything to open up our diet options would be fantastic news!

Unfortunately, Dean failed every one.   Continue reading →