When Will I Know?
Tonight I decided to do something fun for me. I hosted a party for my friend. It was so much fun! I had a bunch of girls over, my husband cooked up some yummy appetizers, we shared a few glasses of wine. It was a great time.
The party ended and after showing my quests out and locking the door I tucked my two sweet kiddies into bed. My daughter complained she was itchy. I asked her where and she lifted her shirt. I didn't need to wait for her answer. There were hives all over her back and sides.
I asked her what she ate. We had all the food from the nights festivities out still, so she pointed to each item that she had snacked on. I had made sure, absolutely sure, that there were no tree nut ingredients in anything I served. There was the artichoke and jalapeno dip, salsa and several breads. I am sure that none of the foods I served tonight contained tree nut ingredients which means one of two things: an item was processed with tree nuts and labeled incorrectly, or one of the products from my party had irritated her.
None the less, I chose to turn this into a learning moment. I asked my daughter, "Sweetie, tell me what your body is feeling?" She said, "Well. I'm itchy, but I can breathe and I don't feel sick." I replied "Right, you are not having an anaphylactic reaction. You can breathe. Your body is itchy, but it is not life threatening." She replied, "Oh, you're right, I can breathe! It's okay!" I know she will have many of these reactions in her life and as her parent, I need to make sure she can differentiate between a severe reaction and a mild one. I had her lay down and gave her a dose of Benadryl. I got out the Benadryl cream and together we counted the hives. 1, 2, 3, 4 and so on until we got to 13. Tonight something had irritated her enough to give her 13 hives on her back and sides. I rubbed each one with lotion and tucked her into bed.
I'm sure the Benadryl kicked in because 15 minutes later I snuck into her room, turned on her light and counted the hives again, all while she was sleeping. They haven't gone away yet. They haven't decreased in size. All 13 hives are there, reminding me that no matter how diligent I am, something can go wrong. Labels can lie. I will check on her again after I write this account.
When will I know how to prevent a reaction? How can I be a good, diligent mom when I can't trust labels? When will my diligence not be enough? When will I know?
Update from the following morning: The next morning when my daughter woke up, I checked her back and sides and the hives were still there, allthough no longer raised. Now it looks more like big bites rather that puffy hives. I applied another round of cream but no medicine this time, as she says nothing itches and she can't feel them. Hopefully by tomorrow they will be gone. Wish us luck!
Author: Kelly
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