The non-CF related trip to the ER

A few weeks ago Samuel woke from his nap not quite himself. He went to nap at 11:30am and woke at 2:30pm with some extra issues.

I noticed right away that something wasn't quite right with his left eye, but thought he was just still waking up. When we went into the other room, I noticed the hives around the back of his neck. I was scratching and a little more clingy than usual. Lifting his shirt, he didn't have them anywhere else on his body, so I decided to call the pediatrician's office to find out what I should do. It was still early enough they might be able to get him in that day, I thought. When I called, I had to leave a message for the nurse and while waiting for her to call me back, Samuel was doing normal boy stuff: jumping off of the Wii Balance Board and saying "Mom! Watch this! Didja see that?"

The nurse called me back, gave me some dosing instructions for children's Benadryl and was just about to get off of the phone when she asked if he was having trouble breathing.

"No." I said.
"Well, if he has trouble breathing or his lips or tongue start to swell, just take him to the ER."

I turned around and wondered who punched Samuel in the mouth. His upper lip was starting to swell on the left side. I said to the nurse, "Well, his lip is starting to swell now." She replied, "Just take him to the ER."
Me: "Right now?"
"Yes, right now."

Seemed a little strange. I mean, he didn't appear to be in immediate distress. Nothing a little Benadryl couldn't handle, right? But, not wanting to mess around with it, I grabbed his shoes and told him we were going on a car ride. And am I ever glad we went then. By the time we got to the hospital, about 10 minutes later, things had gotten pretty bad.

Notice his puffy hand, swollen left upper eyelid, right lower eyelid, hives on the neck and lips like Angelina Jolie.

We were immediately taken back to a triage room and Samuel started to receive care from one of the best PAs out there. Even though I had been asked by everyone about what he had to eat that day, strangely, they never asked about medical history so I volunteered the information at what seemed like an appropriate time. They were already working on getting Benadryl right away but when I mentioned CF, the PA says (this is my favorite) "Oh. That changes everything." (Yeah, no kidding.) They put in orders for prednisone.

By this time, it had been about a half hour to 45 minutes since Samuel had woken from his nap. I'm sure he was hungry, itchy, and just all around miserable. He ended up gagging when the PA was checking his throat and vomited all over his blanket (his blankie!) and me. I was getting a little irritated when I was calling for help and nobody came in. And the nurse couldn't figure out if the O2 sat lead was supposed to go with the light on the top or the bottom of his toe. Honestly. But she was the only one who wasn't competent that evening.

The Benadryl kicked in rather quickly and on his way back from paying our $100 co-pay, Kevin and the staff were joking about how that's the most expensive Benadryl he's ever seen. We were mentally preparing to get back home when the PA mentioned he wanted to monitor Samuel for a little bit... like 45 minutes or so. We were moved to another room and snuggled up on the bed under some blankets, since Samuel's clothes had been taken off and he refused to put the gown on (can't say I blame him. I wouldn't wear anything with teddy bears on it either!)

About a half hour later, Samuel had drifted off to sleep but was woken and sat up. His back was covered in hives. Kevin and I were shocked to see the reaction had come back and was worse than before. We called for the PA and sat and watched as more hives appeared on his face, neck and torso. It was wild to see them just pop up so quickly.

This was taken after the second dose of Benadryl had wore off.

After 3 doses of Benadryl, 1 dose of prednisone and 7 hours in the ER, we were finally able to go home. We have 2 ideas of what could have caused such a significant reaction.

1. a piece of cinnamon candy I shared with Samuel before his nap.
2. Inhaled Tobi since it was one of the last things he had done before laying down.

Whatever it was, it's very strange that such a sudden reaction was delayed for 3 hours while he was sleeping. Meanwhile, he hasn't had any more cinnamon candy nor inhaled Tobi.

Let's just hope his last culture doesn't grow more pseudomonas or we will be in a pickle. Actually, he will grow it eventually and the inevitable will happen. We will have to challenge him (a.k.a. give him some of what we think may have caused the reaction) at PCH where they will be fully equipped should he react. As Dr. R said, whatever it is, if he just got hives last time, the next time he's exposed, he'll get more than hives.

What could be more scary than the instant hives he had this past time? Instant shock?

And that, ladies and gents, is how we managed to have ANOTHER ER visit unrelated to CF. Seriously, can't they come up with a frequent visitor program? Especially for parents of wild 2-year old boys.