Allergic Reaction

On Thursday night, we had one of our scariest moments as parents so far when Andrew had an anaphylactic reaction to some fire ant bites. I am happy to share that he is doing well and is almost back to 100% 48 hours later, but here is the story...it's a bit long but I wanted to remember every detail of it.

Michael was stuck in traffic on the way home and we had ordered pizza for dinner. The boys and I were playing outside in the backyard as we do most evenings before dinner.  At one point I was standing on the porch and I think I was on the phone with Michael when Andrew walked up sticking his foot out making a little "uh, uh" noise.  I saw a fireant and squished it as I wiped it off his foot quickly and Andrew was fine and went about playing.  About 15-20 minutes later I took the boys inside to start eating dinner and put Andrew in his high chair and gave him his plate with pizza. 

Once I got all 3 of us settled at the dinner table (6:30pm), I took my first bite and glanced over at Andrew because he made a noise or did something that got my attention and I noticed his face had a little red rash on it.  I got up and was looking at his face wondering what was causing it.  Then I lifted his shirt and his whole stomach and back were covered in welts and were bright red.  I instantly grabbed his foot where I saw the fire ant and there was a huge welt on that area.  So I ran upstairs and grabbed the Benadryl and tried my best to get him to take it (he hates the stuff!). I noticed he was starting to really itch at his face and neck and I just didn't know what else to do because I knew that Benadryl was the first step.    I grabbed my phone and in tears called my sister Kristina and frantically asked her what else do I do (my niece Annie also has a severe fire ant allergy and Gabriel has high allergies to other insects) because I knew she would be able to tell me quicker than it would take me to get through to a nurse at the pediatrician's office.  She said to watch him for swelling, etc and I decided I was going to call Michael to see where he was and then call the dr. 

Luckily as I was dialing Michael he opened the garage door and was finally home. I ran to the garage and yelled in tears for him to come here (while trying to not completely freak him out because I still didn't know the severity of what was happening).  He saw Andrew and said to get in the car.   I suggested since I already gave him Benadryl let's call the pediatrician's office and see what they recommend.  But while Michael was on the phone with the nurse, Andrew's eyes really started swelling more and more.    Looking back, I wish I hadn't hesitated on taking him to the ER but this being our first big emergency, I figured it was just like other situations where they have a bad reaction and then Benadryl does the trick.    So by the time the nurse said to get him to the closest ER we were pretty much backing out of the drive way. 

Thankfully the closest hospital is no further than 5 minutes away.  Michael did some crazy fast driving while I kept an eye on Andrew.  His right eye was almost swollen shut and his left eye was swollen too.  He was acting just fine and in fact laughed one time at me looking back at him from the front seat.  He never showed any signs of his breathing being affected which was a huge relief.  But like the nurse told Michael on the phone, any time parts of the face start to swell, the airways could likely be the next thing.  So after running several red lights (carefully) with our hazard lights on, we zipped into the ER entrance where I jumped out with Andrew and Michael went to park the car with Joseph.

So around 7ish (I think) I went into the ER and it was nothing like the way ER's are portrayed on tv.  There wasn't anyone at the check-in desk, no bell to ring, nothing.  I just walked back and forth looking for someone.  I knew someone was being treated in the triage room but wasn't sure what to do. Luckily at that time, the security guard came out and saw Andrew and said he would get someone.  I had to fill out a quick form and it was the hardest time I have ever had to concentrate...I started writing Michael's name instead of Andrew's, took me forever to remember Andrew's middle initial and then I started writing our last address.  Sheesh.

Finally they had a nurse come out to take a quick look at Andrew and when she saw him she had us all go straight back to a room and bypass the triage room.  Several nurses came in as well as the ER doctor and after briefly looking at Andrew, the doctor said to do an IV as well as an epi-pen.  Luckily his breathing was still ok but his ears were swollen now too and he looked so sad.  He was fine until the nurse tried to listen to his breathing and he decided he didn't like that.  Unfortunately it just got worse for him.  

Around 7:30pm, Michael took Joseph out while they swaddled Andrew up and one nurse practically laid on him to keep him still while the other nurse did his IV where he received another Benadryl dose as well a dose of steroids.  The IV was awful.  Luckily after taking a while to carefully locate the vein, the nurse got it started on the first try.  But poor Andrew was just screaming and kept looking at me and I tried my best to tell him Mommy loves him.  It broke my heart and just gives me tears remembering the scared look on his face.  After the IV meds, they gave him the epi-pen which was just a quick shot and then I was able to hold my sweet trembling baby in my arms. They had to leave the iv port in until we were discharged just in case and Andrew HATED having that thing in, understandably so.  He kept trying to pull it out so they had to put additional bandages around it.  He literally cried and screamed for 30 minutes because of how mad he was we wouldn't let him mess with it.  Finally a little after 8pm, I think he wore himself out and all the meds kicked in and he just laid down in my arms and I was able to bounce him to sleep.  What a relief. 

We weren't able to get in touch with anyone to go stay with Joseph at home and we weren't sure how much longer we would be at the hospital, so Michael went ahead and headed home to get Joseph to bed.  And so for the next 2 hours, the nurses just kept an eye on Andrew to make sure his symptoms were improving.   And slowly but surely they were....the redness was slowly going down and the swelling was slightly improved.  I held him as long as I can while also making attempts to not put all 27 lbs of his little weight directly onto my pregnant belly.  After a while and him squirming to change positions, I tried laying him down on the hospital bed and he just snuggled in and went to sleep like he was in his crib.  So I just scooted my chair right next to him in case he tried to roll and just prayed for him, tried to update family with texts, and tried to process everything that just happened. 

The doctor came back in around 10pm and said he would discharge Andrew since he had improved so much.  Michael put a sleeping Joseph in the car and they picked us up around 10:30ish.  It was a bit of a rough night sleep because I had to wake Andrew up at 4 for meds and he didn't sleep much after that.   Friday morning, he acted completely like himself and ate a great breakfast. His eyes were still a bit swollen and he still had some light colored welts on his stomach and back.  But definitely a HUGE improvement from the night before.  The ER doctor had told me it could take a couple of days for it to all go away.

So Friday we went to his pediatrician for a follow up and got our prescription for epi-pens that we will need to keep with Andrew from this point on given his severe reaction.  We will be seeing an allergist next Friday as well.  Andrew is finishing up a 2 day prescription of Benadryl and has to do an oral steroid for 4 days...and the hardest part is getting him to actually take the medicines because he doesn't like the taste of either no matter how I try to disguise/mix it.

I would say today he about 95% healed.  While at the pediatrician's office, I showed her the 2 fire ant bites on top of his right foot where I had killed the ant and then she noticed 5 more bites that were between his big toe and second toe.  No wonder.  Poor little guy had 7 bites!  We are pretty sure he had 1-2 bites not too long ago and his foot did swell some, but I guess his little body couldn't tolerate that many bites.  :(

I am beyond thankful that Andrew was protected through this whole ordeal and that the medicines were able to treat him quickly and efficiently.  I know there are a lot of precautions we will have to take going forward but we will deal with that! So very glad that night is over and that my sweet Roo is safe and healthy!

These are some pics we had taken with our phones as we sent updates to our families...

This was while we were waiting for the iv and meds to be administered.  And really this picture doesn't show just how red he was with all the hives.

About 30 minutes after the meds...this was when he was really mad about having the IV in his arm.  :(

I think this picture was around 1-1/2 hours after he received the meds and epi-pen.  Finally asleep in my arms!



This was around 9:10pm when I was able to finally lay him down to sleep better.

One nurse saw him from the nurse/dr station right in front of his room and commented "Awww, he's sleeping with his little booty in the air!"

After I took this pic, I noticed how much pressure the iv bandage was putting on his arm so I had the nurse come in and take it off.

The next morning, my happy baby is back...with still some swollen eyes

Still some remnants of the hives that got better throughout the day

 

And the cause of it all...2 bites on top of his foot and 5 bites between his toes