Thursday, December 18, 2008

Like Botox for the preschool set...

Monday, right after posting my little list of miracles, KayTar woke up with a nasty cough and trouble breathing. What cold is complete with a little asthmatic bronchial involvement? I kept her home Monday because I couldn't control the cough even with the cough suppressant and her inhaler. Tuesday she seemed a bit better, so we went to therapy and school. Yesterday, she spiked a fever. The pediatrician wanted to see her, so we went in. After talking the pediatrician's ear off (she loves a captive audience), she was given a mostly clean bill of health. Clear lungs, ears, throat. Just remnants of the nasty cold.

The rest of the evening was fairly normal. Dinner. KayTar's feed. Cough medication. Playing. BubTar's bath. Same old, same old. Josh went out to run an errand and on his way back his picked up treats from Dairy Queen. I had a cookie dough Blizzard, but it was way too doughy for me and I only ate a few bites of it. KayTar was interested in it, so I gave her a few bites of the ice cream portion. A little while later, Josh, KayTar, and I were all in the bedroom. I was about to pull her up onto the bed to cuddle with us when she gagged once. Then she vomited. Projectile vomited, EVERYWHERE. We waited for her to finish, then stripped her down. I dunked her in the tub, Josh cleaned the mess. I dosed her with Zofran. (I actually thought maybe the puking was a sign that maybe she had a GI bug which was causing the new-onset fever) We jammied her and tucked her into bed with us to watch TV. I looked over and saw her rubbing her lip and got her some Chapstick (the same kind she's been using for months now) and handed it to her. She put it on and handed it back. I noticed she was still messing with her lip. Then she sat up and I saw it.





I sent the pediatrician a quick email. I wanted to make sure I could give Benadryl in conjunction with the meds she had already taken (dextromethorphan, Zofran), but it was late and she understandably didn't answer. I found a drug interaction checker online and put her meds in and got the virtual green light. It was still swelling, so I went ahead and gave it. Then I waited. About an hour later, her top lip swelled up, too!



Then, I was freaked out. I'd given Benadryl and she was still swelling up and it was QUITE close to her airway. I kept making her show me her tongue to make sure it wasn't swelling, but after she fell asleep, I couldn't check it any longer. I called the pediatrician's on call service. They tried to wake the nurse and couldn't. They connected me to a different nurse instead. She wasn't very helpful. She told me exactly what I was already thinking. We could stay put, wait it out, and possibly get into a bad position if the swelling affected her airway...or we could go in, possibly unnecessarily, and be in the ER for hours. After hemming and hawing, I decided to go in. I usually try to stay home at all costs, but this has never happened and I was too concerned about her airway to get any sleep anyway. I sent the pediatrician another email to let her know we were going to go in as I was getting ready and she replied. (Yes, my pediatrician is awesome and returns emails at 2 in the morning.) She said we could stay home, give more Benadryl in a little while, and if she wasn't actively swelling and her airway was okay, I could get some rest. If the swelling didn't stop progressing, we needed to go in.

After the Benadryl, I watched her for a bit and the swelling didn't seem to be increasing, so I tucked her in with me. (Sorry Josh, back to the land of fairies and flowers for you, sir.) I checked her periodically through the night and she made it through just fine. This morning there is some residual swelling, but not like last night.

The only new thing she was exposed to yesterday was the Blizzard from Dairy Queen, so that must have triggered it. Maybe the vomiting was actually the beginning of the allergic reaction, rather than a separate illness-related event. Maybe the Blizzard had peanut traces in it that she reacted to, though, she's never reacted to peanuts/peanut butter before. I really have no idea, but I definitely do not want to expose her to whatever caused it again. The pediatrician wants to test her for a peanut allergy, but in the meantime we will steer clear just in case and keep the Benadryl on hand. That is not an experience I want to duplicate!

Angelina Jolie called, she wants her lips back.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

How scary! Your peanut theory makes sense - but wow, what a scary reaction. Glad she is ok now.

painted maypole said...

scary. glad she is ok

Becca said...

Oh you guys! I am so sorry. That sounds really scary. Good luck with the peanut allergy testing.

Anonymous said...

Super Scary Kyla. I would have freaked out for sure. I guess you've got some allergy testing on the horizon. Perhaps DQ would give you all the ingredients that are in the blizzard so your pediatrician can decide if it's a good idea to test for anything in addition to just peanuts. So glad she is okay!

InTheFastLane said...

WoW! I hope you are able to get some rest today.

AJsMom said...

On the other hand, there are some people who pay lots of money to have lips like that :)

Janet said...

So scary! I still have nightmares about the time I gave l'il toddler Drew a bite of my peanut butter english muffin, only to have him break out, head to toe, in hives.

I'm glad you didn't have to go to the ER in the end.

angiesarman said...

Poor KayTar. She looks so pitiful :(
You have been tagged too, BTW. ;)

motherbumper said...

Well she is waaaaaaay cuter than Angelina but yes, lip swelling freaky. And when I say freaky, I mean I'D FREAK OUT. And your ped is amazing.

Anonymous said...

poor kid!

Bon said...

that sounds terrifying...but damn, those are some plump lips.

i'm, uh, off to DQ...

Anonymous said...

Poor baby girl.

Woman in a Window said...

And yet you still have a sense of humor.

Cute with big lips.

Do you ever sleep?

natalie said...

WHAT??? That is the strangest thing! I wonder, too, if the vomiting was the initial reaction--get rid of whatever doesn't work with my system! Could it have been a milk reaction? I know she just ate cheese last week. Keep us posted on this one. You can add it to the "KayTar strange happenings" file.

BTW: How do you survive on such little sleep? I'm dying over here from a few rough nights.

~aj~ said...

A peanut allergy was the very first thing I thought of when I read this. My BIL and niece have extremely bad reactions to peanuts (I was unaware of this when I once gave my niece a peanut M&M...it was horrific!).

Hope the swelling has gone down today and that you have had a chance to get caught up on some rest. 2009 can't get here soon enough...'08 has been rough for sweet KayTar!

Kristin said...

Oh that freaks me the heck out! Poor girl. Allergies are no fun, I do hope you can figure out what might've triggered that. When two systems are involved like that (the swelling AND the vomiting) it's probably not so good.

We're thinking Dalton needs to get skin tested. I so do not want to enter the world of allergies. I'm sure you don't either. Blah.

We spent the afternoon at a house with a kid with a SEVERE milk allergy.

kittenpie said...

Ugh, poor girl. And here I am moaning about a week of bad colds and some barfing.

sheree said...

ugh, that is so scary! I totally would have freaked out. Your pedi. rocks!

flutter said...

seriously? NEVER a dull moment with that kid

Gwen said...

Damn! That's so scary. I'm glad it ended better rather than worse, but still .....

Amy Y said...

Glad she's Ok... did you ever find out it if was a peanut allergy?

Anonymous said...

my daughter has a peanut allergy. All things at DQ have the possibility of coming into contact (cross contamination) with peanuts, tree nuts. It's a manageable condition, just a life style change...if you need any advice feel free to email me...
Pkoch9@roadrunner.com
Good luck! I'm rooting for you all!

Chickenbells said...

Poor thing! I'm so glad that it stopped swelling...I don't think there are too many good ingredients in Blizzards (probably why they taste sooo good) so I'll bet that's what triggered it!