Deep Breath.....

Now that we are past the crisis, and past the realization of what could have been......This past weekend we discovered DS had allergies - lifethreatening allergies - the hard way. A fellow from church hired the youth group guys to help move hay from the field to the barn last Saturday. I joked on Facebook that afternoon that 30 minutes throwing hales bales equaled 2 hours in Urgent Care and that farming would not be a career option for DS. Within 48 hours, I would learn that DS had only been in the hay loft for about 5 minutes, had gone into anaphylactic shock and was so allergic to various grasses (including hay!) that he will need to keep an EpiPen with him for probably the rest of his life.

I am still stumped as to how this allergy came on seemingly so quickly. He has been around hay before and has been mowing our small yard for 2 years now. In fact, while he had nasal allergy symptoms as a young child, he seemed to grow out of those the last 6-7 years and hadn't had any symptoms until about 10 days ago, when he started with runny eyes whenever the windows were open. (Come to find out he's allergic to trees, too.) How allergic is he? Saturday when I picked him up at the farm, one eye was swollen shut, the other eye nearly so. He had hives 2 to 3 inches long and incredible sinus and eye congestion and possibly trouble breathing - he was never really clear on that. I'm a low-key mom when it comes to getting medical care. I believe most things clear up with time, and I rarely panic about stuff until after the fact, so we went to Urgent Care. In hindsight, we should have gone to the ER, but we didn't. Urgent Care should have sent us to the ER, but they didn't. DS was treated, felt and looked better and later that afternoon, we went home. Monday at the pediatrician, we were told, from his symptoms, that DS had been in anaphylactic shock and that with any further exposure to the hay he very likely would have had his airway close off. We were given the EpiPen in case of future accidental exposures and sent to the allergist. Tuesday the allergist confirmed the grasses and tree allergies. How severe? DS started reacting before the nurse finished placing the skin tests. The line of skin pricks with the grasses and trees was still visible a day later, even after cleansing with alcohol less than 10 minutes after allergen placement, even after 2 cool showers, even after an oral antihistamine and Benadryl cream. Poor kid!

So what did we learn? Allergies can come on without warning. Urgent Care is okay for DD's ear wax issues, not allergic reactions. DS will have a lawn care service when he has his own home. But most importantly, we re-learned that God is watching over my kids whether I'm with them or not. Too many things happened, some I've written about and some I haven't, that could have resulted in a terrible outcome. Instead, DS is preparing for camp next week and a mission trip the week after. God is good.....all the time!