RE-ACTION

Yup last Tuesday saw yet another anaphylactic reaction for our allergy kid.

This one was more mild than her last one.  The ambo guy reckons it was mild because we got the anapen in quickly.

This one was diferent from the others.  Firstly it was different because it was almost 2 hours after dinner before the reaction really started.  And then it took awhile before I decided it was anaphylactic.  She started off really itchy, a bit of a wheeze and I was thinking she was reacting but not severely, and I didnt necessarily think it was food related - her eczema had been flaring after doing sport on the school field over the last two days.  I gave her antihistime and ventolin. 

Emma asked us to call the ambulance and said she needed the anapen.  I still wasnt sure.

Then suddenly it was all on.  Hives were coming out on her forehead and she started to fade.   I was on the phone to the ambulance.  Hubby gave the anapen.  I had a blank and couldn't do it.  Things went pretty hazy.  

But straight away the adrenaline kicked in and she was doing okay.

The ambulance came, did their checks, she walked to the ambulance.  In the ambulance they gave her more adrenaline via a nebuliser.   They took her to North Shore rather than Starship as she seemed okay.  Once there they took her off the nebuliser and administered Prendisone.  She was in the Resus room for about an hour hooked up to monitors, then as her swelling and hives went down, they moved us to a general ED room and a couple of hours later we were allowed to go home.

Soon after arriving in resus -
Red and splotchy around the mouth
Red over her arms

Feeling better in resus - taking selfies
Still Red

Taking selfies in the ED Room
Returning to her normal colour

All in all, scary, but not that bad.

However some things have been learned.

1. No matter how hard we try to keep her safe, there will always be reactions.  This wasnt her first and most certainly wont be her last :-(
2. We all need to know how to use the anapen.  It is possible that any one of us can blank and someone else needs to be able to step up.
3. Emma knew what was needed - we need to trust in her when it comes to the reactions.
4. Emma needs to know how to inject herself.  We might not be there next time.
5. Never give Ventolin before Adrenaline - If you think it is a food reaction give the anapen first, ask questions later.
6. If you think it is a food reacion,  The anapen is needed if there is itching and wheezing - even if there is no swelling around the lips or throat.  Getting in before the reaction gets worse means more chance of a good outcome.
7. If you are out and about lie the person who is having the reaction down and send others to get the  medicine.  
8. Trying new foods can result in reactions, even if there are few registered cases of anaphylaxis to said food.
9. Reactions come in all shapes and sizes - no two will necessarily be the same.
10. Always be prepared, Reactions can occur well after the food has been eaten.  Always have the anapen with the allery sufferer.

We now have an anapen trainer and we are all practicing injecting each other, and Emma has been practicing injecting herself.

Yes it is scary.  

Having a child whose life is so fragile is hard.  

Something so simple as eating a dinner prepared at home could have fatal consequences.  

We have to be prepared all the time.  She has to learn to recognise her symptoms.  

We have to let her take responsibility - Every ingredient, every time.

We still dont know exactly what caused the reaction.  Maybe we never will.

Allergies are always going to be part of her life.  And with that there will be more anaphylactic reactions.

Next time I just hope I dont have a blank, and together we can administer the precious life saving drugs.

Kids are resiliant - Emma went to Netball trials at 7am on Wednesday morning! (Even though we didnt get home from hospital until after 1am)  And she played fantastically.

Barb x.

Shocking News

I just cant believe this has happened

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10863345

A young girl has died from Anaphylaxis to a bee sting.  D.I.E.D.

She had a known allergy.

I dont know if they gave her an epipen or anapen.

I dont know how long it took for the ambulance to arrive.

I know she has a family who are in absolute shock, that something as small as a bee could kill their child.

It is a real eye opener to just what life threatening allergy actually means.  Life Threatening means you can DIE from an allergic reaction.

Life threatening means that there are no guarantees that medical intervention will save your life.

It is hard to believe that in this day and age, with all our knowledge, something like this can still happen.

Adrenaline, in the form of an anapen or epipen, buys you time until the ambulance comes.  I'm not sure how long before it starts to wear off, someone said it was 20 minutes.  So I guess if you only have one pen and the ambulance takes longer than that to come, you might get into the danger zone.

But once the ambulance comes and you go to hospital, you kind of feel safer.  They have everything you need to save you, dont they?  They have more adrenaline, they have oxygen, they have other drugs they inject into you via iv line.  How can the outcome be so very bad?

This is a real wake-up call for all us allergy parents and allergy sufferers out there.

Allergies can kill.

And no matter how prepared you are, the worst case scenario can happen.

We dont want to wrap our allergy kids in cotton wool.  But we dont want them to die.

I cant imagine what her family is going through.  It is so hard to believe.

I am certainly feeling a little tender around the edges right now.  Hoping and hoping that this never happens to my beautiful allergy kid.

Barbs x.

How to ruin a perfect day.......

First be a little bit tired after a late night.

Second take allergy kid to the Hastings farmers market.

Thirdly let her try things that she couldn't possibly react to - fresh fruit, juices etc.

Then as feeling brave, buy her a roll from the bakery after making sure it was safe for her.

Next get kitted up in togs and head off to Splash Planet.  Hang out in the lazy river, do a few slides then have lunch.  Give allergy kid the roll you bought for her for a special treat.

Have some more fun, kayaking, driving the jungle jeep and a quick go on the flying fox.

Then allergy kid comes to you saying she needs inhaler.  Notice large hives all over her face.  Yell to sister and husband that she is having a reaction.  Run (yes I said R.U.N) to where we left our stuff.

Administer antihistamine and ventolin as per allergy action plan.  No relief noticed.  Grab anapen and run (Yep still running) to first aid post.  Try to administer anapen, hands shaking too much, hubby does it.  Safe and steady hands.  Anapen administered.  Staff call for ambulance.  Watch child go in and out of conciousness.  Talk to paramedic on phone.  Wait for ambulance.  Wait some more.  And more.

Allergy kid still suffering majorly.  More hives popping up, breathing wheezy and irregular.  Finally ambulance arrives (we are probably only talking about 10-15 minutes - feels like a lifetime).  Paramedics come with stretcher, oxygen, large kit full of syringes.  Paramedic administers another shot of adrenaline.  Other paramedic inserts IV line.  Administers more adrenaline via IV.  Allergy kid stabilised. Transferred to stretcher.  I climb into ambulance with her.  Nebuliser given to stabilise her breathing.

Arrive Hastings hospital.  Watch child be hooked up to many monitors and still unable to talk (most unusual as those of you who actually know her will understand).  Prendisolone administered.  Hubby arrives having followed ambulance and left other kids with my sister.  We sit and we wait.

About 2 hours after this all started, allergy kid starts to come round.  Parents breathe sigh of relief.  Child transferred to Pediatric assessment unit.  We wait.  Dr finally comes and says we need to stay over night for observation.

No further reactions noted and we are told we can go home.

And home we come.

Back to Auckland.

This is her second reaction since school broke up.

Back to lunch boxes and never letting our precious daughter eat food prepared by others again.

Sigh.

Barbs x.

COMPLACENCY

Emma has been an allergy kid for 9 years, although we have only known about them since she was 2.  She had her first registered  anaphylactic reaction to peanuts then.  For the last 7 years we have carried around her emergency kit .  Occasionally we go into it to administer anti-histimine and ventolin for mild reactions but never have we had to use her Epi-pen  We have dutifully bought new epi-pens as the old ones expired and often thought "Do we really need this?", "The cost is so exorbitant to just throw away in a year or so's time."  We were complacent.

Do you note I wrote were.  Last night our lovely Emma came home from Girls Brigade with a tub of baking.  All safe for her - we provided ingredients and her lovely leader checked everything else they used.  Everything.  Nothing was on her banned list.  She hungrily gobbled them up when she got home.  I am so grateful that she ate them at home.  We had visitors, she chatted for a few minutes and I sent her off to bed.

"Mum" she called, "I'm itchy, can I have a shower?"

"Sure" I said "I'll be up in a minute"

"MUM I am so itchy, and I cant breathe"  She was starting to get really agitated and something was obviously wrong.

I get her out of the shower, give her Ventolin and her preventer Seretide and smother her in Fatty cream. She scratches constantly and her breathing is laboured.  "I am so ITCHY!" She cries.

I bring her downstairs and give her anti-histimine.  Then the welts start forming on her forehead.  I rang for the ambulance. The operator takes forever to find our address - I have to say it 3 times.  "It is an EMERGENCY!" I yell.  Hubby tells me to calm down.  Eventually they find out what is wrong.  The tell me to administer the Epi-pen.

For 7 years we have carried it and never needed it, now I actually have to use it.

The ambulance arrives a few minutes later.  They take her vitals and it all looks okay.  The welts are coming down.  Yay, we got it in time.  They take her to hospital.

By the time we get there I notice her body is red from head to toe and she is still so itchy.  The ambulance driver tells us it is just starting to come up.  It really makes me think this might not be as routine as I think it is.  Luckily half an hour later and the itch has subsided and her skin is starting to look less red.

They keep us in for 4 hours incase she reacts again.  Luckily all is good and we go home by taxi at 1.30am.

We still dont know what she reacted to, a trace of nuts maybe, some dairy that was mixed in with her food by mistake, or is it a new allergy to something she has eaten regularly before?

Complacency is bad.  And in a food allergic kids life, it can be fatal.  If we hadn't had the Epi-Pen and had to wait for the ambulance driver to administer it would we have had the same good result?  Probably is the answer, but not definitely.  And is that something I ever want to find out? No?

This really can be a life saver

We don't have an Epi-Pen now.  She didn't go to school today.  We have to be extremely careful with what she comes into contact with until we get her a new one. But what if it is a new allergy to something she eats regularly?  It is quite an unsettling feeling.  One of us will head off to Quay Park Pharmacy tonight to get one.

I don't think we will ever feel complacent about things with Emma again.  It was a real wake up call.

You can never know what is around the corner with allergies.

You need to be prepared.  ALL.  THE.  TIME.