The day after Thanksgiving we gave Ivan one cashew. He got small bumps around his mouth and was then fine.
Three hours later unable to nap he started to have hives on his face, then his arms and then his legs. We took him to an Urgent Care. He turned more red by the minute. The doctor there had an i.v. put in and pushed benadryl into him. The doctor called us an ambulance in case the reaction got worse he thought it best for Ivan to be at the hospital.
I got to lie on the gurney with Ivan in my lap wailing, red and puffy. The paramedics were great telling me how nice it was to hear Ivan wailing and know his airways were clear. Ivan wailed that he wanted his shirt on and that he wanted his shoes. Ivan did a good job considering and turned rapidly less red as the benadryl set in. The paramedic monitoring his vitals asked if he knew how to high five and held his hand up. Ivan stuck out his lower lip, stopped wailing and looked at the paramedic skeptically. Then he slowly raised his open hand and touched the paramedic’s extended hand. That was when I really knew he was doing okay. After that the drowsy factor of medication set in and he fell asleep on my chest for the rest of the way to the hospital.
Ezri was a great big sister. When they put the i.v. in, she held Ivan’s hand and talked to him from the other side of the bed while the parents held him down. She showed him how to stick out his tongue for the exam and was a good calming force in the room. She did point out as he was covered in hives that she had an itchy spot near her elbow that perhaps needed urgent care as well. When Ivan awoke in the E.R. his first question after crying was, “Where Every?” (how he says Ezri) Followed by, “Where Daddy?”
Here he is with “Woof Woo” his new dog given to him by the paramedics in the ambulance and clearly named after Ezri’s dog named Woof Woof. Woof Woo was his 3rd night of Hanukkah lagniappe.
He’s doing well now. Though we will have to see a doctor and an allergist and he will never know the wonder of a good cashew cookie.