Nuts, our evil nemesis, strike again!

So after having no "nut incidents" for a few years, BOTH girls ended up in the ER last Wednesday night after accidental exposure to peanut butter M&M's.  We were given a few small bags of trail mix that I looked and decided was nut free so I gave the girls each a bag, unfortunately, unlike my bag that I had looked over and eaten, their bags had peanut butter M&M's in it!  Hana told us her throat hurt and so I ran over to look at her trail mix and discovered what had happened.  We immediately gave both girls a dose of Allertech (Costco brand liquid Zertech for kids) and gave Hana an epi shot (Aya had no symptoms yet so we didn't give her one) got in the car to go to the ER on the way I decided we better give Aya an epi shot as well, just to be safe so we pulled over and gave her one too.  The medical complex we went to didn't have an ER so we called 911.  The ambulance came quickly and the 2 lady EMT's were awesome with the girls!  We so appreciated them.  They checked all the vitals and said everything looked stable for now but that we needed to get them to the ER (the effects of an epi pen only last 15 minutes or so.) They recommended we take the girls ourselves because the hospital they were assigned to was further than one we could drive to (pretty crazy, but I guess if an ER is too full they will turn ambulances away here, but they can't turn away walk-ins!)  So we drove to Pali Momi hospital in Pearl Ridge, about 20 minutes away and checked into the very packed ER.  To their credit they were very organized and took care of all the patients as quickly as they could, though we still had to wait about an hour.  When we got checked in the girls vitals were still fine and they were both a little hyper from the epi pens (I hear they give you quite the buzz!)  

Waiting in the ER waiting room

Hana threw up all over everything though as her body was trying to get rid of every little trace of the deadly nut allergens in her body-poor girl! Aya seemed fine.   The doctor gave each girl a big dose of liquid steroids (to keep the airways open) and had us stay for another hour or so while they observed their girls to make sure they were ok.  They seemed a little hyper but doing fine, which was such a relief!  When the doctor came to check one last time he told us we saved their lives by giving them the Allertech and Epi-pens so quickly!  

All riled up from the Epi Pens and steroids but doing well

Being snuggled and entertained by Daddy

I feel so blessed that we knew what to do.  The doctor wrote us a prescription for new Epi Pens and liquid steroids and we headed home.  It was about midnight at this point and both girls were exhausted and fell asleep immediately in the car.  Although this wasn't a fun family activity we know Heavenly Father was watching out for us and things could've been a lot scarier!  Last time we had an incident, Hana was 4 and we were in the hospital 3 days trying to get her body to calm down!  Some things I learned from this:

1- You always have to be dilligent about checking all labels and looking over all homemade foods and when in doubt it's better to not chance it!  I hate being THAT mom but it's the only way to keep my girls safe.  I feel SO bad that I didn't check their bags of trail mix and not just mine!

2-Epi Pens seems scary but they aren't that bad.  The pen it's self is pretty big but the needle is really small.  Hana said she didn't even feel it!  And

3-If you think your child is reacting to a life threatening allergen don't wait for it to get worse to confirm your fears, just give them the epi shot!  It won't hurt them (just give them that buzz) and it will save their life and make the recovery faster the earlier you give it.  Just do it!

4-Pray for help and to be calm and the Lord will let you know what to do.

5- Make sure that anyone who watches your child with allergies knows what the epi pens are for, how to use them and not be afraid to use it when in doubt!  The instructions & pictures on the side of the epi pen are really easy to understand to show you exactly what to do.