Last night, after I tucked in my two teenagers at 11 pm, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to stay up all night long and watch one or the other as they slept, not thinking that it would ever come to pass. As it so happened, I got my inclination, although my desire to see one of them sleeping was not to be so.
After I went to bed, tossed and turned for a half hour or so, and then fell asleep, I was awoken at 12:55 am by my oldest. "Mom, the hives are not going away, and I'm really itchy," she said. We experienced this in the fall when for no apparent reason, Rachel started with hives on her back, then to her chest, arms and legs, with her feeling very ill. We went to the ER after presuming correctly that it was an allergic reaction to an antibiotic she was taking. She received the adrenaline, hive-stopping benadryl-type drug (she's allergic to antihistamines), 60 mg of Prednisone, and we were on our way. Departure time to the ER was 1 am, and we got home at about 4 am.
This time though, there was no apparent reason for the hives. She began to see them soon after dinner, around 8 pm, uncomfortable but not unbearable, on her back. By the time she woke me, they had spread to her chest and stomach. I gave her a 10mg dose of Prednisone that was remaining from the past time, put cool compresses on her back and stomach. By 2 am, they were on her neck, so I kept up with the compresses, braided her hair and recited scripture. By 3 am, they had spread to her arms and legs, and her lip was beginning to swell. This is when I could no longer tolerate my baby in such discomfort, and I looked online to see what my next step might be with her lip swelling. Emergency medical attention is what webmd, mayo clinic and other online sites told me to do, as it may progress to anaphalactic shock, in which the remainder of the mouth and the throat also swells and can stop breathing. The steroids would take at least 2 hours to have an effect and had not made a difference, especially she had been given such a small dosage.
We woke Kevin and told him our plan, and that he would need to take the youngest to middle school that morning whether we were home or not. Departure time was 3:11 am. We arrived seconds before a car pulled up and went inside the entrance of St. David's ER in Bee Cave (we parked in the nearest spot) and while waiting behind the man in the lobby, were shuffled into a room. I noted that we were not with him, with the nurse showing some confusion, but she led Rachel into a room and asked me to wait at the desk to receive sign-in paperwork. I soon joined my daughter in the room where I entered just as the nurse was asking her, "do you smoke? drink alcohol? do drugs?" with her back to me. Rachel rather smugly said "no" to all of the questions as she was facing me. She was given a shot of adrenaline in the arm (ow - we both almost cried but started laughing to take away the fear and pain), some benadryl-replacement and 40 mg of Prednisone. We were able to leave just before 5 am.
The rest of the story is that because Rachel had not eaten anything unusual or different that day and had taken no drugs either, the very kind, former army doctor felt that it could possibly be a reaction to something that blew in with the cold front that came in that afternoon. He said that the lip swelling is a new reaction and that she might be better off if she were to be prepared next time and have an epi-pin on hand to administer if she started reacting in this way again. The possibility of anaphalactic shock exists if it progresses one step more each time. The tough part is that it costs over $300, and only lasts a year. We will pray that she doesn't have another reaction such as what occurred last night, but what if? An ER visit is much more expensive.
Rachel was so sweet and calm throughout the entire ordeal, except for the shot, which helped calm me. I count my blessings that my children are so undemanding for attention and care (maybe because they get plenty), and that they do appreciate it when we provide for them.
Tonight, I hope to go to bed by 10 pm, since I'm running on a little over 4 hours of sleep now. And, the next time I even THINK about staying up all night, I'll immediately dismiss it as being frivolous!
No comments:
Post a Comment