This one threw us for a loop! Liam was an hour post-breakfast (yogurt and Cheerios-- nothing out of the ordinary), when all of the sudden his eye started to swell, and other than it starting with the opposite eye, the reaction pattern was completely identical to last time. Doreen called me right away, and neither of us could believe it! He hadn't eaten anything with nuts, and there was no food around when it happened. All we can guess is that something in her house, whether it was a toy or some surface, was contaminated with peanuts and Liam put his mouth on it.
A dose of Benedryl halted the reaction and made the hives go away within a few minutes-- but those poor eyes! His pediatrician's office recommended we go right to the ER again, but given the similarity of this reaction to the last one, I called his allergist just to get their take. Obviously I wanted to do the right thing, but I didn't want to go through all of that again just for Benedryl and Prednisone, both of which we have at home. Dr. Wodell confirmed that a trip to the ER was not necessary at this point since the reaction was not progressing, and gave me the dosage amounts for both the steroid and Benedryl for the rest of the day. He did say, though, that we just needed to monitor his condition closely and to head straight to the ER should symptoms worsen. I just thank God that didn't happen-- and we didn't have to use the Epi-Pen!
Liam is really starting to understand what all of his means, which is both good and also a little heartbreaking. Doreen said that as soon the reaction started, he put his head down, groaned, and said "Liam doctor, again. Joergen, Deen's" (Deen is his word for Miss Doreen). He definitely remembered the sequence of events from the last time around! We are heading back to Dr. Wodell's office on Monday for some additional testing just to make sure that it was really exposure to peanuts that caused this reaction and not some other allergen we aren't aware of.
Liam was pretty sad to have "boo-boo eyes" again and to be stuck at home rather than outside with his friends at Doreen's, but the good Lord sent him a little angel to brighten his day. We heard a knock at the door, and there on the doorstep was a package from his little friend Abby Cooper... and it was filled with chocolate lollipops! Nut-free, allergy safe chocolate lollipops!! Abby saved the day!
Liam had a chocolately good night's sleep and woke up this morning looking like he lost a fight-- but he was at least back to his happy little self :) As we continue to figure out how to navigate this allergy, we just thank everyone for all their advice, support, and prayers.
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