The Darling Princess Puffy Face
Arilyn had another allergic reaction to something yesterday. Cody said that she came up to him and told him her eyes hurt. He looked and they were starting to puff up and redden. He gave her some Benadryl and a few mintues later noticed that she was having trouble talking. The floor of her mouth (that gross looking veiny flesh under your tongue) had swollen up to interfere with her talking. He decided to take her to Tempe St. Luke’s. In the car, Cody said that she was having more trouble talking and started wheezing a bit. At this point, her eye lids were so swollen that they covered her entire eye and apparently the skin was so taut that it looked like a tomato about to burst.
The ER gave her an IV with some Benadryl and Cortisone (?), then had to give her an Epi shot right in the thigh. Cody said that she didn’t flinch with the IV, but once that steroid went in…WHOA. Poor girl was freaking out because of how that shot makes you feel. The purpose is to get your blood going really fast so the meds get where they need to go faster. Her heart rate shot up and she kept telling Cody “I’m not sick anymore, I just want to go home” and other such sad phrases. She was a super brave little girl though. Cody said that she even stopped to say she had to go potty during the Epi rush.
I took the rail/bus to the hospital and Lisa was darling enough to pick up Monty from the ER since Cody was having a hard time keeping two toddlers entertained in a hospital. Thankfully, my mom was home to keep an eye on Monty for us. St. Luke’s said that her bloodwork all came back well as well as some other tests they did. They transferred her to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital in case her symptoms got worse. Apparently, with the Epi they want to watch the patient for 6 hours to make sure nothing more happens. So, Ari and I got to ride in the ambulance to the “kids hospital” beacuse the “grown-up hospital” didn’t have good toys or food. (That was my doing…she kept asking to go home and I told her we had to go to the kid’s hospital first and that she could probably get something to eat there and they’d probably have cooler toys since it’s a place for kids).
The EMTs got a kick out her on the ride there. She’s such a chatterbox and kept asking questions. She got to see the laptop-type-thing the EMT riding in the back had and was facinated by the gurney. We got to the Children’s Hospital and basically got to sit around until 10:30 when her 6 hours were up. She finally got to eat something and passed out in the car on the way home.
We aren’t sure what caused the reaction. She didn’t have any new foods, no new detergents, cleaning products, etc. Cody saw a red bug bite-looking spot on her temple, so we think maybe something snuck in and bit her. There will be some serious laundering going on tonight! Lots of vinegar-and-water spraying around the rooms, too.
She’s got a prescription for Prednisone and for an Epi-Pin, which is a stick full of Epinephrine in case she should have another severe reaction. We were only able to fill the Prednisone last night as the Epi-Pin had a $100 co-pay. I’ve got to see if I can put off Tempe’s utility payment for another two weeks. They are good about working with customers, so I am hopeful.
Cody says the swelling in her eyes has gone down more today, though it is still there. She’s taking her meds well and is a happy camper. We’re going to be taking her for frozen yogurt tonight as a reward for being so good at the hospitals.
She never ceases to amaze me. Besides the after effect of the Epinephrine shot, she hardly cried or complained at all. The IV hep-lock started to hurt her little arm after so many hours, but that was the extent of her complaints. Well, she did complain that she was hungry. Cody said that she started feeling feverish around lunch and didn’t want to eat, so it had been only since 10am-ish that she had last eaten anything. Poor girl didn’t get food into her stomach until 9pm-ish.
This experience has definitely made me more sympthatic to those parents that have to go through this sort of thing daily. Seeing all of the other children in the hospital definitely puts things in perspective. Thank the gods we are a generally healthy family.
We’ll be following up with our PCP next week and then will be scheduling an appointment with an allergist. She’s had some puffy-eye allergic reactions before, but never this extreme. I know it’ll suck for her, but I’d rather do the testing now and see if there’s an obvious allergy we can control. No more surprises. The Epi-Pin is a great idea, but I’d rather not use it if I don’t have to.