I hadn’t much planned for Good Friday apart from housework and gardening but we ended up being inviting to some friends place for dinner. Being a catholic the hostess went and bought some fish, then with salad and wine in hand we went to their place for a yummy fish feast.
I helped the female head of the household prepare some of the food and then we went and sat outside for a quiet drink and a little chat while the kids were inside. The male head of the household was in charge of giving them a pre-dinner snack to stop complaints of I’m hungry.
I didn’t think any more of this until JJ started rubbing his eyes and breaking out in a bit of a rash under his eyes. They’d just gone to pick some rosemary for the roast vegetables and I thought that might be affecting him. He started sneezing and obviously wasn’t well so we cuddled on the couch and he soon fell asleep. I just thought he was coming down with a cold and thought I’d eat and take him home.
I ate my dinner while he slept but then after dinner he woke up and was really itchy and had a full on rash all over his body. I was musing that it looked like an allergic reaction and they asked if he was allergic to anything. I told them he’s allergic to nuts and the male head of the household, said oh oh, I gave them a peanut butter sandwich earlier. Well it all clicked into place, he was having an allergic reaction.
Lesson learnt – tell all my friends and anyone around food and him that he cannot eat nuts and sesame seeds. I obviously hadn’t done it in this case. I need to tell people all the time, and keep on telling them.
I rang up the Women’s and Childrens Hospital emergency and they told me just to bring him in. Driving by myself to the hospital with JJ in the back looking very forlorn after his dose of Phenergen that I’ve been told to give him if something like this happens, I nearly lost the plot but then consoled myself by thinking that at least we were driving to the hospital and not being rushed there in an ambulance.
Paediatric emergency on Good Friday evening was very busy and I thought that we would be in for the long haul. It took a good 2-3 hours just to get his observations done and they said a doctor would see us soon. At 1am (we got there about 9pm) I asked when he would be seen and I was told that he was next.
JJ soon fell asleep on my lap and I gave them nearly an hour before I just plonked him fast asleep on a chair and went and asked what was going on. I told the same woman I’d asked an hour earlier that we’d been waiting for about five hours and that we hadn’t been seen by a doctor yet. I told her that I’d been told an hour ago that it was our turn next. She said I didn’t tell you that. I said yes you did, I remember it was you and you pointed to his folder over behind you. She then got his folder from the ‘they’ve left and gone home without waiting’ pile and showed me that we’d been called twice at 22.40pm and 22.45pm. I said we’ve been sitting down over there for five hours and heard NOBODY call us. She said I’ll get someone to see as soon as possible, which happened. I was furious and indignant that she’d lied to me.
The doctor couldn’t apologise enough. By this time I’d nearly lost it again and only just stopped myself from bursting into tears. As it turned out even if we had been seen earlier they like to keep allergic reaction cases under observation for 4-6 hours just to make sure nothing bad happens. Because we’d already been waiting for this amount of time once he was examined we were able to go.
I was so proud of JJ. Anyone with a young child knows that waiting with them anywhere can be an absolute nightmare. He was a gem. I was so proud of him for being really good when all he wanted to do was go home and sleep. He hadn’t had his dinner because he’d been asleep and I didn’t want to get up and get anything in case we missed his name being called out. As it was we missed it anyway so it didn’t matter. He’d finally fallen asleep on my lap at about 1am which is an extremely late night for him and when we finally saw the doctor I had to wake him up to walk to the examination cubicle. I put him on the examination bed and he immediately fell asleep again, so we had to roll him over to look at him while he kept on sleeping.
Once we finished I made him walk to the car as he weighs 21kg and there’s no way I can carry him. I reiterate, he did so well and I made sure I told him this the next day.
Thank goodness he’s ok after his accident, but I have to keep an eye out for it as these reactions can get worse.
