Last weekend started off normal and calm. Kinsey was starting to get (yet another) cold, but other than that, we were all set for a relaxing weekend at home. We were eating breakfast so I gave her a couple of pieces of my scrambled eggs, and then it happened. . .
It started with fussing, which quickly evolved into Kinsey screaching at the top of her lungs and throwing herself around like she was in extreme pain and then her nose and lips started turning blue. We didn't know what was happening or where we were going, but we jumped in the car and raced off. The fire station is about a mile away so we stopped there (the nearest urgent care place is easily 30 minutes away). Unfortunately, we found out our fire station doesn't have paramedics on site, but they did have oxygen, which they gave her immediately and they called 911 for us. When the ambulance arrived, we rushed off to the nearest hospital and they gave Kinsey an EPI shot, some benadryl and hooked her up to an IV. She responded immediately to the EPI shot and began to perk up a little.
At the ER we were still unsure whether Kinsey actually had an allergic reaction to the eggs or something else had happened. And by something else, I mean we had no idea! They said she had to be kept overnight to be watched because she had been given the EPI, but they weren't comfortable keeping her at the hospital and wanted to transfer her to Children's down in Denver, which meant another ambulance ride (at least this one wasn't so scary). Once at Children's, they said they actually only needed to watch her for 6 hours following the EPI, but they wanted to keep her there because her oxygen levels were low (low 80s when it should be in the high 90s). Remember the cold I mentioned earlier? Well, it turns out she had bronchiolitis (or baby bronchitis) and that (probably combined with the allergic reaction) was causing her oxygen levels to be low. So she was admitted and we spent the night in the hospital.
That night was rough because Kinsey won't wear the oxygen mask or the nasal canula, so the only way we can give her oxygen is to do a "blow-by" technique by sitting the mask near her face. The problem with that is, when she rolls over and the mask isn't near her face anymore, the monitor goes off and the nurses come running in, etc. By 3 am, I'd had it with the monitor and made them stop it from beeping every 2 seconds. Then we both finally got some rest! When the doctors came around in the morning, they all agreed we could go home. But before they could get their act together (several hours), the nurses decided to check her oxygen again and started acting like they were going to make us stay. Long story short, we got a little forceful with them and agreed to come home with oxygen for her at home.
We know our own daughter and could tell she was just suffering from bad cold and would be fine. We tried to use the oxygen at home, but it was rather futile. She was still pretty tired and a little weak for a day or two, but by Wednesday she was starting to act like herself again and now she's doing just fine. The brochiolitis is still lingering, but the doctor today actually said her lungs sounded clear.
So anyway . . . we made an appointment right away to have some new allergy testing done. Our greatest fear was that it wasn't an allergic reaction to the eggs and that we wouldn't know what caused the episode. If we know what it is, then we can avoid it, but if it's unknown, that's worse to me. Once we were back home, I checked the results from the allergy testing we had done a year ago and it turned out she had been tested for eggs and wasn't allergic to them then. It is possible to develop an allergy after exposure, but we were still unsure. Also because the paramedics said it didn't seem like a typical allergic reaction.
So today was our allergy appointment. They did a skin scratch test this time (last time was a blood test) and tested her for a lot of things. It turned out the only thing she reacted to was the eggs! She didn't even react to milk, which she was allergic to during the last test. So apparently she outgrew the milk allergy, which was never severe anyway, and develped an anaphylactic allergy to eggs! She also had a borderline reaction to Almonds, so we need to watch those too just in case.
Now we have an EPI Pen (actually 2) on hand at all times. I hope we'll never have to use it. It was a terrifying experience and I don't ever want to go through that again!
In other news, Kinsey is now 25 months old. We are excited for Christmas because Kinsey is much more into it this year than previously. She really likes looking at the tree and all the ornaments and lights. If I let her near the tree, she pulls the ornaments off to play with them. Here are some cute pictures and a video:
http://youtu.be/OeJ8lhBF37k
And here are some other videos:
Kinsey bouncing on her Howdy Cow:
http://youtu.be/B_y9vyFs3-w
Kinsey reading People magazine:
http://youtu.be/xIwnrgGBWKI
We're hoping for a couple of calmer days this weekend!
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