Speeding...hoping a cop would find me...

Yesterday was scary. I mean really scary for me. Soo... Cam is allergic to peanut butter. He has eaten peanut M&M's with no problems, but PB makes him itchy. Ok...so I made these divine 7 layer bars...my absolute fav...and I used cashews...like always. Cam has eaten them before, as well as cashews plain before. We had them for a treat after lunch. Almost immediately he complained that his tounge was itchy. I sent him upstairs to brush his teeth and rinse him mouth out. He did and then came back down in tears saying it didn't help. I gave him a dose of benedryl and told him we had to give it some time to work. About 10 minutes later he complained that his tummy hurt and within less than 30 seconds was VIOLENTLY projectile vomiting It was SO sad!!

He cried and cried. I called the Dr to see how much more benedryl I could give him (since I know it absorbs completely in 30 minutes, but it had only been 10) and she told me half a dose, but to watch him closely, that if he couldnt breathe well to get him to the ER asap. She tried to talk me into just going anyway since it was his first reaction. We got the meds in him and within a coulpe of minutes he said it was hard to breathe. I loaded him up and off we went...

I was driving 70-80 down the 40mph road to the hospital passing all the cars through the middle lane with my flashers going, praying no one needed to make a left handed turn in front of me, and deep down hoping an officer would try to stop me so that everyone would pull over to let us pass as I just let him chase me! Cam was in the back seat taking very deep breaths every 2-3 breaths... and I have never been so scared! Even with their bad asthma in the past...I dont know why...but I was not as nervous as this was making me...maybe it was how fast it took over his body? His lips were fat and swollen, and he was blotchy all over his lower half of his face.

We arrived and I just left my car by the door and ran him in. They got him back and started taking his vitals/info etc and as we were doing all of this, you could SEE his lips start to go down (they started to look like raisins because they had been so swollen). His O2 levels leveled out quickly and by the time the Dr came in he looked much better. He even commented on how different he looked from when I whizzed past him to now (less than 10-15 minutes) but now the whites of his eyes were turning red and swollen. They put him on a steriod for 5 days, a heavy duty anti-inflamatory/antihistamine for 3-5 days (every 6 hours without fail) and he now must keep an Epi-pen near him. No more nuts of any kind...and man alive I wouldn't want them! The Dr said that each reaction doubles in serverity...and though he commended me for quick thinking this time...he said it may not work as well next. *gulp*

We came home and it had barely been 2 hours when he broke out in a mean bright red rash in all his bends (elbows, knees, corners of his eyes, neck, behind his ears etc). We called the ER and they said to jump start the next dose that was not due for another 4 more hours and give it to him now. POOR THING!! The rash cleared up within 20 minutes. They said it could take up to 3-5 days for any residual nut to work it's way out of his system. What a nightmare! My poor boy!

We are SO thankful for modern medicine!! And for the CHIP program we supported this week... my baby is ok & we could get him the help he needed without batting an eyelash (not that I would have...but the post stress of an ER cost is not something I need to stress about now)! I feel so lucky! Cam is ok. He has some residual wheezing...and a tummy ache...but he has the meds he needs and he will be ok. THANK HEAVENS for the place in which we live!