Hold the Pistachios, Please!

This weekend we learned (the hard way) that Reagan is allergic to pistachios. She had one--just one!--and it led to the picture below. She complained as she was eating it that it was stuck in her throat and that her throat felt "tingly," but I thought perhaps she hadn't chewed it well. After a glass of water and a piece of bread to help wash it down, Reagan seemed much better. (Nobody in our family has food allergies, so I never even considered it could be that.)

But about a half an hour later, her eye had swollen up. I gave her Benadryl and called the doctor to leave a message, not overly concerned. Within minutes, her other eye had swollen. (It actually got a little worse than the picture below before it got better.) When the nurse called me back, she asked questions and gave me some instructions, and she seemed reassuring that it wasn't necessary to go to the ER. Reagan wasn't in respiratory distress, although she had been coughing quite a bit. (She had coughed and gagged right after she ate the pistachio, but I didn't think to equate this with repiratory distress.)

We sent Daddy out for more Benadryl at bedtime, since we realized the first dose we had given her was from an expired bottle. But even after a second dose, Reagan was still quite swollen. After keeping a careful watch on her in the night, she was still rather puffy the following morning, so we called the triage nurse who recommended we see our pediatrician.

So...a visit to the Saturday clinic. (Why do we always have medical issues on the weekends?) We saw Dr. White who heard my explanation and saw the picture below and agreed with our assessment of a food allergy. He gave us the number of a pediatric allergy specialist, to have Reagan tested for other allergies. He also prescribed an Epi-pen.

Now, wherever she goes, Reagan has to have the Epi-pen handy. That means we'll need to have one available at preschool with her, one always in my purse, and one at home. The Epi-pen can't be stored at extreme temperatures (either too hot or too cold), so we can't leave one in the car.

We're praying that when we have her tested, her only allergies will be to easy-to-avoid foods. Pistachios are in the same family as the cashew and mango, which shouldn't be too difficult to avoid. (She has had a few other mild allergic reactions, but we were never able to pin down the cause.) Thank the Lord, she doesn't seem to be allergic to peanuts, as she eats peanut butter nearly every day of her life!

We're just very thankful that this wasn't more serious and that we now have the assurance of the Epi-pen if she has a reaction again.

Poor, pitiful thing! Doesn't this picture just break your heart? But Reagan was, as always, a trooper about her ordeal. She's a pretty good patient most of the time.