Today started off ordinary enough… Kenny ran into our room at 6, and we gave Casey his Father’s Day present. Then it was off to church. Kenny is a huge fan of Sunday School, so it’s one of his favorite outings of the week. Running close second to Sunday School, though, is the social time afterward – there are always huge trays of muffins and pastries and he knows that he gets to pick which ever one he wants. Well today he ended up with a doozy.
We usually steer him towards the blueberry or pumpkin or chocolate chip muffins, but somehow today he ended up with a cranberry or rasberry or something red-berry. He took one bite and made this horrifically comical face, spit it out and then started coughing and scratching his tongue and gagging. At first Casey and I thought it was just typical two-year-old dramatics (especially since all the surrounding adults were cracking up), but within five minutes, his face was covered in welts and he was having trouble breathing.
We literally ran to the car (a 9-month prego in her one-a-week heels was quite a sight in the parking lot, I’m sure) and drove to the ER. On the way, Kenny vomitted all over himself, but that actually seems to ease his breathing a little. The wonderful team at our local hospital got him into triage within a minute and he saw the pediatrician on call five minutes after that. Poor Casey went back to the church to try and find the offending muffin, but after searching through the kitchen and all the trashcans, he had no luck.
Fortunately, whatever little he ingested didn’t make him any worse than the initial reaction, and after doses of prednisone and benedryl, he was discharged, with advice to go see an allergist asap. Whew. Who knew? Kenny eats everything. Hopefully it will be some random allergy to raspberries or something that’s easy to avoid. We shall see…
After our jaunt to the hospital, we headed to the pool for an hour (ah, sweet weightlessness!!), then home to go fishing and crabbing…
(Dudley helps)
Kenny and Casey actually caught three fish (one Kenny reeled in himself!) and we now have three dozen jumbo crabs in the holding tank. For those of you reading who don’t live on the chesapeake bay, Maryland crabs just might be the sweetest bounty out there! And jumbo crabs go for $80 or more a dozen at local seafood spots, so we are living it up…
Kenny loves crabs. He won’t actually eat them, but he’s a master a smashing the claws just right so that the meat pops right out. That’s my boy…
Comments
3 responses to “Father’s Day Adventures…”
I am so glad he is healthy! How completely scary!
I’ve only ever heard of a Strawberry Allergy…
Do a google search… I found THIS:
The Rosaceae family, which includes apricot, almond, plum, strawberry, apple, peach, and pear. An allergen skin test and a blood IgE test are available for the Rosaceae family of foods, but the best test to confirm such an allergy is a double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge, performed only by a few allergists.
Strawberries can also trigger skin allergies such as pruritis (itching), urticaria (hives), and contact dermatitis. The symptoms can also manifest as respiratory conditions like allergic rhinitis and asthma.
More severe symptoms include vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, and on rare occasions, life threatening anaphylactic reactions such as swelling of the throat, wheezing, and trouble breathing.