This update is brought to you by the letter P, as in P is for “Pecan.” Or as in “pecans cause Sarah to go into anaphylaxis.”
We knew from previous allergy testing and experience that Sarah has a mild peanut and walnut allergy resulting in a runny nose and itchy eyes and face for 30 min. We knew that she had been eating tons of almond butter and cashew butter and had tried pistachios and macadamia nuts with no trouble at all. So, I thought I would add some variety to her coconut milk shake and use pecan butter instead of almond or cashew butter. It was immediately obvious that she was allergic, but it took about 5 min to realize that it was more than a mild allergy. I called the pediatrician and they advised me to give her benadryl and to call 911 if I thought she was having trouble breathing. She wasn’t having hugely notable trouble but more like 2% of a change compared to normal and her lips were swelling, along with the hives around her mouth. With a deep fear and an “I can’t believe I am in this moment worrying about the life of my child” thought I carried her down stairs and called 911. The fire department arrived first followed by the paramedics. Her breathing was still ok but they wanted her to go to the ER anyway. I transferred her carseat to the ambulance and away we went, with Sonia, A., and Amy explaining the situation to the cluster of concerned neighbors. Carl actually beat us to the ER since he works in such close proximity to the Children’s Hospital. IV fluids, benadryl, steroids, and epinepherin all helped Sarah finally stabilize, but not after she was an itchy mess covered in hives and still having puffy lips and a puffy tongue. Sonia and A. made deliveries of requested items, two rounds of such being necessary since we didn’t immediately know we would be spending the night. Apparently sometimes anaphylaxis can have a second flare up so they wanted to monitor her overnight. Sarah and I spent the night at the hospital while Carl went home to be with Amy. In the morning we were visited by Captain America cleaning the windows. (My stepfather learned that this was only the second time this even has ever happened in Pittsburgh so our timing was good!) Carl and Sonia each visited in the morning and brought fresh veggie juice and coconut milk for Sarah. We were finally discharged and able to return home, epi-pen in tow (now to be wherever Sarah is). Pecans will not cross my threshold again and we will meet with an allergist to find out if there could be other severe allergies.
Just shy of 25 hours this week, Sarah has had many jaw-dropping break throughs and some other lovely, if not jaw-dropping, moments and achievements.
1. At preschool she reached out during circle time and spontaneously started a tickle game with the boy next to her. Since it was the end of circle time and the kids were about to line up for hand washing and snack, the game didn’t go beyond Sarah tickling G. while saying “tickle” and his tickling her back once. Still, this was unprecedented and phenomenal for her to initiate a game with another child.
2. While playing Twister with Sc, Sarah initiated including stuffed animals Gerald and Piggie into the game, placing them on the circles and putting them near the spinner. Sonia had evidently been including them in other activities with Sarah so it is very exciting that Sarah expanded on the idea of her own accord.
3. Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop are visiting this weekend. Sarah went upstairs with Mom-Mom when Mom-Mom asked to see the girls’ room. Sarah ismed for a few moments and then opened her arms wide while saying “Nice room.” She followed with saying, “share bed…share dresser… clothes in dress-er” and pointing out which drawer had Amy’s clothes and which had Sarah’s.
4. When I went to give Sarah some of the multitude of post-hospital medicines, she worked to clarify her rendition of “medicine.” Out of the blue she said “cypro-hep-ta-dine.” That was the appetite stimulant we used to give her over a year ago (and not since then). Her memory astounds me.
5. Sarah repeated her first curse word. I spilled some of her medicine and said “f*#k” and from behind me chimed Sarah’s perfect repetition of the word and Amy’s attempt. An excitingly typical milestone. I know Sarah repeats tons of new words that she hears so from her perspective this is probably no different, but it means I need to watch myself more carefully!
6. Other sentences include
“cat sleep on pill-ow in mom’s closet” (true)
“daddy have buh-lack hair” (not true, but the sentence construction is great)
“Puhlay with mom-mom in sayra rise room….now”
7. We have bath crayons that the girls play with during bathtime. Friday night Sarah started making the marks we know are her writing attempts. She spontaneously started saying “S-A-R-A-H” as she wrote each squiggle. Each of her marks look mostly the same, but the fact that she can spell her name (we knew she could recognize it) and that she wants to write it just knocks my socks off.
Pop-Pop thinks that compared to November, Sarah’s communication skills and clarity have increased 1000%. Mom-Mom noticed a huge difference even compared to early February. Woohoo!
This morning we had a totally wonderful team meeting. I am grateful and inspired to have such thoughtful, loving, creative people on our SR team. I love having such amazing help to think clearly about how to move forward as effectively as possible. And we have such a good time being together! LOVE our team! (Thanks to Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop for once again providing excellent childcare, including Mom-Mom doing 2 1/2 hours of Sarah-Rise time).
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