How this all started...

It was July 31^st when my son had his first allergic anaphylactic reaction. It was after a nice family visit with my mom. My Husband (Evan) and I loaded the kids in the car and proceeded to head home. My son was being fussy in the back seat which generally means hunger, so I handed my daughter (Felisha) a bag of raw walnuts. I didn't think anything of it, as my son (Dimitrios) had peanut butter, almonds, pistachios, and cashews before; never had a problem. Just about a minute out from the highway I heard Dimitrios crying. It did not sound like him, but something like a dying animal. It was raspy and gargled; at first I thought maybe he was choking on the food. When I turned around his face was swollen, his eyes so swollen shut he could not see. He was crying in a raspy way and rubbing his eyes. I froze for a second. I had seen this before. I have allergies myself, but to seasonal items (bees, trees, grass) and medication (Amoxicillin, Buckley’s). I jumped in the back while my husband was driving and started to call 9-1-1. We pulled over into a gas station and waited. It felt like forever, when it was literally less than 5 minutes. From the time of ingestion, to full reaction was 3 minutes. The fire trucks came first, they looked at my son and freaked just as much as I did. At this time my son was in and out of consciousness. Ambulance arrived a minute after. Asked four questions: 1) where did this happen 2) when did this happen? 3) Has he ever been like this before? 4) Did we give him anything for it?



By this time he was unconscious and we are jumping in the back of the ambulance. They talked to him attempting to get a response and indirectly telling me what they would be doing. First was epinephrine in the right thigh, then Benadryl in the left. They strapped so many monitors on to him that you could barely see him. They placed an oxygen mask on his face, and by the time we arrived at the hospital he was screaming again. Screaming after an experience like this makes your heart feel so much better. I just cried. He was quickly taken to an isolation room in the hospital where they connected wires to every machine, turned on bright lights, and asked more questions.

I felt so lost, so confused, so terrified... My son had nuts before, I couldn't believe that I, me, his mom, just about killed him...

They gave him another dose of epinephrine which brought his blood pressure back up to normal range. They gave him prednisone after. We remained in the hospital for another 6 hours. He was watched constantly for remission. He was still attached to monitors, with nurses and doctors coming to check on him every 5 to 10 minutes.

Around the 3^rd hour, a doctor came in to tell us that our son was lucky. He had a severe anaphylactic reaction to tree nuts. I had mentioned that he had eaten other nuts before without a problem and I was advised that it didn’t matter. He would forever be allergic to nuts. He was prescribed two epi pen juniors because as we discovered, one was not enough. We got advised that if something happened again to immediately give him the epi-pen and call 9-1-1 again. The doctor said, “For every exposure to an allergic reaction, he will require less of the allergen to create a greater reaction”.  We got a strong message that my son should not come into contact with any nuts, despite having had them before; until he could see an allergist.



I spent the next day going through everything in my house. It is amazing how much contains or may contain nuts. I had a face scrub from St.Ives that actually contained walnut shells. I had never used it, thankfully. Simple things like bread, crackers, pancake mix, cake mix, icing, and pasta, anything that is ready made… Usually contains or may have been in contact with Tree Nuts or peanuts.



Our life began to change…

(*More to follow)