We had some severe storms in the area on Wednesday and our power was knocked out until Saturday morning. I had no idea it would be out so long, so I did not move my important food from my freezers, and, as a result, lost all of it. This was sad for me because I had a fair amount of homemade Ainsley-friendly food, including cupcakes, sorbet, etc. in there. Because we had no power, for those two days we had to feed Ainsley almost exclusively at McDonald's and Wendy's, where there are a few things she can eat. I'm sure she didn't mind, but I didn't feel like her diet was very nutritionally complete during that time.
Thankfully, this weekend we were able to clean our the refrigerator and freezers and have begun restocking what we lost. All of our soy ice cream went bad so I am planning to make some with Ainsley today - for the first time! I finally bought a small ice-cream maker last week and want to break it in. I think we'll do strawberry ice cream using a recipe from the Kid-Pleasing cookbook (see sidebar - my favorite cookbooks) - I will let you know how it turns out.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Food-allergy paranoia, and a totally unrelated interior decorating whine
First thing - last night, while Ainsley was at grandma's, we gave Leighton part of an Almond Joy (not the almond part, but the chocolate-covered coconut part) and several minutes later she started vomiting. I got so scared - was she allergic to coconut (she had been tested for almonds but not coconut)? Had she developed an allergy to something else that was in the bar? I also lamented that I did not have Benadryl or the Epi-Pen - they were with Ainsley.
Immediately I checked for hives, breathing difficulty, etc. - nothing. My husband sheepishly admitted that she had started vomiting after he gave her a bite of the meat from his taco and that he thought the food activated her gag reflex; apparently it was too spicy for her. What a relief. Still, this experience demonstrated to me that, even after Leighton's allergy testing, I've never quite believed that she's 100% allergy-free, and have been waiting for "that moment" when I find out she's allergic to something.
* * * *
On a totally unrelated note, I have discovered that I am the world's worst at picking paint colors. We are having some minor work done on our house, including having a few of the walls painted (mostly two hallways that were a very boring shade of gray). I decided I wanted to warm up the hallways with a nice shade of beige/tan. Big mistake - the color looks okay in the back hallway, but the front hallway looked horribly dark and the color clashed with the colors in all of the bedrooms, which are off of that hallway. Since the painters were coming back the next day to do some other work, after spending at least an hour pouring over color samples I decided upon a much lighter shade of beige and had the painters repaint the hallway that color. While they were working I took Leighton to Dave's office to have dinner with him and escape the paint fumes. We arrived back to find the hallway completely done - and the color was bright yellow! Oh no! I swear it looked beige on the sample. Now we have a cheery, bright yellow hallway that clashes with the entryway and basically every other color in the house except Ainsley's yellow room.
I have finally thrown in the towel and called an interior decorator, who can hopefully help me dig myself out of this hole. Thankfully, Dave was not mad that I had just wasted our money in having the hallway painted the wrong color twice, but he is relieved that I called the decorator, if for nothing else so that he will not have to listen to me whine about the hallway anymore. I have always fancied myself a good decorator, but there is definitely a limit to my skills.
Immediately I checked for hives, breathing difficulty, etc. - nothing. My husband sheepishly admitted that she had started vomiting after he gave her a bite of the meat from his taco and that he thought the food activated her gag reflex; apparently it was too spicy for her. What a relief. Still, this experience demonstrated to me that, even after Leighton's allergy testing, I've never quite believed that she's 100% allergy-free, and have been waiting for "that moment" when I find out she's allergic to something.
* * * *
On a totally unrelated note, I have discovered that I am the world's worst at picking paint colors. We are having some minor work done on our house, including having a few of the walls painted (mostly two hallways that were a very boring shade of gray). I decided I wanted to warm up the hallways with a nice shade of beige/tan. Big mistake - the color looks okay in the back hallway, but the front hallway looked horribly dark and the color clashed with the colors in all of the bedrooms, which are off of that hallway. Since the painters were coming back the next day to do some other work, after spending at least an hour pouring over color samples I decided upon a much lighter shade of beige and had the painters repaint the hallway that color. While they were working I took Leighton to Dave's office to have dinner with him and escape the paint fumes. We arrived back to find the hallway completely done - and the color was bright yellow! Oh no! I swear it looked beige on the sample. Now we have a cheery, bright yellow hallway that clashes with the entryway and basically every other color in the house except Ainsley's yellow room.
I have finally thrown in the towel and called an interior decorator, who can hopefully help me dig myself out of this hole. Thankfully, Dave was not mad that I had just wasted our money in having the hallway painted the wrong color twice, but he is relieved that I called the decorator, if for nothing else so that he will not have to listen to me whine about the hallway anymore. I have always fancied myself a good decorator, but there is definitely a limit to my skills.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Quick & easy cherry-bottom chocolate cake
Apparently I'm into chocolate-and-fruit combinations (really, I'm into chocolate-and-anything combinations - I am such a big chocoholic it's ridiculous). This week was my sister-in-law's birthday and I was commissioned with making the birthday cake. I listed some of the things I could do and she thought something with cherries sounded good. So I decided to make a cherry sauce, top it with cake batter, bake it, and frost it - and it turned out as good as it sounds. Here is how I did it in ridiculously easy fashion:
Cherry-bottom chocolate cake
1 box Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate cake mix or other allergen-free chocolate cake mix (some varieties of Duncan Hines are milk-, egg-, and peanut/tree-nut-free)
1 can safe premade icing (I used Pillsbury reduced sugar chocolate fudge - lots of Pillsbury icings are safe) or 1 box Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate frosting prepared as directed
1 16-oz bag frozen, pitted cherries
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
3 Tbsp grenadine, pomogranite juice, or water
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp water
Prepare cake mix as directed on the box (mine called for 1/2 C oil and 1 C cold water). Set aside. Make cherry sauce by combining frozen cherries, grenadine, arrowroot powder, sugar, and water in medium saucepan. Cook and stir on medium/low heat until thick sauce forms.
Spray 9x9 pan with nonstick spray. Pour cherry sauce on bottom. Pour cake batter on top and spread batter to completely (or as close as possible) cover the cherry sauce. Bake at 350 for ~25 minutes or until tester for the cake comes out clean.
When cake is cooled, spread chocolate icing on top and enjoy.
Note: You can also use this cherry sauce instead of the strawberry sauce for the brownie mini-cakes described in the previous post. You can also add safe chocolate chips to the cake batter if your mix doesn't have them already (my Cherrybrook mix did have them). This cake is messy but oh so good!
Cherry-bottom chocolate cake
1 box Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate cake mix or other allergen-free chocolate cake mix (some varieties of Duncan Hines are milk-, egg-, and peanut/tree-nut-free)
1 can safe premade icing (I used Pillsbury reduced sugar chocolate fudge - lots of Pillsbury icings are safe) or 1 box Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate frosting prepared as directed
1 16-oz bag frozen, pitted cherries
1 Tbsp arrowroot powder
3 Tbsp grenadine, pomogranite juice, or water
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp water
Prepare cake mix as directed on the box (mine called for 1/2 C oil and 1 C cold water). Set aside. Make cherry sauce by combining frozen cherries, grenadine, arrowroot powder, sugar, and water in medium saucepan. Cook and stir on medium/low heat until thick sauce forms.
Spray 9x9 pan with nonstick spray. Pour cherry sauce on bottom. Pour cake batter on top and spread batter to completely (or as close as possible) cover the cherry sauce. Bake at 350 for ~25 minutes or until tester for the cake comes out clean.
When cake is cooled, spread chocolate icing on top and enjoy.
Note: You can also use this cherry sauce instead of the strawberry sauce for the brownie mini-cakes described in the previous post. You can also add safe chocolate chips to the cake batter if your mix doesn't have them already (my Cherrybrook mix did have them). This cake is messy but oh so good!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Medic Alert deal
Today I enrolled Ainsley in the Medic Alert system. I had been meaning to do this for a while but our recent ambulance incident finally spurred me to action. In case you don't know, Medic Alert is a system that provides a bracelet or other piece of jewelry with a special medical symbol printed on one side that alerts medical personnel to the fact that the wearer has a health condition. The other side of the tag lists information about the health condition and a number to call for more information. The company was started by a man whose child had a serious allergic reaction, so the program is tailor-made for food-allergic families.
When I called to enroll Ainsley, I was happy to learn that Medic Alert just started a KidSmart program for children that is a reduced-price program and contains certain kid-specific features. In total, I paid about $35 for the enrollment fee and bracelet and will need to pay only $10 per year to continue the membership until Ainsley turns 18 (the price will increase then). Additionally, I am also enrolling my dad (who has Type I diabetes) and he will get a discount on his membership and Ainsley will get a $25 credit for "referring" him. What a deal!
When I called to enroll Ainsley, I was happy to learn that Medic Alert just started a KidSmart program for children that is a reduced-price program and contains certain kid-specific features. In total, I paid about $35 for the enrollment fee and bracelet and will need to pay only $10 per year to continue the membership until Ainsley turns 18 (the price will increase then). Additionally, I am also enrolling my dad (who has Type I diabetes) and he will get a discount on his membership and Ainsley will get a $25 credit for "referring" him. What a deal!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Easy chocolate chip brownie mini-cakes with strawberry sauce
We are going to a friend's house today for dinner (you know who you are!) and I volunteered to bring the dessert. I wanted to try something different, but was in a lazy mood, so I decided to do something using the Cherrybrook Kitchen chocolate chip brownie mix that was in my pantry. I made the batter and put it in a cupcake pan with cupcake liners (1 box of the mix makes 12 brownie cupcakes). After I took the brownie cupcakes out of the oven (I baked them at 350 for about 18 minutes), I cooled them on a wire rack.
While the brownies were baking, I made the sauce from a recipe I saw on the Fat-free Vegan blog: cut up a pint of strawberries (excluding the stems, of course!) and cook them in a saucepan with 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tbsp cornstarch until the mixture is boiling and forms a sauce.
After the brownie cupcakes are cool, take the paper wrappers off and place each one on its own plate. Spoon sauce on top. Voila - fancy-looking dessert in no time!
While the brownies were baking, I made the sauce from a recipe I saw on the Fat-free Vegan blog: cut up a pint of strawberries (excluding the stems, of course!) and cook them in a saucepan with 1/4 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, and 2 tbsp cornstarch until the mixture is boiling and forms a sauce.
After the brownie cupcakes are cool, take the paper wrappers off and place each one on its own plate. Spoon sauce on top. Voila - fancy-looking dessert in no time!
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Missing Reese's peanut butter cups? Here's your solution ...
Before Ainsley was diagnosed with allergies to (among other things) milk and peanuts, my favorite candy was, hands-down, Reese's peanut butter cups. In fact, I loved any combination of chocolate and peanut butter, including chocolate/peanut-butter fudge and ice-cream and chocolate pudding with peanut butter mixed in. Since Ainsley's diagnosis, out of "protest" (to peanuts? To food allergies? I'm not sure) I have not eaten a Reese's peanut butter cup since ... and I've missed them.
Yesterday I unexpectedly found a recipe for my new favorite candy ... homemade no-bake soy butter & chocolate bars that (if memory serves) taste nearly identical to Reese's. It was on a box of Kroger chocolate graham crackers that I recently bought. Of course, the recipe calls for peanut butter but I immediately thought about substituting soy butter. We gave it a try, and let me tell you, the entire family is in love with the result. Without further ado, I bring you my version of soy butter & chocolate heaven.
Dairy-free, peanut-free (and vegan) soy butter & chocolate candy (compare to Reese's peanut butter cups)
1/2 cup safe chocolate graham crackers or Oreos, crushed into crumbs
1/2 jar (about 7 oz) soy butter or sunbutter
6 tbsp dairy-free margarine, softened (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 lb powdered sugar
1 cup safe chocolate chips (such as Kroger's FMV brand or Enjoy Life)
To make graham cracker or Oreo crumbs, place crackers/cookies in plastic ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin. Using electric mixer, cream together soy butter/sunbutter and margarine until soft and smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and cracker/cookie crumbs. Beat until well-blended and moist. If mixture looks dry (if it looks like breadcrumbs instead of batter), add 1-2 tsp. of water to bring it together and make it smooth and creamy. Spread mixture in 9x9 pan. Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave (heat for 1 min., stir, heat for 30 sec., stir, etc. until completely melted). If melted chocolate is too thick to spread easily, thin with ~1 tbsp of soy milk. Pour chocolate over soy butter/sunbutter butter mixture and spread in a layer over the mixture with a spatula or spoon. Refrigerate 3 or 4 hours or until set. Cut into small bars and refrigerate any leftovers.
Yesterday I unexpectedly found a recipe for my new favorite candy ... homemade no-bake soy butter & chocolate bars that (if memory serves) taste nearly identical to Reese's. It was on a box of Kroger chocolate graham crackers that I recently bought. Of course, the recipe calls for peanut butter but I immediately thought about substituting soy butter. We gave it a try, and let me tell you, the entire family is in love with the result. Without further ado, I bring you my version of soy butter & chocolate heaven.
Dairy-free, peanut-free (and vegan) soy butter & chocolate candy (compare to Reese's peanut butter cups)
1/2 cup safe chocolate graham crackers or Oreos, crushed into crumbs
1/2 jar (about 7 oz) soy butter or sunbutter
6 tbsp dairy-free margarine, softened (I use Earth Balance)
1/2 lb powdered sugar
1 cup safe chocolate chips (such as Kroger's FMV brand or Enjoy Life)
To make graham cracker or Oreo crumbs, place crackers/cookies in plastic ziploc bag and crush with rolling pin. Using electric mixer, cream together soy butter/sunbutter and margarine until soft and smooth. Beat in powdered sugar and cracker/cookie crumbs. Beat until well-blended and moist. If mixture looks dry (if it looks like breadcrumbs instead of batter), add 1-2 tsp. of water to bring it together and make it smooth and creamy. Spread mixture in 9x9 pan. Melt chocolate chips in a glass bowl in the microwave (heat for 1 min., stir, heat for 30 sec., stir, etc. until completely melted). If melted chocolate is too thick to spread easily, thin with ~1 tbsp of soy milk. Pour chocolate over soy butter/sunbutter butter mixture and spread in a layer over the mixture with a spatula or spoon. Refrigerate 3 or 4 hours or until set. Cut into small bars and refrigerate any leftovers.
* * * *
Some comments: (1) I doubt you really need to add the crushed graham cracker crumbs or Oreos, but since that's what's in the original recipe, and how I prepared it, I included it here. Also, as one reader has pointed out, you could use regular graham crackers instead of chocolate ones. (2) If you had more time, you could also shape the soy butter/sunbutter mixture into balls and coat them in the melted chocolate for a fancier look. (3) This candy would make an awesome mix-in to vanilla soy ice cream. In fact, I might finally buy an ice-cream maker just to make soy ice cream with this in it. (4) As is obvious, this is not a low-calorie treat. But my food-allergic kiddo is as skinny as a beanpole so she could use the extra fat. Now, me, on the other hand ... I have no excuse for how much of this I've eaten in the past 12 hours!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Not our best day
My plan was to post about the vacation we just took and how it went pretty well, especially due to the hotel being very accommodating in giving us a mini-fridge for free and the reception people being very nice in heating up some of Ainsley's food in the staff microwave. But that good experience has been overshadowed by the events of the last night - the day after we returned from vacation - when I had to administer the Epi-Pen for the second time in my poor little 4-year-old's life.
The day started out great. I went to work, the kids had great fun with their new babysitter, and after work I took them to a music class. Driving home from the class, Ainsley noticed (as she always does at this particular intersection) a giant TCBY sign shaped like a yogurt-filled cone. For the first time, I told her that I had heard from the family of another food-allergic child who has the same allergies as her that the sorbet at the TCBY was safe and asked if she'd like to try it. Ainsley immediately got excited and wanted to try the sorbet. I turned the car around and we decided to make a go of it.
When we got into the yogurt shop, I immediately located the owner and asked him about the sorbet and he assured me it had nothing in it that Ainsley was allergic to and that the soft-serve machine that dispensed it was used only for sorbet and not also for yogurt. He showed me the machine and said there was no risk of cross-contamination. I told him that I had been referred there by another food-allergic family and he said, "Oh, yes, the Smiths, they've been coming here for years." That made me feel good. The kid had been eating there for years with no reaction. Everything was gonna be okay. Not so much.
I ordered two kid-sized cups of sorbet (strawberry-kiwi flavored) and watched the owner put the sorbet in two completely clean paper cups. We sat down at one of the tables and began eating. I asked her at least every 30 seconds whether her mouth itched or anything hurt. She repeatedly told me "No Mommy" and kept gobbling up the sorbet.
I began to exhale. Everything was okay. No problem. We'd be able to bring her back again and again and this would be the one ice-cream-type place she could actually eat at - whoo hoo! But my fantasy quickly began to evaporate as she began coughing after finishing the last few bites. Probably just environmental allergies, I thought. As I was buckling her into her car seat for the ride home (after wiping her hands with a wipe to get any residue off that she might have picked up from the table - which had looked very clean - or chair), I noticed some slight red blotches above her upper lip and on one cheek. I thought hopefully, "Maybe it's just coloring from the sorbet," which was red.
Then she told me her throat hurt. Uh oh. That was a new symptom. In all of her reactions, she'd never mentioned that before. It scared me silly because I knew that anything involving the throat could mean her throat was swelling shut. So, even though she had not exhibited any of the other big signs indicative of her previous reactions (vomiting, large patches of hives), I gave her 2 teaspoons of Benadryl and pulled out the Epi-Pen.
I'd like to say I immediately gave her the Epi-Pen, because that's what I'd want anyone to do in this situation, but the truth is I hesitated. As soon as Ainsley saw me pull it out, she began wailing and begging me not to use it. She even lied, telling me "No Mommy, my throat really doesn't hurt!" to get me to put it away. Finally, I had to explain to her, "If your throat really does hurt and I don't give this to you, you could die. So you need to tell me the truth about your throat. Does it hurt or not?" To this she admitted, "Yes, my throat hurts - give me the Epi-Pen!"
I finally got my courage up and shot her with it, patiently counting to 10 before pulling it out of her leg to ensure all the medicine got in her. After getting that over with, I decided I should get her some medical attention in case the Epi-Pen didn't work (even though I had two extra Epi-Pens in my bag, I have read stories of how children needed more than just epinephrine). So I had to decide whether to drive her to the hospital or call the paramedics. Because there was no hospital nearby (the closest was at least 15 minutes away), I did the latter. Thankfully, within 5 minutes the ambulance arrived and two wonderful guys began very sweetly tending to Ainsley -checking her breathing, blood pressure, and pulse - and reassuring her very freaked out mommy that I had done everything right and that because of what I did, she was going to be fine. They even gave her a stuffed dalmation puppy, which has barely left her side since.
While the paramedics were tending to Ainsley, my husband arrived, and was able to hold Leighton, who was completely oblivious to the situation, while I continued to concentrate on Ainsley. After about 30 minutes, we all agreed that Ainsley seemed fine and didn't need to go to the hospital or any further medical attention, so the ambulance left. As soon as it pulled out of the parking lot, though, Ainsley began crying and saying that her throat still hurt and she wanted them to come back. We asked her if it had gotten worse and she said no, but wanted the paramedics to stay with her until it stopped hurting.
Because she had checked out okay, we decided that, in lieu of taking her to a hospital (where they would likely make us wait a long time in the waiting room), we decided to to take her to an after-hours pediatric clinic we have used before where we knew we could get in quickly. We drove there and the kind doctor - who told us he empathized with Ainsley because he was allergic to eggs and beef - checked her and assured us she seemed fine. He told us to give her another dose of Benadryl 4 hours after the first but that we didn't need to do anything else.
After we got home, I watched her for several more minutes and then put her to bed. Dave gave her the Benadryl as directed and, by this morning, she was as chipper as ever and showed no indication that she had endured a massive trauma the previous night.
As is probably obvious from my telling of this experience, we are unsure (a) whether Ainsley actually had an allergic reaction (she had coughing and some red splotches, but that could have been environmental, and the throat hurting could have been because the cold sorbet aggravated it) and (b) if she did, what caused the reaction (Was it the sorbet? Was it something she touched on the table or chair that she got in her mouth? Was it from simply being in a yogurt shop, where milk and nut protein might be present in the air and she breathed it in?). Her symptoms were so different from her previous reactions that I think it might not have been a true reaction, but I know that I did the right thing by giving her the Benadyl and Epi-Pen anyway - when one of the complaints is throat or mouth pain, it could be a life-or-death matter and the safest course is to give the medicine.
Still, I have been beating myself up a fair amount today. Why on earth did I think it was a good idea to take my milk-, egg-, peanut-, and tree-nut-allergic kid into a yogurt shop? To tell you the truth, I had known for over a year about the other child and his mom's recommendation of the sorbet at this place, but had been too afraid to try it with Ainsley. But during our vacation this weekend, Ainsley felt left out when Dave and I and our friends ate certain restaurant foods (e.g., pizza at one place, waffles at another), and so I think I pushed myself to try the TCBY out of guilt - I wanted her to have a treat that normal kids eat because our vacation highlighted so much of what she can't have.
But the TCBY experience reminded me why we must sacrifice Ainsley's emotional well-being to some degree for the sake of ensuring her safety - it's just not worth it to me for her to feel included if that means risking her health like that. It left me a total wreck and Ainsley has some pretty awful memories of her first trip to "the ice-cream store," as she called it. Needless to say, I am not stepping out of our comfort zone again in the foreseeable future.
The day started out great. I went to work, the kids had great fun with their new babysitter, and after work I took them to a music class. Driving home from the class, Ainsley noticed (as she always does at this particular intersection) a giant TCBY sign shaped like a yogurt-filled cone. For the first time, I told her that I had heard from the family of another food-allergic child who has the same allergies as her that the sorbet at the TCBY was safe and asked if she'd like to try it. Ainsley immediately got excited and wanted to try the sorbet. I turned the car around and we decided to make a go of it.
When we got into the yogurt shop, I immediately located the owner and asked him about the sorbet and he assured me it had nothing in it that Ainsley was allergic to and that the soft-serve machine that dispensed it was used only for sorbet and not also for yogurt. He showed me the machine and said there was no risk of cross-contamination. I told him that I had been referred there by another food-allergic family and he said, "Oh, yes, the Smiths, they've been coming here for years." That made me feel good. The kid had been eating there for years with no reaction. Everything was gonna be okay. Not so much.
I ordered two kid-sized cups of sorbet (strawberry-kiwi flavored) and watched the owner put the sorbet in two completely clean paper cups. We sat down at one of the tables and began eating. I asked her at least every 30 seconds whether her mouth itched or anything hurt. She repeatedly told me "No Mommy" and kept gobbling up the sorbet.
I began to exhale. Everything was okay. No problem. We'd be able to bring her back again and again and this would be the one ice-cream-type place she could actually eat at - whoo hoo! But my fantasy quickly began to evaporate as she began coughing after finishing the last few bites. Probably just environmental allergies, I thought. As I was buckling her into her car seat for the ride home (after wiping her hands with a wipe to get any residue off that she might have picked up from the table - which had looked very clean - or chair), I noticed some slight red blotches above her upper lip and on one cheek. I thought hopefully, "Maybe it's just coloring from the sorbet," which was red.
Then she told me her throat hurt. Uh oh. That was a new symptom. In all of her reactions, she'd never mentioned that before. It scared me silly because I knew that anything involving the throat could mean her throat was swelling shut. So, even though she had not exhibited any of the other big signs indicative of her previous reactions (vomiting, large patches of hives), I gave her 2 teaspoons of Benadryl and pulled out the Epi-Pen.
I'd like to say I immediately gave her the Epi-Pen, because that's what I'd want anyone to do in this situation, but the truth is I hesitated. As soon as Ainsley saw me pull it out, she began wailing and begging me not to use it. She even lied, telling me "No Mommy, my throat really doesn't hurt!" to get me to put it away. Finally, I had to explain to her, "If your throat really does hurt and I don't give this to you, you could die. So you need to tell me the truth about your throat. Does it hurt or not?" To this she admitted, "Yes, my throat hurts - give me the Epi-Pen!"
I finally got my courage up and shot her with it, patiently counting to 10 before pulling it out of her leg to ensure all the medicine got in her. After getting that over with, I decided I should get her some medical attention in case the Epi-Pen didn't work (even though I had two extra Epi-Pens in my bag, I have read stories of how children needed more than just epinephrine). So I had to decide whether to drive her to the hospital or call the paramedics. Because there was no hospital nearby (the closest was at least 15 minutes away), I did the latter. Thankfully, within 5 minutes the ambulance arrived and two wonderful guys began very sweetly tending to Ainsley -checking her breathing, blood pressure, and pulse - and reassuring her very freaked out mommy that I had done everything right and that because of what I did, she was going to be fine. They even gave her a stuffed dalmation puppy, which has barely left her side since.
While the paramedics were tending to Ainsley, my husband arrived, and was able to hold Leighton, who was completely oblivious to the situation, while I continued to concentrate on Ainsley. After about 30 minutes, we all agreed that Ainsley seemed fine and didn't need to go to the hospital or any further medical attention, so the ambulance left. As soon as it pulled out of the parking lot, though, Ainsley began crying and saying that her throat still hurt and she wanted them to come back. We asked her if it had gotten worse and she said no, but wanted the paramedics to stay with her until it stopped hurting.
Because she had checked out okay, we decided that, in lieu of taking her to a hospital (where they would likely make us wait a long time in the waiting room), we decided to to take her to an after-hours pediatric clinic we have used before where we knew we could get in quickly. We drove there and the kind doctor - who told us he empathized with Ainsley because he was allergic to eggs and beef - checked her and assured us she seemed fine. He told us to give her another dose of Benadryl 4 hours after the first but that we didn't need to do anything else.
After we got home, I watched her for several more minutes and then put her to bed. Dave gave her the Benadryl as directed and, by this morning, she was as chipper as ever and showed no indication that she had endured a massive trauma the previous night.
As is probably obvious from my telling of this experience, we are unsure (a) whether Ainsley actually had an allergic reaction (she had coughing and some red splotches, but that could have been environmental, and the throat hurting could have been because the cold sorbet aggravated it) and (b) if she did, what caused the reaction (Was it the sorbet? Was it something she touched on the table or chair that she got in her mouth? Was it from simply being in a yogurt shop, where milk and nut protein might be present in the air and she breathed it in?). Her symptoms were so different from her previous reactions that I think it might not have been a true reaction, but I know that I did the right thing by giving her the Benadyl and Epi-Pen anyway - when one of the complaints is throat or mouth pain, it could be a life-or-death matter and the safest course is to give the medicine.
Still, I have been beating myself up a fair amount today. Why on earth did I think it was a good idea to take my milk-, egg-, peanut-, and tree-nut-allergic kid into a yogurt shop? To tell you the truth, I had known for over a year about the other child and his mom's recommendation of the sorbet at this place, but had been too afraid to try it with Ainsley. But during our vacation this weekend, Ainsley felt left out when Dave and I and our friends ate certain restaurant foods (e.g., pizza at one place, waffles at another), and so I think I pushed myself to try the TCBY out of guilt - I wanted her to have a treat that normal kids eat because our vacation highlighted so much of what she can't have.
But the TCBY experience reminded me why we must sacrifice Ainsley's emotional well-being to some degree for the sake of ensuring her safety - it's just not worth it to me for her to feel included if that means risking her health like that. It left me a total wreck and Ainsley has some pretty awful memories of her first trip to "the ice-cream store," as she called it. Needless to say, I am not stepping out of our comfort zone again in the foreseeable future.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
