A new twist in the road...

Above is Ben's new BFF (best friend forever) an Epi-pen

Lastnight, I took the kids to the firehouse for their Friday night Lentin Fish Fry. We go every year during lent, usueally several times. It is big treat for the kids who LOVE, LOVE, LOVE anything to do with the firehouse and also LOVE the fish dinners!

Just about the time we were finishing up dinner, I look across the table at Ben and his face is all blotchy. After looking closer, I realize that his eyes looks puffy and his ears are bright red and swollen. I quickly grabbed one of the EMT's who was manning the take out counter and as soon as he looked at Ben he turned to one of the other EMT's and said, "dispatch the ambulance!" He looked at me and said " Vicki, he is having an anaphylactic reaction to the fish, we need to get him to the ER"

I had David and Caroline with me (Dave and Ryan were at a Football Conference lastnight), so I couldn't ride with them in the ambulance, Thank God Alex is a member of the Fire Department and we know everyone there. One of Alex's good friends Mom who is an EMT offered to ride with Ben. Ben knows her well and I felt good knowing that Ben would be in good hands until I could get to the hospital. I quickly gathered up David and Caroline up, grabbed the "to go" meals I had ordered for Alex and Aric who are home with rotten colds, and headed out the door. I watched Ben get loaded into the ambulance and then I took off to go drop the kids at home so I could head to the hospital.

The ambulance left and met up with a medic from American Ambulance in route beacuse they were afraid he would need to have a breathing tube put in because he was swelling up so bad.

I got to the hospital just after the ambulance did, and I couldn't believe how red and swollen Ben looked. They had given him a shot of epinephrine, & steroids and he had an IV in place... the IV amazed me and I actually hugged the very suprised Medic because Ben's vein access is so bad that it has literally taken hours before to gain access.

We got to hang out in the ER for several hours while Ben's color slowly returned to a more normal shade, his heart rate came down from 180 beats a minute to a more reasonable rate of 120-130, and to make sure that once the first round of meds started to wear off that he would 't have a relapse. They gave him a second dose of stweroids before we left to go home and a prescription for an epi-pen (Shown above.)

Ben is no worse for the wear this morning and has been repeating " No More Fish Fry!!!" all morning & showing off the stuffed bear he got in the ambulance. I have a call into his pediatrician this morning to see what the next step is.. I am assuming formal testing is in order. Ben had a reaction 2 weeks ago that I didn't really think anything of at the time but now realize that it was a reaction to latex. He was at a friends birthday party and they had latex balloons at the party. The kids were hitting eachother with the balloons just playing around at the end of the party.. as we were going home a short time later, Ben had red marks on his face, when I got him home he also had red marks on his neck and chest so I gave him some benidryl and he seemed fine after that. The Dr. in the ER lastnight now tells me that reactions like this can be progressive and the next one could be much worse than the one he just had, so we need to find out what his triggers are and carry an epi-pen at all times.

I told Dave lastnight when we got home, that it's been a long time since I have had a "2 hospital day" earlier in the day I had David at U-Conn Medical Center just for an evaluation in the orthodontic clinic.... no big deal... but it was 2 hospitals in one day! Anyone who know us, knows that there was a point in time when a "2 hospital day" was a common thing!

So a BIG Thank you to everyone at Gradner Lake Fire Co. for their dedication and quick response... We have kept you all on your toes over the years with our kids and their antics... David has been transported several times to the hospital for respiratory issues when he was a baby, Ben was the first person ever to use the helocopter pad at Gardner Lake when he was 15 months old and had a seizure that lasted 10+ minutes, David was airlifted from the pad 4 years ago after he was burned... I wonder if we get frequent flyer miles??

Here's hoping that the rest of February vacation is uneventful!!!

~Vicki~