Thursday, June 14, 2007

Stupid genetics...

So Leia was with my parents, and she ate a small amount of cereal that had peanut butter in it. (It was my nephew's Reeses Puffs...don't get me started on the fact that he was eating *that*, but anyway...) She develped hives and later started coughing and wheezing pretty badly. After a few phone calls, my father rushed her to the doctors office and she ended up needing an adrenaline shot. Ugh. So now we need to carry an epi-pen and join the ranks of parents with a peanut-allergic child. I am thankful that she does *not* get the "throat closes up and you die" kind of reaction, but it is still scary. I swear, she inherited all of her daddy's genetic anomalies. (He is not allergic to peanuts in particular, but is definitely the allergic type, and toted around his own epi-pen for years.) She even has his feet. Poor child.

7 comments:

Roe said...

Oh no! I'm glad she's okay - what a way to find out about a food allergy; I remember being a wreck about something like that surfacing in the boys.

Linda said...

Jesus, thank God she is ok. What is an epi-pen? Is that like a mini adreneline shot?

Roe said...

I believe it's epinephrine, which helps treat life-threatening allergic reactions. Mike is deathly allergic to strawberries, and yet I've always been surprised he's never carried one around.

Lore said...

It's a dose of epinephirne, which is the same thing as an adrenaline shot, so you're both right.

It is surprising that Mike doesn't carry one when he has such a bad allergy...but then, I can imagine strawberries being somewhat easier to avoid than peanuts, especially when you're an adult, kwim? He is used to avoiding anything even remotely questionable by now, I'm sure.

Stacey said...

The only thing I've ever had a severe reaction to has been shellfish as I got older. And I never needed an epi-pen despite being allergic on some level to most of the known universe.

I'm so glad everything went ok, that must have been terrifying.

Roe said...

Yep, if there's red involved, he doesn't take chances. He is also horribly allergic to roses (not deathly, but eyes watering, nose running, it's a mess) - and I read one day in a smoothie book, of all places, that strawberries are members of the rose family. So it bizarrely fits. You had the see the look on the florist's face that did my wedding flowers when I told her I couldn't have roses in the wedding, hahaha...

Stacey said...

There are so many weird cross allergies, I'm allergic to raw potatoes because they cross react to something else I'm allergic to. Trees or something...

I bet the florist was classic... I can just picture it... "no roses?"