Nutty Mishaps

by Amy

As I shared before, our time at this conference has been really great. But, we have had a few mishaps as well. When your kids have nut allergies, it’s always a risky thing to leave them with someone else while they eat. This is why we take Savannah to her kindergarten after breakfast and pick her up before lunch. It’s not worth the risk…. But, I didn’t have that option here. My kids were fed lunch and two snacks (morning and afternoon) while they were at childcare, aka VBS. I explained to the workers in both classes our kids were in that they were allergic to all kinds of nuts. I packed snacks in their bags, as a back-up in case a nutty snack was provided. And, I also left the epi-pin. Each day, as I dropped off the kids, I reminded their teachers of the allergy. (I had also filled out paperwork three months ago, so they could expect and plan for my kids’ allergies as they cared for them for eleven days.)

Well, on Tuesday, I got paged. So, I hurried to the nursery to find that Alex’s teachers had accidentally given him a muffin with peanuts (or some kind of nut) and he ate half of it before they remembered his allergy. After picking up Alex, I checked on Savannah. Thankfully, she looked carefully at the muffin given to her and noticed the nuts, so she ate the fruit snack in her backpack instead. In the past, when Alex or Savannah had exposure to nuts, they would vomit about 2-3 hours later. We expected the same this time. But, within half an hour, Alex began to complain of his tummy hurting, and became really lethargic. He vomited twice and still seemed really weak. So, I took him to the clinic. (We have a make-shift clinic and pharmacy in our hotel staffed with volunteer US doctors and nurses 24/7 while we are here! What a huge blessing!) After giving him Benadryl and watching him for about 20 minutes as he slept in my arms, they sent me home to put him down. But, after about 10 minutes, he started coughing, threw up again, and began wheezing. His breathing became rapid, so we went back to the clinic. There he was given a steroid and albuterol breathing treatment. The exposure to nuts had basically caused an asthma attack, as well as a rash on his back and stomach and an immediate flaring of his eczema. This was by far his worst reaction ever! He’s still on daily medication as a result of it. His VBS teachers felt horrible. I am thankful that they called me right away, and that he could get good medical attention here in our hotel. And, most importantly I praise the Lord for guarding his little life.

Later in the week, Savannah ate two bites of a cookie that caused her to vomit. We assume it either had nuts in it or was contaminated by nuts. Her teacher tried it first and said it should be fine for her to eat….

We have been in contact with the guy in charge of this conference are trying to get a nut-free “VBS” next year. We’ll see….