This summer, Preston ate a handful of cashews. Immediately after, he complained of his mouth hurting and he developed some hives around his mouth. He tried taking a drink and brushing his teeth to get the taste out. Honestly, I didn't think much of it because sometimes he will complain about his mouth hurting when eating, or it was a little bit of drama, boys can be dramatic too. We went outside afterwards and Preston said his body felt funny. So I told him to go inside and rest for a while. About 30-45 minutes later I went in the house and asked him how he was. I could not believe what I saw.
Preston was sitting in the chair with a box of Kleenex in his hands. He was sneezing and his nose was running profusely. His poor little face was so red and swollen, his eyes were slant. I said, "Get in the car, you are going to the ER." I gave Stella to Savanah and grabbed my purse and left.
As soon as we walked in they whisked us back to a room where there were a couple doctors and a nurse who started to treat him right away. He was given injections of steroids a few times and some benadryl and a type of blocker over the four hours we were there. He was given oral steroids to take home as well as an EPI pen for an emergency and by the second day the swelling went down.
I know Jason's mom felt bad for bringing the cashews over but I was thankful to discover this allergy when he was at home rather than at school or a friend's house. We proceeded to have more allergy testing after talking to the allergist. It was a simple test, they drew blood and were able to test for specific allergies in the lab. So it was easy for Preston, unlike his previous allergy testing (this reminds me of a story I will share next time). He did not have food allergy testing before. The report came back highly positive for cashews and walnuts.
We were told that he can't eat anything with those ingredients, even if you take them out, there can still be traces of the nuts. If he has another reaction, it could be worse because now that he had exposure, his body will start fighting the allergen more quickly. So this is where the Epi comes into play. Preston knows how to use this shot in an emergency. It came with a practice pen for him to try out which he wanted to show everyone how to use it.