Allergies. Boo.

So we had our first real actual scary allergy incident tonight.  But it wasn't from something we expected: egg, wheat, or peanut. 

Paul and I were sharing a tasty snack of hummus and tortilla chips.  About 10 minutes in he said he had a tummy ache.  The next hour was pretty scary, but in a slow-motion kind of way.  He had some hives but not many, his lip swelled up, but not too bad, and he was coughing just a little bit.  Then he threw up. 

We gave him benadryl and everything calmed down by the time we got through to the on-call allergy doctor so we didn't give him the Epipen. 

The next week I did a lot of learning and talking to different people about this and determined that the reaction was an anaphylaxis reaction.  This is the kind that can lead to anaphylactic shock, which is the really bad type of reaction that we never want to experience.  This scary episode was a big eye opener for us that these food allergies are serious and need to be taken that way.  We will never again be leaving the house without the Epipen and next time, I won't hesitate to use it. 

At the follow-up with allergist we learned that Paul is allergic to sesame as well.  He's had sesame before, but didn't react.  The hummus had tahini which is concentrated sesame paste and was enough to trigger a reaction.  We're thankful that the reaction wasn't any worse...

This little dude is a trooper and amazes me all the time.  He has a good understanding about Paul Safe foods and uses caution when we're out and about to stay safe.  At the doctor he doesn't cry or whine and when I tell him to look away for the blood draw, he tells me he wants to watch so he can see what they're doing (even when they miss the vein 3 times).  I am so impressed and feel so lucky to have such an amazing little boy who takes this serious condition in stride and doesn't let it get him down.