Three in Tennessee testing

Ok, so in a previous post I said that Libby's dog tag was the best $6 we ever spent after she decided to venture away from home for 20 minutes. Well, tonight I decided that Matt's epi-pen was the best $120 we ever spent.

Matt had another severe allergic reaction resulting in anaphylactic shock. We ate dinner at someone's house and then as we were leaving Matt decided he felt funny. Tingling lips, hives starting to form, difficultly breathing, etc...I just happened to have his epi-pen in my purse, but he didn't want to administer it yet, so we headed for the ER. We got there and I made Matt go sit in the restroom in case we had a repeat of his previous allergic reactions - like in Fremont, NE when there was some major fainting and falling into a children's waiting area of the ER AND here in town when there was some major, major puking in a Kroger grocery store. Both were NOT positive experiences in our life.

When this kind of thing happens I become quite assertive(bossy). I told the ER lady (twice) that they needed to send someone to get Matt (pronto) or they were going to have a major issue on their hands and they were going to need to call for "clean up in aisle 14". Oh wait, that was at Kroger.

Anyway, while I was being all assertive, Matt gave himself his epi-shot. I am SO, SO proud of him. For anyone that knows Matt at all, you know that needles are NOT his thing. That is what usually causes some fainting. Anyway, they got him and put him in a little triage area and gave him some fluids. They had him lay there for about an hour so the epinephrine could do its thing. Then they gave him a bunch of antihistamines and steroids and he dozed off pretty quickly. This time, all the quick thinking (getting to the hospital ASAP, the epi-pen and my new found assertiveness) helped this time to not be nearly as awful as the previous times. It was awful, but not as awful.

The doctor, who looked like Matt's dad, told Matt to stay away from Italian food - forever. :) I know that food allergies are very difficult to diagnose. This one seems to be pretty obscure, but we are going to call our friend for an ingredients list and see if we can narrow it down.

So, after a traumatic night, Matt is in bed sleeping and will need to sleep off the "drugs" tomorrow, but should be back on his feet soon! The other times this happened I stayed awake all night watching him breathe just to make sure he was ok. Tonight I'm checking on him periodically, but trying to just calm down and remember how incredibly grateful I am for God's healing and the peace He gives us in times of uncertainty. I know God was/is with us!

So...that's my story of the best $120 we ever spent!