Update on Stella

[pne]

Update 20:30: Stella came back home again about half an hour ago.

She was a bit wobbly and said her circulation was still iffy, and the doctors would have preferred to keep her there overnight, but she signed a waiver and took a taxi home. (She told Amy it's because she didn't want her to be alone.) She had something to eat and wants to see how she feels then.

She's cuddling in Amy's bed with her right now.

She said the doctors suggested she get an emergency packet to keep with her in case something similar happens in the future (presumably with an epi-pen or something similar).

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20:45: She said that after she had eaten the peanut thing, her tongue felt as if it had swollen up. She tried drinking some water and brushing her teeth to see whether that would make it go away, but it didn't. And when her knees started feeling wobbly, she went upstairs to the neighbours.

They called the ambulance, and the medics(?) took her blood pressure and said they'd prefer to take her to hospital, where she spent a while on a gurney until a doctor had time for her.

An ENT doctor looked at her throat but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. They gave her some cortisone and something else and said they'd be back a bit later. When they came back to check up on her, she said that she didn't feel any different, and they said they'd like to keep her overnight.

She said her throat felt fine again and it was just her circulation which was still down, and the doctor said she could go home if she insisted but only if she signed the waiver, which she did.

She's still wobbly and has now gone to bed. But the worst seems to be over. And she'll see a doctor about getting an epi-pen or whatever so the next time will, hopefully, not be as frightening.

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Thank you all for your thoughts.

Comments

[dampscribbler.livejournal.com]

How awful. :( I'm glad she's home. Hope you all get some rest tonight.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Kristi.

[arthur-sc-king.livejournal.com]

Scary stuff. Thank heavens she's (mostly) OK now.

My wife was stung by a wasp/bee/hornet/something last summer, and her whole arm swelled up. She didn't get into breathing problems or anything, but our doctor said "Next one could be a lot worse." She has 2 EpiPens now, one at home and one to take with her when she goes out.

It might also be a very good idea to have some good anti-histamines in the house and in her purse. Perhaps your pharmacist/chemist can recommend one. That way, if she feels something coming on, but it might not be bad enough for the EpiPen, she can pop some antihistamines and they might be enough to get her back to normal.

I only noticed last year or so that when I eat almonds, I get itchy Eustachian tubes. (Weird, eh?) So now I've backed off of them; however, the reaction is so minor that all I do if I forget and eat some anyway is to take 25-50 mg of diphenhydramine to make the itch go away.

[psitticism.livejournal.com]

Hope she continues to improve and you don't have any more episodes like this. It definitely doesn't hurt to carry an epi-pen or whatever other medicine she needs. I have pretty severe animal allergies, and that plastic bag o'remedies (medicines, inhalers, etc.) that my mom forced me to drag with me everywhere I went as a kid saved my life on a number of occasions. I hope she won't have a need for it, though.

[leighbug]

I'm glad she's doing better.

[volantwish]

Eek! I'm so glad she's doing alright.

[pleiades829.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, how scary! I'm so glad that she's home safe. Had she had problems with peanuts before?

[pne.livejournal.com]

No, not that I can recall at all! That made this all the more unexpected.

She had been diagnosed with fairly severe hazelnut allergies, but that was about it. (And hazelnuts and peanuts aren't even related, AFAIK.)

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear she's back home and feeling a bit better!:)

[eva]

Wow, I just read up on what happened... scary, scary thing. I remember when I was a kid and they pulled me out of swimming class to tell me my mother was in hospital. She had been stung by a bee (and she had had no idea she was allergic) and went into a severe allergic shock, complete with not getting any air. Later, they said that if my dad had waited for the ambulance instead of just throwing her in the car and driving her to the hospital himself (which is what he did), she might not have made it.

I'm glad that Stella is better!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Yes, though she just called and said her circulation is still not too good, so perhaps someone else will have to pick up Amy from kindergarten today (or she'll have to stay until this afternoon when I finish work).

Let's hope she keeps on recovering.

[entirelysonja.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to hear that Stella is OK, and it's wonderful that the neighbors were able to care for Amy during this crisis!