I remember when I was younger, an allergy attack was one of the things I feared the most because I didn’t know when it will happen. I always had about 2 pieces of allergy medicine (celestamine) in my wallet, just in case it happens. Thankfully, I never had an allergy attack when I was out of the house.
Last night, we had an allergy scare. After dinner, I noticed Kailee scratching her tummy while we were watching Agent Oso on TV. She was scratching and scratching – I then noticed that her tummy had a LOT of rashes. I assumed that this was her normal rashes (Kailee has skin asthma/eczema so rashes were a norm to us once in a while) and since we were on maintenance antihistamine – I instructed Yaya to give her an early dose of it. After giving Kailee the antihistamine, I left the room and took a bath. When I came back, I was surprised to see that the rashes has spread to her face and legs! These rashes were big red patches and they were spreading out and growing by the minute! When my Panget saw Kailee he was super alarmed! He immediately looked at her closely and said for us to go to the ER to have her checked. We were concerned that her facial rashes might swell and will cause her to have a hard time breathing.
We then drove to St. Luke’s QC, surprisingly there were a few people in the ER. We were immediately attended by the nurses (or I think they were). First I filled out Kailee’s information sheet, the nurses then weighed her (they had to weigh her twice because the nurse got her weight wrong – I insisted for them to weigh her again. The (male) nurse had a hard time subtracting the figures! (Anobear moment!) After this, the nurse got her temperature, by this time Kailee was getting irritated maybe because of the strangers she was seeing or maybe because the nurse was touching her ears – she has issues with people holding or touching her ears (Hahaha!) We were then led to the ‘Pedia’ department where we were told to put Kailee in their makeshift crib beds. I saw that there were about 4 doctors seated there – but it seemed like they were waiting for something. There were some other white robed people hidden in the booth behind the table where the doctors were seated. Two minutes passed before we were attended by these doctors. They took a look at Kailee – and by instinct, without them asking I told them what had happened (I think I was used to the method of Dr. Paguio, that I needed to tell him step by step what happened and why) they were actually silenced and told me to wait. They then went back to their table opened a book and began reading. This prompted me to tell my Panget that these doctors had no clue what do to. Since I was really worried, I called our general pedia Dr. Joy Ty-Sy, it just so happens that it was her birthday yesterday, so when she answered her phone, I was glad and greeted her immediately and then told her my concern. She was nice enough to talk to the doctors in the ER. Dr. Joy then told me that the ER doctors will give Kailee a dose of oral Prednisone to help subside the allergic reaction, and that we needed to wait until it subsides before we go home – that if the allergy doesn’t subside, we had to go to Cardinal Santos Medical Center to be admitted. And so I agreed to the oral Prednisone – the first shot the male nurse gave Kailee, she threw it all up – we then gave it again, and she took it with some struggle. We had to wait until the rashes subsided, so while waiting – Kailee did a show for everyone in the Pedia department. She danced while I sang and smiled to most everyone – she was really very friendly to the doctors and nurses. After 30 minutes, we saw improvements with the rashes, those in her face were beginning to disappear. After an hour, one of the doctors gave us the green light to go home. We were given instructions on what to do in case it happens again. We were also told by the doctors that the rashes will appear and disappear, that we don’t need to be alarmed because it was normal. Good thing Kailee has a health card – we didn’t need to pay for anything, had she didn’t have one – we would have paid at least three thousand pesos!
When we got home, Kailee’s rashes seemed a lot worse, but since the doctor in the ER said that it was normal – we just had to pacify Kailee. We knew that she was hungry – but she was refusing to drink breastmilk – she was crying when she saw the bottle being offered to her. Yaya then decided to give her a bath and since we knew she was sleepy, Yaya tried to put her to sleep. But Kailee was squirmy, Yaya assumed that she was hungry and tried to offer her the bottle – which Kailee took willingly. After drinking half the bottle’s content – she slept soundy. My, when you see Kailee asleep with a LOT of red patches in her skin – my, it was heartbreaking. The rashes looked so bad, but since Kailee fell asleep, that for me meant that she wasn’t feeling the itchiness anymore. I informed yaya that we will be visiting our pedia derma in the morning.
When I woke up, Kailee was already awake and dressed – there were NO TRACES of the rashes at all! She seemed to be her normal self already. When it was our turn to see Dr. Paguio – he asked me to relay what had happened step by step. So this is what I told him (sorry, very detailed!)
At 3PM – Kailee drank formula, Enfalac (I had to tell him this because it was only the 2nd day of Kailee taking formula)
At 6PM – Kailee took some fried dory fish that my Panget and I had for dinner.
At 6:30PM – Kailee was scratching her tummy while watching Agent Oso, I assumed it was rashes from the heat since we weren’t in an airconditioned room
At 7PM – Kailee was being fed formula then big red patches were appearing on her tummy and face
At 7:30PM – My Panget decided to bring her to the ER
I told Dr. Paguio that the doctors at the ER gave Kailee a dose of oral Prednisone. He said that, that is usually the SOP to bring down the rashes. He also said the the culprit might be the fish, he told me that Dory is not the cleanest fish! We have to be wary on what we give Kailee since she is very sensitive. We also have to be careful on what to give Kailee – we have to make sure that the food that we serve her is clean – meaning we know that it was prepared by clean utensils and in a clean environment, that if we were to eat in a restaurant – we need to be sure that the facilities are clean. He said that it could be anything – let’s say the ingredients were all clean but the preparation of the dish wasn’t – then it might be the cause. He also said that the triggers could be anything – and that if the allergy happens again – to give an antihistamine but if it doesn’t subside – to immediately proceed to the ER. He said that the most important thing to look out for was the swelling at the eyes and the lips – because when it happens, it might cause Kailee to have a hard time breathing.
As a precaution because we were going to Subic for the Holy Week, I asked what we could give her in case this happens again. He said to give just one dose of Prednisone if it was really bad. He also reminded us to keep Kailee in a cool place – so that her rashes won’t break out.
So far, so good. We have switched her formula to Nan HA and so far she has been taking it really well. She has adjusted to taking formula now, which is good because I need to stop pumping.
Hay! Ang hirap pala maging nanay!!
I just saw your post now. Grabe pala ang allergy ni Kailee! Glad she's better now.