A Great Day with a Blip

Yesterday was a wonderful day. Sophie is feeling so much better, and was all smiles, giggles and full of energy. Her appetite is back, and it was so nice to watch her gobble down her meals. She was playing with all of her toys, going from one thing to another excitedly. It did our hearts so much good to see her shining eyes back again. I realized that we hadn't laughed in quite awhile, and it felt really good for all of us all to feel good.

Brett went to the doctor (which is main news headlines as he hasn't been in 15 years!) and found out he has a sinus infection and was given antibiotics. The doctor agreed to take a peek at Soph's ears and she said they are definitely red, but not in need of antibiotics right now. I felt relieved to hear that good news.

We spent the rest of the day doing some Christmas preparations, listening to Christmas music, and enjoying being together. Playing with our girl. A great day.

I hate to even write this--part of me just wants to end the post right there. Here's the blip. Sophie had a great dinner, and was covered with food, so we decided to pop her in the tub straight from dinner. While in the tub I noticed she had a few hives on her bum. I called Brett down to take a look. By the time he came down she had some hives on her legs, and her legs were very red. We took her out of the bath, and by the time she was at her changetable her two legs were completely covered with huge blotchy hives and were bright red. From her waist to her ankles it looked like she had been burned with acid or something. It was terrifying. Every moment it seemed to be getting worse. And it spread so quickly. I ran upstairs and got her epipen, and Brett and I frantically decided what to do. When do we give her the epipen? At what point do we call 9-1-1? Should we drive to the hospital? We gave her some benedryl, which my sister had given us in a "3am emergency kit"....let me tell you, the best gift ever. We called telehealth, and she walked us through things.

Through it all Sophie was completely unaffected. I was running around the house like a chicken with my head cut off, and Soph was her cheerful, happy self. Thankfully the hives went away very quickly. About 10 minutes and all evidence was gone.

We kept Sophie up later than usual to monitor her, and I checked on her lots and lots before bed. She was sleeping like a little angel. She slept through the night again, and had no hives this morning.

We think the culprit was arrowroot cookies. There is one ingredient "soya lecithin" which means eggs. Pretty obvious isn't it!! When I saw soya I assumed that it was okay. We called Kraft Canada this morning and they couldn't confirm it, but were 85% sure that even soya lecithin contains egg. Needless to say those arrowroots are getting launched from our house at mach speed.

Today is a new day. I'm trying desperately to stay positive. Thank goodness we could pinpoint the allergen. We learned an important lesson the hard way. It has made us realize the severity and the diligence that we need to avoid this allergy. And we will be keeping her epipen close at hand at all times.

And as usual, Sophie is still smiling. And at the end of the day, that's all we need.