We were finally able to bring Noah home last night. Monday night was extremely long. By 9:00 Monday morning I just wanted to cry! Nate and I slept about 2 hours total, so we were exhausted. He just happens to be working on a building at the University of Chicago, so he went to work in the morning. They gave Noah his Benadryl and off he went. He ran up and down the halls and they let him play with the toys in the lobby area on his floor. He drank a lot, but didn't really eat so I didn't even have a few minutes of him sitting in order to eat.
The team of doctors came around to do rounds and the attending smiled at me and said, "I remember you!" She was the pediatrician who saw Reese at 5 weeks old when he was in the hospital. That is why we go to Comer. The staff is incredible. She used Noah as a teaching moment because sometimes anaphylaxis looks like an asthma attack. That's exactly what I thought was happening. She also used him as a teaching moment because Benadryl makes him hyper instead of tired. Somehow our boys always ended up being used as a teaching moment for medical students and residents. Glad we can be helpful! They advised us to get rid of anything nut-related in our house and none of us can even have peanut butter again. I was pretty bummed. They said that this would be a lifelong allergy that we will have to learn how to manage. The attending doctor, Dr. Park, came by later to talk to me alone. She said with this severe of an allergy we can't be too careful. Next time it could be much worse. We have to educate everyone he comes into contact with about the severity and the steps that need to be taken in case it does happen. So for now he can't even be in the church nursery. We need to make everyone aware first. She gave us the okay to take him downstairs to their giant play room. He played like crazy for about an hour. He had such a great time. I took him back up and forced him to sit down long enough to sleep after that. We had to wait to hear back from the allergist about what to do next. Finally he called back and said take blood and send him home. We got the blood drawn and at 5:00 we were discharged. We had to go to the pharmacy right away to get his epipen so that we have it in case of emergency. We finally got home a little before 7:00. It took until about 9:00 to get them settled and to sleep. I don't even remember laying down to go to sleep. I just fell into bed with Nate already having fallen asleep. Noah slept great all night. It was really hard to not go in and check on him constantly.
Today my mom came and helped me go through every bit of food in the house. We didn't have to get rid of quite as much as I thought, but there were some surprises. We can no longer buy bread or buns at Aldi because they're manufactured along with snacks that contain nuts. There is a lot of learning to do and a lot of questions to ask. We see an allergist on the 19th to discuss the plan of action and do some allergy testing. The Dr. is from Comer, but we have to see him at La Rabida hospital in Chicago. They also partner with Children's Memorial (now Lurie). It's a specialty hospital, so I'm sure we'll be in the best hands possible. Dr. Wolf is the allergist we are seeing. He is the chief of allergy and immunology at U of C as well. I am so incredibly thankful that we live close to such amazing hospitals. What an unbelievable blessing!
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