Anaphylactic shock...as experienced by my daughter Sarah!

Sunday night about 7.30pm I received a phone call no parent wants to receive. It was my eldest daughter Sarah, who is allergic to peanuts, telling me she had eaten something with peanut in and was having an allergic reaction but she was telling me she couldn't breathe....

I told her not to panic (easy for me to say!) and to drink water and to get her friends to ring an ambulance. I told her I'd be with her as soon as I could...she was about 3 miles away in another town.
I grabbed my coat and bag and phone and headed out to the car, got in the car and then had to get out again...'What about anti- histamine tablets and a bottle of water?' I heard in my head. So, I rushed back inside and grabbed them then got back in the car.

Sarah has always had a mild allergy to peanuts ever since she was a toddler. She was eating peanut butter on toast and had only had a mouthful when her lips started to swell and her face went blotchy, Straight away I saw she was having a reaction so took the toast away. Thankfully it never got any worse than that and we avoided peanuts from then on. She has mistakenly eaten things which may have been cooked in peanut oil  or had peanuts in since then and had similar, mild reactions.
And so when she rang I thought this was going to be a similar episode...how wrong I was!

I knew it was serious because she said she couldn't breathe properly. I was on the road for about 7 minutes...all the way there I was praying our loud saying
'Please God, keep her air ways open, keep her calm, help her know and feel your presence...' over and over again.
And looking back, I felt fairly calm under the circumstances. I know God had his hand upon me.

When I arrived she was in a bad way, worse than I'd dare to imagine. Still conscious but her eyes were streaming, her lips had swollen and her skin was blotchy and her voice had changed...it was her tongue swelling. I quickly gave her the bottle of water and encouraged her to take the anti-histamine.
She was panicking and I kept telling her,
'You're safe now, I'm here, you're going to be alright, we're going straight to the hospital'.
It turns out, she'd eaten some naan bread which must have been cooked in ground nut or peanut oil...

Her friends had not thought to call for an ambulance knowing I was coming and when I got there I would have had to wait too long for one to arrive so got her in the car and drove quickly to the hospital...again, feeling peace that surpasses all understanding...

When we arrived at A&E I saw a parking space right by the front door (thankyou God) and got her out the car..she was getting worse and as we got there the lady on the desk took a look at her and let us straight in. She didn't even take my details at first, just Sarah's name.
Sarah was suffering a severe anaphylactic shock made worse by the asthma she has had since she was a toddler.

Straight away she was worked on by a couple of doctors. They put breathing mask on her attached to a nebulizer to help her breathe and whilst one doctor injected her with adrenaline in her leg muscle the other doctor was putting a canula in ready for any medication to be administered and for blood to be taken.
Sarah does not like needles and you can't even say the word 'vein' without her feeling weak and wobbly and she definitely doesn't do blood!
So, all the time I was saying to her,
'You're doing really well, you are safe, this is going make you feel so much better' etc But she really wasn't in any position to resist what was being done to her...it was saving her life!
I stood at the end of the bed watching, thinking, this is my daughter, my baby, how can this be happening?  It all felt very surreal.
I'd given birth to her in this  hospital and now we were in A&E with Sarah's life being saved.

The first shot of adrenaline didn't seem to achieve much so they gave her another lot. The adrenaline made her body shake uncontrollably and she was distressed as she couldn't make sense why but the doctors and nurses kept explaining things to her and talking all the time to help her remain calm and understand what was going on. They also gave her hydro cortisone through the cannula and put her on a saline drip to get some fluids into her.

After about 15 minutes she seemed to stabilise and later that night was taken to a high dependency bed  on children's ward for observation through out the night. She'd never spent a night in hospital before, not since she was born over 16 years ago. But she was safe now, she was in the best place for her and the nurses were doing a great job.

 

Sarah stabilised. (and Sarah asked me to take this photo for posterity!)

I'd phoned Sarah's dad and told him what had happened. He lives 35 miles away and had rushed through to be with her. That was all very surreal too...we're divorced  and although we get on OK we haven't had to sit in the same room together for a very long time. But it was fine. We were there for Sarah and it certainly meant a lot to Sarah having her dad there as she doesn't get to see him very often.
I returned home to get some things together for her. Thankfully my sister Donna looked after my other two girls Laura and Eleanor whilst I was at the hospital with Sarah and had thought ahead and got some things packed. I don't know what I'd do without her! I always say I know why God gave me a twin. She has been there for me through the most difficult of times...or I should say 'put up with me' through the most difficult of times! We really look out for each other. I'm thankful we can do that for one another...especially as we live doors away for each other!

 

 

I returned to the hospital to give Sarah the things she needed...and top of the list was her phone charger...because letting all your friends know you're in the hospital is very important! And the last thing you want is your battery running out mid text or tweet!

 

Sarah, the day after and on the mend!

Sarah will now carry a JEXT pen  which contains adrenaline for the rest of her life. It is almost the same as a Epi pen but has a longer shelf life.  So, if she goes into anaphalxis again either she or someone with her will push the needle into the muscle in the top of her leg for 10 seconds to administer adrenaline until the ambulance arrives.

It was later that night when I'd left Sarah at the hospital with her dad and came home to be with Laura and Eleanor that it really hit me. I could have lost her. I really could have lost her...My Sarah. And I cried and cried and cried some more at the thought of what might have happened had I not got there when I did but I also cried with thanks that God had been with us and protected her.
And the next day I cried some more...and the day after that too for good measure!
Once again, God helped me through a tough situation.
I'm thankful for the love and support shown by family and friends too. Without you all it would have been a tough few days!

Next blog will hopefully be more light hearted! love Marie xx

More info on anaphylaxis here:
http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Anaphylaxis/Pages/Introduction.aspx