Maybe If I'm Packed I'll Never Use the Bag

Three trips to the hospital.  I should be a pro now, right?  But each time we hurriedly left for the hospital, my mind went blank and there were things forgotten. But preparing for our recent oral food challenge (story here) I had plenty of time to pack a bag and got to thinking that maybe I should just keep one packed with a few essentials that he and I will need to be comfortable (or as comfortable as you can be in a 10x10 room with a toddler strapped to a pulse ox machine.)

Spending anything longer than 30 minutes in one place with a toddler, there are certain essentials that you need to have on hand, but make it 4-6 hours and the list grows. I will start with a few things that will help anyone with a trip to the doctor's office for a routine check up,  getting your oil changed, or anything you dread doing with tiny humans.

Toys

PlanToys Nuts and Bots - $17.99

These wooden toys are rated for ages 24 months - 4 years, but all three of my kids at 17 m, almost 5 and 8 years old enjoyed playing with them.  The large circular topped screw was perfect for little hands, but to honest, while he wanted/needed my help to screw them into the adjoining "bolts" he mostly wanted to treat them as drumsticks.





Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Baby iCan Play Case - $14.99

When I first saw this product (and this one) I was horrified.  I wanted to believe that I would never need to purchase something like this to keep my child entertained!  We are already turning into a world where we as adults are umbilically  attached to our phones, so I hate to think of passing it onto the next generation while they are toddlers. You know what I hate more?  Trying to get a bored toddler to sit still for more than 5 seconds as he tries to jump off of the hospital bed or exam table. This struggle only ends with me giving in and handing him my phone, which he immediately throws to the grown and...yeah, that is worse. This toy let's him press on the home key incessantly (his favorite activity) or play with other apps (which he refuses). It has a screen protector for sticky fingers and can handle being thrown without threat to that ingenious glass screen (insert eye roll). One warning is that this is only compatible with iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPod touch 2nd, 3rd & 4th generation.

Melissa & Doug Water Wow Paint Kits - $6.99 each

This was by far the most popular with my Monk and with Punkin, who loves all things art related. The spiral bound book comes with 4 coloring boards and a paint pen that you fill with water.  When the boards are painted with water the colors appear along with hidden pictures. No coloring in the lines required, and no worry that he will color the walls!
 






Melissa and Doug Jumbo Triangular Crayons - $7.99

A friend gave me the brilliant idea to have Monk color on the exam table paper. Why had I never thought of this before?  I bought him these special jumbo crayons because they fit better in his sweet chunky little hands, there is no wrapping to keep him from using all sides, and I love all things Melissa and Doug (no really, their stuff is just such wonderful quality!)

All four of these things can fit easily into a back pack or diaper bag with plenty of room to spare for all the necessities.

Clothing
As mothers we are programed to bring extra clothes for our little ones because no matter who you are or what your kid eats, an explosion of one kind or another happens to all of us. This is doubly true when dealing with a food allergy kid.  Monk happens to react by throwing up most of the time, so be it a trip to the ER, an oral food challenge, or just a day at the park, I always bring extras for him.

The thing that I forget about is extra clothes for me.  I didn't even think about it until an EMT, standing in the entry to my home told me, "Ma'am, would you like to change your shirt before we leave for the hospital?"  This really happened.  I had been thrown up on about 3 or 4 times and the epi shot had left Monk's leg bleeding, so I was literally covered in blood and vomit and had not given a second thought to changing my clothes in all the panic and worry.

Lastly, socks.  Two out of three hospital visits we didn't have shoes for Monk, but thankfully we at least had socks.  The obvious reasons for having socks is comfort, but beyond that, nurses will put a pulse-oxymeter on your kid's toe, and it only takes about one minute for curiosity to kill the proverbial cat and send little fingers to ripping at the tap holding the pulse-ox in place.  Socks will keep it covered and, voila, keep it on!  These Wrapables socks are super cute and they have great grips on the bottom to keep them from face planting on slippery hospital tiles.


Comfort Essentials
I dare you all to try to get a baby who has been given adrenaline followed up with steroids to go to sleep.  You might laugh and think that I am kidding, but my child was climbing up the side of his crib, not to sleep, mind you, but to climb. He was quite literally climbing the walls with energy. The only thing that got him to sleep was his own blanket from home (no, the gift shop decoy didn't work) and his passy. So make sure to pack along any comfort items that will help calm your little ones.

Food
Hospitals have cafeterias, and actually, so does our Allergist's office, but try to find allergy friendly food in a cafeteria.  The one time I tried, I came back with an orange and applesauce.  After 4 hours of no food I had one unhappy kids who could have eaten 10 containers of applesauce without blinking. So pack food. Pack lots of food. If you are hospital bound, pack enough for the entire night just in case.

Extra Stuff
Each hospital and Dr.'s office that I have been at is located in the black hole of phone service.  You can get a signal, and in fact they have wireless for their guests, but it will suck the life from your phone in a few hours flat. Imagine being stuck for hours in one place with no Facebook or Candy Crush means to communicate with family and friends. TAKE YOUR PHONE CHARGER!

Lastly, the strangest thing that I have packed in our little bag?  Plug covers. We actually spent 4 hours at a hospital following a reaction, whose electrical outlets were bed level on the wall with the bed pushed right up against them! Yes, I spent 4 hours keeping fingers out of sockets.

Medications
Not that I every purposfully leave the house without his medications, and it should be first on the list, but there is additional reasoning in bringing your own meds to doctors offices and hospitals.

The most important reason is in case secondary doses of medications are needed in route.  The one time we traveled via ambulance the EMT made certain that I had additional Epi Pens on me before we left.  Texas allows EMTs to administer epinephrine, but they may not have it stocked in the ambulance.

Secondly, My allergist once told me that they have to charge $25 for a single dose of Benedryl in the office.  Of course, if he needs it I never hesitate, but if he can wait until we get into the hallway, done.
Our pharmacy bill during our first hospital stay was over $1,000 with insurance. It amounted to one Epi Pen, Benadryl, Steroids, and Asthma medication. All of these things I either had in my medicine cabinet or in my purse at the time. Now again, I am not advocating for self administering meds in a hospital setting, but it does give me pause (and heartburn.)

I also had an experience in a non-pediatric ER setting, where the doctors on hand did not follow the same Benadryl dosage that my allergist and other pediatric ER docs had advised during previous visits.  When I mentioned that Monk's hives (which covered his whole trunk) were returning and, according to my calculations, it was past the time for his next dose, the doctor told me that I had to wait at least another 2 hours before giving him more.  What?  Thankfully we were discharged shortly thereafter and I was able to give him his next dose on the way out the door.

Scramble!
I hope that this post didn't cause anyone to jump from their chairs and start running through the house collecting items.  It does help to be prepared, but not panicked. Until now, each time I grabbed a bag to head out the door I remembered more and more of this list.  Part of me doesn't want to have a bag packed since that seems like in some way I am willing the universe to give us a reason to use it, but I prefer to go with "the watched pot never boils" theory. And I will watch that bag like there is no tomorrow!

Disclaimer: Links provided in this post will direct you to Amazon.com. I am a participant in Amazon Associates and as such will receive ad revenue from items purchased through the above links.

The Toddler Two Step

One of my last posts was brought to you by the number three, so it is only fitting that this next post focus on the dreaded two! It may have little to do with food allergies, but over the last month, my sweet little 17 mo has transformed. It arrived 7 months early...the terrible twos. 

We all reach that point with our children when we realize that public appearances must take a back seat.  No more dinners out, no movies, and even trips to the grocery store become a hassle.  I am there.  Monk has officially moved from baby to toddler, from sweet and cuddly to shrill and unpredictable.

Dance Shmance
Sitting at Punkin's dance dress rehearsal a few weekends ago I was overcome with sudden dread when a friend mentioned that her toddler was staying home with a babysitter.  Why didn't I think of that, and why in the world did I think my youngest child could sit through 2+ hours of piques and plies to every Disney princess ballad imaginable.

Lights go down, curtain comes up, sippy cup gets tossed under the seats, the passy gets thrown to the ground and cue the scream! So begins the tag team parenting at the back of the theater. 

But really, it was wonderful, and who wouldn't endure all that for this face!

Bye Bye Baby
So our sweet, once quiet, baby has begun to exert himself, vocally and physically.  The word "no" has entered into his vocabulary as a way to tell us just how he feels. Oh yeah, and it is usually accompanied by some vicious pounding on the ground just to drive the point home.  What is all this for you ask?  Typically it is that we won't let him play with the hello (phone) or that his brother or sister have...dare I say it....touched him!

He is a little man on a mission, and that mission has become to do whatever he likes completely unassisted and unobstructed.  Climbing is the newest and most popular sport in our house, whether it is up his brother's loft bed (even though we removed the bottom ladder rung), up storage shelves, on top of the coffee table or head first into the bathtub.  Like a shark in the ocean, he can't and won't stop moving! And recently he became the first Garcia to need stitches, although we opted for more manly Dermabond, for a small gash to the forehead. Those of you who know my oldest will try to please contain your shock and awe. He is ready to feed himself, to get up and down from chairs, the sofa, the toilet (no, I wish!) And lately, he has perfected his mad face.

And all this makes me smile. Why?

My little Monk is already an advocate for himself.  He didn't want any strawberries tonight so he threw them. He'd rather play than take a bath, so he screamed his way through it.  Diaper sound restricting? Kick, wiggle, go limp and then flail to keep from getting Pampered!

He knows what he wants and he lets us all know in no uncertain terms that he isn't that last child that get's forgotten, and he also isn't the sick and helpless one either.

When you spend the first year of your child's life afraid to feed them anything but applesauce, and become anxious as babies 6 months younger are outweighing him by 5 lbs, you worry that he will be the weak one, the small one, just ripe for future picking and bullying.  But seeing his personality start to explode blossom makes me feel a little better about the future.

My Monk is still as sweet as can be...as long as you are doing everything exactly as he wants it done.

Does it count as a first if he didn't eat any?

Written 6/14/14
I have been dreading today for some time.  The oral food challenge that would finally confirm whether or not we had a fish allergy.  Feeding a food allergic person the offending food in the presence of a doctor is the last step in food allergy diagnosis after skin and blood testing.  Some consider it the only true test of an allergy.

Preparation
Here is what I was told to expect. We would arrive at the allergist office first thing in the morning (7:30am to be exact) where they would start with a skin test for the fish. Why suffer through the challenge if a skin test would reveal the allergy? If the test was negative, we would begin the food challenge, feeding Monk increasingly larger portions of fish for about a 3 hour period. If he makes it through all portions without reaction then they would monitor him for a few more hours and then send us on our way with a green light for fish!

The pure fact that you are about to feed your child something that has landed him in the hospital in the past doesn't sound scary enough?

Throw in a few more criteria.

• Don't feed the child before or during the challenge. Last meal was at 6:30pm the night before.
• Napping? Nope.
• My kid isn't entertained by TV. 

So in my head I was imagining about 5 hours stuck in a small office with a toddler who is hungry and sleepy and active yet likely to be completely bored and unentertained by anything I provide. Oh and what's for breakfast? Salmon.

For Real Now

We are in the car at 6:45am and ready to go to the allergist office with empty bellies but Monk still had a smile in his face.

We arrive at the empty office (cause no one schedules appointments for 7:30am unless you have to be there all day!) and get shuttled immediately into an exam room. Our room. Get comfy!

Up first? Skin testing (Want to know more about skin testing? Check out my previous post here.) 

Per the usual we have a positive and negative control prick along with one for salmon and one for cod (apparently the gold standard for fish allergies.) Below is a picture of Monk's back during the skin testing.

 

See that large red hive on the top left?  That would be the positive control.  The only reaction.  Yep, nothing from the cod or the salmon.  This was the second skin test for fish that Monk has had. The initial test was given shortly after a salmon dinner sent us to the ER for the first time (read that full story here) and that one too was negative.  The negative result meant that we would move forward with the oral food challenge.

By this time my Monk has been pricked instead of fed and was not too happy.  In fact, each time the door to our exam room opened, he would start crying.  This was going to be five hours of unadulterated hell adventure! 

In walks the nurse holding the smallest piece of salmon. Think flea sized. Just as we readied ourselves for whether or not we would see Baby Jekyll or Hyde when tasting the salmon, the nurse discovered a hive.  And then there were two.  And as I looked over his body I discovered dried blood behind his ears (a tell-tale sign that he reacted to something during the night.)

On went the brakes and out went the nurse and our miniscule bite of salmon.  Since he had eaten nothing, been exposed to nothing, we had to assume that the skin test caused a reaction.  We believe that he even started reacting from the cooking of the fish, as he had the first time, and that was why his eczema behind his ears had flared and bled during the night. So he essentially failed the challenge before it ever began.  

For me the result was certainly a double edged sword.  I had managed to avoid a few hours of toddler mayhem in exchange for certified allergy.  But on the bright side, a certified allergy is better than a mystery reaction, and it brought us one step closer to completing the allergy puzzle.

P.S.  I will say that I was certainly prepared for our stay and had packed not one, but two bags with essentials, new and exciting toys and more. Want a peak into those bags? My "hospital bag" list, or "the list for anyone who will be stuck in a small room with a small child for any period longer than 30 minutes", is shared here.