On Wednesday, I had quite an eventful return to the States. We landed and I made it through Customs and Baggage Claim in under 30 minutes and by 7:25 was standing in the pick-up zone. Standing. And standing. And standing. At first, I figured Jason hadn't expected me to make it out so quickly - understandable. And then it just got to be ridiculous. But I kept waiting "just 5 minutes more" for him to show up since Jason really is a dependable guy. An hour later and I was alternating between pissy (it was about 2 am German time - so tacky to make me wait) and worried (really, Jason isn't so thoughtless as to make me wait unless something was wrong).
Finally, I headed inside to find some pay phones. I had to dig around for some American change since I mostly had Euros and finally found 50 cents. I tried calling Dad, Dad's cell and Mom's cell and the machine told me none of those numbers was valid. I admit, I had a little breakdown at that point. R (Josh's best friend's dad) found me at the pay phones banging the phone demanding of the phone gods why the "damn phone wouldn't call any damn numbers." It turns out R had been sent to pick me up and had been waiting outside of Customs for about an hour. He just missed me coming out. In any case, he brought the unhappy news with him that Jason was at the hospital with Josh. And the even more unhappy news that it wasn't Josh's first trip to the hospital that day.
Josh's school had a water party Wednesday and there was some vanilla ice cream. Josh thought it was soy and he ate a bowl of it. The school then called Jason to tell him what happened and that Josh wasn't feeling well. Then they called to tell him they had to give Josh Benadryl. By the time Jason made it to the school, they had given Josh the Epi-pen and an ambulance was coming to take him to the hospital.
Jason and the three boys spent 3 hours in the ER and were sent home. Then Josh got worse and had to come back and was then admitted for the night. So, R dropped me off at the hospital straight from the airport and he and his wife, S, watched the younger two boys for the night. My Dad came bright and early the next morning to our house to be "on call" to watch the younger boys or come get Josh and I from the hospital since I didn't have a car. We have been so blessed with the help of family and friends through this whole exciting adventure!
Luckily, Wednesday night was uneventful (except for those dumb alarms that go off every hour on the IV).
The ped came by the next morning to check on Josh. He asked Josh how much he had eaten and if it was any good. Sadly, Josh said that the ice cream was really good. Poor kid knows only soy products so until now he didn't know what he was missing out on! However, he did tell me later that he thought he was going to die when he was sick from the ice cream, so hopefully that will prevent him from trying to eat it again. In any case, the doc said he ate so much and is so allergic that his allergy outpaced the medications, which is why he got worse and had to come back. I am so grateful that our allergist pushed for us to have an Epi-pen, because I would never have assumed, based on past history, that Josh would have this kind of reaction to dairy.
I don't know what this means for any future accidental contact Josh may have with dairy, but I have the irrational desire to buy "Don't Feed Me" stickers and attach them to him next year at school. His poor teacher, who really is quite diligent about Josh and food, was just devastated and apparently in tears. It was a crazy party day at the school and the ice cream was out for everyone to take and eat on an absurdly hot day, so I don't blame her. I usually supply an alternative ice cream that often looks just the same as the dairy version, so I don't think Josh really even thought that it might not be for him to eat. I guess we'll just have to be even more careful in the future.
On the bright side, the staff at the hospital is a-maz-ing and I highly recommend our hospital to anyone. They have a Wii in the pediatric department that they can wheel right up to the bed and is preloaded with 10+ games. When I came in the room and saw Josh for the first time in eight days, he was so caught up in the Wii that his only response to my return was a grunt. He received a backpack filled with books and toys from one of the nurses and got to eat in bed. He actually didn't want to leave the hospital when the time came. That might be a little bit counterproductive to convincing him not to do this again, but it did make our time there (relatively) pain-free.
Here is Josh on our way out of the hospital. I am not sure where he got this particular "gangsta" pose.
We are so very lucky and blessed that all turned out well. We have wonderful friends, family, pediatrician and nurses!!!
Luckily, Wednesday night was uneventful (except for those dumb alarms that go off every hour on the IV).
The ped came by the next morning to check on Josh. He asked Josh how much he had eaten and if it was any good. Sadly, Josh said that the ice cream was really good. Poor kid knows only soy products so until now he didn't know what he was missing out on! However, he did tell me later that he thought he was going to die when he was sick from the ice cream, so hopefully that will prevent him from trying to eat it again. In any case, the doc said he ate so much and is so allergic that his allergy outpaced the medications, which is why he got worse and had to come back. I am so grateful that our allergist pushed for us to have an Epi-pen, because I would never have assumed, based on past history, that Josh would have this kind of reaction to dairy.
I don't know what this means for any future accidental contact Josh may have with dairy, but I have the irrational desire to buy "Don't Feed Me" stickers and attach them to him next year at school. His poor teacher, who really is quite diligent about Josh and food, was just devastated and apparently in tears. It was a crazy party day at the school and the ice cream was out for everyone to take and eat on an absurdly hot day, so I don't blame her. I usually supply an alternative ice cream that often looks just the same as the dairy version, so I don't think Josh really even thought that it might not be for him to eat. I guess we'll just have to be even more careful in the future.
On the bright side, the staff at the hospital is a-maz-ing and I highly recommend our hospital to anyone. They have a Wii in the pediatric department that they can wheel right up to the bed and is preloaded with 10+ games. When I came in the room and saw Josh for the first time in eight days, he was so caught up in the Wii that his only response to my return was a grunt. He received a backpack filled with books and toys from one of the nurses and got to eat in bed. He actually didn't want to leave the hospital when the time came. That might be a little bit counterproductive to convincing him not to do this again, but it did make our time there (relatively) pain-free.
Here is Josh on our way out of the hospital. I am not sure where he got this particular "gangsta" pose.
We are so very lucky and blessed that all turned out well. We have wonderful friends, family, pediatrician and nurses!!!
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