Scary Brazil Nuts

I have often heard that parenting is not for the faint of heart! With four sweethearts doing everything with in their power they possibly can to scare me to death, I would have to agree!!!!!! This weekend, though not Ricky's fault, the probability of me being scared out of my mind was a reality!

Around 2:30 PM Ricky discovered some Brazil nuts at my mom's house. He has never eaten a Brazil nut, as far as we know! He asks to try them and they proceed to crack and enjoy the oily nut! Within 5 seconds of putting a piece in his mouth he began to have an allergic reaction! My mom called me at my Grandmother's house and said I should come there now! When I got there he was in the bathroom, struggling to breath while throwing up! He looked like he had been severely sun burned, he was so red! His face and eyes were so swollen that around he mouth was white. He kept saying over and over, while gasping, that he was dying! My Dad said he needed to go to the hospital now! I didn't hesitate and started gathering my purse, keys, and him for a trip to the hospital! Mom and dad live in the country, so many times it is faster for you to drive the 15 minutes to the hospital than for you to wait for the ambulance to find you! Dad is a retired state trooper and that does help with local police departments. I let dad drive while I took care of Ricky! Trust me, his state trooper training kicked in and we got to the hospital in record time! We did call the police department and they wanted to send us and escort, but we were at the hospital before they could get one in place! While on the way, I called the our church family and they began praying!!! When we arrived at the hospital he was showing signs of being confused with simple instructions. They immediately put us in a room and stuck him with an epi pen and started pushing a couple of other meds in him. Within minutes his breathing and confusion became better and with in two hours the swelling was gone. After Ricky was feeling better, the doctor on call told me that we did the right thing by getting him there as soon as we did, because he would have been in trouble if we had waited! They released him later that evening with a stern warning about eating anything with nuts in it and to see an allergist this week! So, tomorrow we are off to the doctors!!!!!

Ricky has been woozy all day today and a little down about the food situation! That is to be expected, I guess!

After being home and reading about nut allergies, I am just so thankful Ricky is ok! It could have been so much worse!!!! I am thankful for a praying church and professionals that are there when you need them! I am a very blessed mom tonight to have my son with me!

Toby was in Guatemala this weekend on humanitarian projects and missed all the excitement. He will be home tonight and I am sure he will be wanting to hold his oldest son just a little tighter!