Avery Update

By Stephanie
We were doing so well……..
Then we went to the church Christmas dinner…
And she ate a cobbler with walnuts……
We knew that Avery had a tree nut allergy.  Mostly walnuts.  It makes her mouth itch.  And pecans, but they aren’t as bad.  The other tree nuts they said to avoid, but they have never bothered her.  So we haven’t been as vigilant at keeping her away from them. 
I saw the cobbler.  It was blackberry with a walnut crumb topping.  I saw the walnuts.  I was excited.  I never get to eat walnuts, because of her allergy.  So I got and ate the cobbler (it was delicious!)
Avery saw the cobbler, but didn’t see the nuts.  She enjoyed the cobbler too.  Then she started to itch… in her mouth.  Then her face started to swell.  In the meantime I had run home (5 minutes away) to grab the Benadryl.  Just a good dose and her symptoms would go away.  We have an epi-pen, but I had never had to use it, nor did I expect to, so I didn’t grab it…hindsight. 
There is a lady at church, Judy, who is allergic to everything.  Okay, not everything, but practically.  I called her over and asked if I should take Avery to the hospital.  My hubby said her face looked like “Mask.”  I think she looked more like the blue people on Avatar, just not blue.  But she was REALLY swollen.  So I took her to the emergency room.  By the time we got there, she was wheezing.  They rushed her right in and gave her one dose of Epinephrine.  Then 20 minutes later another.  Plus a bunch of other stuff including hydrocortisone.  Which she is dependant on and she needs extra in emergency situations…like that one. 
Anyway, they kept her overnight.  Just because she ate so much and they were afraid there might be some sitting in her digestional track they might cause another reaction.  But it never happened. 
And now we know that she needs to avoid ALL tree nuts and have epi-pens with us at ALL times. 
Also she had her follow up MRI on the 7th.  It appeared the tumor pieces were smaller.  That might be because the last one was done right after her surgery and there was swelling.  In any rate, it is at least smaller or the same.  So that is good news.  She has another one in March and she meets with Endocrine in January.  That gives us Feb. off.  So far at least.