two kids with food allergies...lol...your kidding right???

So dinner last night was suppose to be a celebration...My parents were celebrating Nathan's new job and my sister in law's new career.  She is graduating from college in a week and half from nursing school.  We were so very excited to go out and have dinner out at a place that serves sushi for Nathan because Catie wasn't going with us.  It was Stix...a Japaneses steakhouse.  A place we haven't taken her since we found out she has the shellfish allergy because the shrimp are flying through the air at people.  The protein she is allergic to is literally airborne so just to be safe we have stayed away.
Since Catie had that first reaction I have been very hesitant to give Alex shellfish and have only on rare occasions.  He will have Crab Rangoon here or Calamari there...but has never to date had shrimp that I am aware of...until last night.  I finally relented and said what the heck.  He's seven.  We have to know at some point if he has that food allergy...it's possible...but pretty unlikely.  So he gets the two appetizer shrimp on his plate...and looks at me quizzically.  "Can I eat those mom" he as asked me before he devours them.   I nod and watch in horror as I believe he is going to break out into hives and gasp for breath instantly, even though it takes Catie several minutes to feel any kind of reaction from shrimp.  I almost want to check him over a few minutes later for signs of a rash...nope I'm going to be easy and relax.  My husband even has a picture of me trying to relax...I am doing a pretty good job of faking it, but the whole time I am searching his little neck and face for a rash.
Then the fun begins.  The grill cook begins to flip shrimp into the dinner's mouths.  Alex is up first...the cook over shoots and the shrimp hits Alex in the eye.  He wipes his eye and says he's ok.  I think nothing of it and the cook moves on the someone else.  This goes on till all the shrimp are gone...oh thank God!  We finish dinner and we head home.   A great dinner and we had a great time...Alex learned to eat with Chopsticks and he ate shrimp and survived.  All and all a great night.
Until we get back to mom and dad's house and Alex comes running up to me.
"Mom, Grandma thinks I have pinkeye?!?!"
"what, let me see your eyes baby...they were fine at the restaurant and you didn't have any signs of pink eye earlier!"
"but my eye is all pink and swollen and drippy"
"OMGOSH!!!  Mom he's having an allergic reaction to the damn shrimp!!!"
Marsha and Dad ask if I am sure and how I can tell....
He had a hive right on his eye lid...
So he got a does of Benadryl...the clear kind because we don't want to mess with his ADHD.  I asked if his belly hurt or if he was having any breathing issues...nope he felt fine...just tired.  So off to bed he went.
I explained to Marsha the progression of a allergic reaction and what might happen and what might necessitate a trip to the ER.  I left it at if he throws up and I can't get it to stop we are heading into the ER for an EPI shot.   So sometime over night I heard a bunch of things being moved around and shuffling.  I figured dad was getting up to move to his chair in the living room because his hip was hurting.  Then a little while later Marsha woke me up.
"What was it that you said about throwing up?"
So at 1 I went up and checked his eye and made sure he was doing ok...I was really worried at this point but the throwing up had stopped and I gave him another Benadryl.  The next morning the swelling was mostly gone and the pink was almost all gone too.  I gave him one more Benadryl and hoped for the best.
By lunch the swelling was down and he was fine.  He mentioned at breakfast that the eye he was smacked in was the one that swelled way up...I'm guessing the proteins in the shrimp reacted with the membranes in his eye and it swelled right up.
All better now...but now I have two kids with food allergies and forevermore I will have an epi-pen with me always.