I was at the grocery store on Tuesday, when my cell phone rang. It was Allura, my 19yo daughter. She asked me if I could come get her at work. When I asked her why, she said she had sent me a text, hadn't I read it? No, I don't always feel my cell phone vibrate to alert me of text messages.
Allura was having an allergic reaction. She had eaten a sample cup of oyster soup at work. Allura is very allergic to shell fish, but she said she did not know oysters are shell fish! Currently, she is working in the food industry, so I would have thought she would know that oysters are shell fish! She has had reactions to crab, and to glucosamine and chondroitin, which comes from shell fish, in the past. When she consumes shell fish, her throat gets itchy, she gets short of breath, and her heart races and skips beats.
She was in her car, and wanted me to come get her. I tried to convince her to go back into the store and have one of her co-workers take her to the emergency room. She told me she would be fine, her friend, Miles, was coming to get her, he was only 10 minutes away. Later, she admitted she was too weak to walk, that is why she didn't go back in. If Miles was coming to get her, did she still want me to come? "yes, I need you to come, Mom". That scared me, my independent daughter!
The grocery store was about 45 minutes drive from Allura's place of work. I called her a couple times to see how she was. I instructed her to call me when Miles got there, and that he was to take her around the corner to the Urgent Care Center.
After about another 10 minutes and no return phone call, I called her again. This time, she was not answering the phone. I was in a panic. I envisioned her dying in her car, with no one there to help her! So, I called 911 and had them dispatch and ambulance. I continued to try to get her on her cell phone. After a few more attempts, she answered and said Miles was there, and was taking her to Urgent Care. I called 911 and had them cancel the ambulance. I heard later they ambulance had been circling the parkinglot looking for her car.
I was still a good 10-15 minutes away from Urgent Care. When I pulled into the parkinglot, Miles, whom I had never met, was nervously pacing the waitingroom, watching for us. He had such a look of relief when he saw the big blue van pull in. Allura agreed with me later, that he had been watching for us, and he admitted to being relieved when I showed up:)
The doctor had already given Allura a shot of prednisone in her butt, and a shot of benadryl in her upper arm. She was in the process of a nebulizer treatment when I walked in.
They kept her for a while afterward, to make sure she would not have a rebound reaction. When they discharged her, she was doing well, but still weak.
She came over for supper last evening, still not feeling well. She had not taken the oral steroid. The doctor told her she did not need to take it *if* she felt better. But she was not feeling better! Teenagers!! She was still short of breath and weak.
She got a lot of good natured teasing from the rest of the family about "not knowing oysters are shell fish"! She thought she just needed to avoid the crustations, not the ones on shells, like oysters and clams! We told her we think she should stick to land critters. She told me she had planned to have Miles just take her home, not to Urgent Care! Oh, my!
Allura is my independent girl. She likes to do things herself, not be spoiled and pampered. Likes to be just left alone when she is not feeling well. But she wanted her mom, she needed me. That is a good feeling. I will remember that the next time she is spurning my desire to baby her. I will secretly smile, knowing she still needs me to love her:) I could have done without the crisis though.
After the past few weeks, I think I need to see if they make industrial strength hair color! I doubt I have a hair on my head that still has natural color! Thankfully, Allura is a good hairdresser!
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