Well, THAT was scary...

"Kelli, do you let Noah have nuts?" my husband called from the living room as I was putting away clothes in Abby's closet. Pat was snacking on the cashews we'd gotten him for Father's Day, and, of course, Noah wanted one.

"Yeah, he eats peanuts. He's fine," I yell back.  He is almost five after all. We've pretty much cleared the choking hazard phase.

About a minute later, I hear Noah cough a few times and start to whimper that his throat hurts, and he comes into Abby's room hoping to get a little sympathy from Mommy.

"What's wrong, buddy?" I glance over for a second.

He's grabbing at his throat. "It hurts, Mom," he whines. "It's tratchy." (- aka scratchy.)

He'd been coughing a little that morning so I didn't think much of it and told him to go and get some water. He comes back less than thirty seconds later. "It still hurts, Mom."

"Did you swallow a big piece of the cashew? Does it feel stuck?"

"Yeah," he is starting to cry.

Not really knowing what to do, I say, "Try eating a piece of bread. It might help push it down," as I am still putting away laundry.

He comes right back with a bite taken out of the bread in his hand, "It's not helping, Mom."

By this time, the poor little guy is crying. Pat thinks maybe he scratched his throat when he ate the cashew so I asked Noah if he wants a popsicle hoping it will soothe his throat some and help calm him down. Popsicles usually do the trick.

Not this time.

"Look at this, Kelli." Pat had noticed bumps on the back of Noah's neck.

Hives.

Within seconds, Noah's coloring had become splotchy and raised white spots appeared under his eyes, on his eyeslids, and between his eyebrows. He face looked almost swollen. He started rubbing his eyes and even behind his ears attempting to relieve the itching.

"Has he had cashews before?" Pat asked me.

Knowing that this was definitely an allergic reaction, I realized that he must not have.

Crap.

My youngest brother, Michael, has severe food allergies so I've made it a habit to keep Benadryl on hand, just in case. That stuff has worked wonders for him many times.

Noah was getting more and more upset as the symptoms continued, but I was able to get him to take a teaspoon. I called my dad to ask if I should go to the doctor since he and my step-mom are practically pros when it comes to dealing with allergic reactions.

Since Noah was still coughing and complaining about his throat, Dad said to take him in so they could take a look and listen to him breathe and make sure everything was okay.

I was hoping that by the time we got there that the Benadryl would start to take effect. He could barely keep his eyes open in the car so I figured it was kicking in.

When we got to the Urgent Care office, Noah was conked out in his booster seat. I went to get him out and was relieved to see that the hives were already starting to go down.

Thank goodness.

We went ahead and took him in to be safe and ended up with a prescription for a pediatric steroid to counteract the reaction.

One cashew. ONE caused this crazy reaction within minutes.

Scary.

Really scary.

I'm always telling Noah how much he reminds me of his Uncle Michael ("Mi-tule" as Noah calls him. The coolest uncle EVER!) when he was Noah's age. Always making up jokes, being silly, begging for a toy every time we go into a store...even his facial expressions, love for all things Toy Story, and obsession with McDonald's...but the allergy thing?

That similarity we definitely could have done without.