Anaphylaxis

I learnt the hard way...

Do NOT EVER underestimate an allergy. 

Andi had a meeting di SPCA kemaren, katanya not long after lunch dia mulai batuk2 ga brenti. So he took a break and ke toilet.

Sampe toilet his eyes were bloodshot red and bengkak. Mukanya juga. 

Then he told his blss he needed to go home. His boss took one look at him and said "nope, we're going to the hospital right now"

Sampe ER dia mulai susah nelen. And soon after that susah napas. 

Thank God banget the hospital staff semua super cekatan. 

They immediately took his blood sample and gave him an adrenalin shot, which made his heart race pumping oxygen and open his airways lagi. 

I arrived soon after, masi bengkak n serem matanya. The swelling immediately went down, itu sekitar jam 2. Dia juga dikasi steroid and some antihistamines.

Gw langsung arrange biar jam 3 pas onya kelar skul ada yg jemput, jadi gw asked silky buat tolong jemputin Onya and ajak ke rumah dia.

Jam 4 andi mulai susah nelen lagi n tangannya gatel n merah. Another shot of adrenalin deh.

After that langsung mendingan kan tuh... Kalo dlm 4 jam kedepan ga ada symptoms/reactions lagi, kita boleh pulang. Kenapa 4 jam? They need to make sure ketika efek obat n adrenalinnya wore off, ga ada reaksi lagi. 

Kayak kasus andi, andai tadi setelah 1 jam after first shot kita boleh pulang karena andi uda baek2 aja, trus ternyata kumat gitu.... Kan bahaya. 

After the second shot, karena andi udah mendingan, gw langsung pulang. Drop pippy di kennel for the night trus anterin piama, strawberries, boneka n seragam onya ke silky, just in case dia musti nginep.

Gw dah kuatir onya nangis, tapi sampe rumah silky gw liat Onya was having soooo much fun. In fact, dia malah super excited mau nginep disitu. I told her MAYBE doaang. But gw tenang deh liat dia hepi gitu. Pas gw dtg dia udah mandi, pake piama spencer hahaha... Hepi banget diaa. Pas hari itu juga Sebastian pas ultah, jd makan kue deh dia. Theoughout the ordeals, we received a lot of updates jiga dari silky tentang Onya. Jadi gw tenaang

Dr situ langsuung deh capcus ke hospital lagi. Andi udah dipindahin ke short stay unit yg artinya he's doing fine and on track buat balik.

Pas gw sampe n liat andi.., deuuhh tu anak uda tengil lagi aja. Maen2-in ranjang... Naek turun naek turun, udah nyebelin lagi de. 

Muka juga udah 100% normal, mata udah putih, uda ga bengkak. Lega deh gw.

TEPAT 4 jam setelah adrenalin shot, which is jam 8 malem.. Dokter dateng. Check ini ono, ditanya ini ono... Then kita boleh pulang. 

Giling deh, hats off banget buat dokter n perawat2 n staff disini. Cekatan banget and kita ga bayar apa2 sama sekali. All government funded. 

Dikasi resep buat dimakan 4 hari kedepan. Cuma lucunya... Di hospital itu ga ada farmasi yg buka jam segitu. Jadi kita kudu keluar hospital, sekitar 3 menit nyetir itu ada 1 farmasi yg buka 24 jam. 

Abis ambil obat, kita pulang andi mandi dulu bentar tus jemput onya di tempat silkya (yg cuma 1-2 menit dari rumah kita). The kid was fast asleep and melek bentar doang without saying a word pas digopong ke mobil. Sampe rumah ditaro di bed dia juga langsung tidur lagi.

Hari ini kita disuru cek ke GP (general practitioner) kita buat cek and arrange further test on what actually triggered the allergic reactions. 

Hebatnya lagi, pas liat andi, GP kita kaya udah expecting andi and langsung tau kasusnya. Dia blg pihak hospital udah kasi tau soal last night.

Jadi koordinasinya bagus sangat deh. 

Kita nanti bakal dikasi epipen pas mau holiday ke indo. Duh amit2 deh ah, jgn sampe musti dipake! 

Dokter n nurses were very informative and attentive. Mereka jelasin, next time (amit2 jangan sampe!!) ada kejadian kayak gini, dont even bother buat nyetir or coba ke hospital. Just phone the ambulance karena it is life threatening. Kalo ambulan kan can get to us faster and they have adrenalin with them. 

Dari sini gw baru tau kadar keseriusan alergi. 

I now know kenapa sekolah disini are very strict about no-nuts policy. Karena it is sooo scary. 

Selama ini di indo kayanya ampir ga kedengeran kasus severe alergi gini.

Asosiasi alergi itu paling cuma sama gatel2, merah2, and separah2nya bengkak. 

Tapi di indo, NO ONE has ever educated us about how life threatening an anaphylaxis can be! 

I heard about it, I've seen it in a movie, but it was just "nothing", you know. I never really thought about the seriousness of it. I admit, i was ignorant

Disini gw mulai engeh sedikit soal anaphylaxis karena people make a big-deal out of it. 

School teachers are so thorough about what we put in our kids' lunch box. Reminder about nuts juga di sent out many times throughout the terms.

Karena walaupun anak kita ga alergi, they need to minimize the risk. Takutnya namanya anak kecil suka maen comot makanan temennya (walaupun mereka diwanti2 ga boleh sharing food). 

Kita duluuuu pas baru dateng n onya baru mulai sekolah pernah kena tegur (baik2 tentunya) karena kita bawain onya sandwhich pake nutella. No no no nuttela. 

Now I understand. 

Allergies are not to be taken lightly. It just a matter of minutes, it is life threatening. 

Kata dokternya some cases are so severe that they need to jab an epipen right through the heart! Aahh serraammm.

Pastinya andi alergi apa, masi belum tau. Karena meetingnya juga di SPCA, ga nutup kemungkinan dia alergi sama some animals or pollen... Ga mungkin anjing si (untungnya!).  Kita suspect kacang2an, karena kata andi dia makan something yg mirip kuaci.  Tapi belon bisa tau pasti karena test-nya itu musti nunggu semua obat2-an di systim tubuh andi ilang. Maybe in 2-3 weeks ahead baru bisa test. 

Ketika panik gw mulai ilang, gw mulai kesel, mulai marah sama andi. 

Kenapa? Karena dia ga tau diri! Rakuuus!

Kita udah tauuuu, dari dulu jaman di indo dia alergi kacang. 

Cuma ya itu... Ga severe. 

"Cuma" batuk2 or pernah sekali gw inget matanya rada merah dikit. 

Tapi he took it lightly. Malah pernah brantem sama gw gegara kacang mede!! *baru inget nih sekarang*

Ya karena he keeps buying kacang2-an walo tau alergi. Alesannya "makannya dikit dikiiit kooo". 

Ndas mu! Skrg baru kapok. 

Tapi gw gratefuuulll sangat that he's okay now. Wow that was an episode I dont ever wanna rewind deh. 

Thanking God banget buat penyertaannya, and for good friendsz. 

Walau gw introvert akut, tapi tetep punya temen deket. Walau gw bukan social butterfly, tapi tetep punya people I can cout on. 

There were many texts yg nanyain soal Andi and pada nawarin uf we need any help/support. 

Gw bahkan punya beberapa options Onya mau dititip kesiapa. Kemaren juga sempet mikir, mau titip ke yg bule or yg indo. Ahirnya gw pikir yg indo aja, fgn konsiderasi makanannya kayanya lebih masuk ke selera Onya hahahaha. 

And the fact onya juga suka banget maen sama sebastian n spencer.

Poor spencer tadi pagi nangis karena pas dia bangun onya ga ada. Onya pun prites tadi karena it was her "half" sleepover, kata onya real sleep over itu sampe pagi hahaha. 

Again, gw besukuuuurrr banget buat semua. We told my parents about the whole ordeal ni ari. 

Gw sengaja kemaren ga cerita2 karena ngapain bikin mereka panik. Toh they cant help juga, kasian malah jadi kepikiran. Naaah kalo skrg udah lewat kan ya beda dong ya. Cerita juga mereka ga kuatir sampe gimana. 

Sama ucok si gw cerita kemaren pas kejadian, karena dia ga panikan juga.

Ya sudah, saya mau coba bobo... Uda subuuuuh. 

PS:  do not send your kids to school with nuts. The most common trigger for anaphylaxis.