The Epi-Pen

OH, boy. Oh geez. You want me to what??? But I'm not a nurse!

These are some of the feelings I'm having today. My youngest daughter got tested for a peanut allergy this morning. She only has a peanut sensitivity, which is a mild allergy. So, it's better than having a full-blown, risk-of-anaphylactic-shock allergy. And it's the only allergy she has. She's not even allergic to tree nuts. (Pecan pie, here we come!)

However, TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE, the doctor prescribed her to carry an epi-pen. Yes. A full shot of epinephrine should something horrible happen. He did say her peanut allergy could get worse even though it's only slight at this point. He and the nurses also assured me that I would probably never have to use the epi-pen. She can have benedryl if it's just a skin reaction.

I got the kit home and looked it over. There are two pens in there so we're going to keep one at school and one in my purse. It comes with a "trainer" pen to practice with. It contains no medicine and, more importantly, no needle. You have to hit that thing pretty hard against your thigh to get it to work. Then the insert says the epi-pen you have to hit even harder! Yikes! However, I figure if it's a life or death situation, I'll probably be able to do some things then that I couldn't do now. In the meantime, let's just keep her away from peanuts. Not only do I want to keep her from having a reaction, but I don't want to have to use that pen!!!