Cashews beat my kid up...

..or at least she looked like she had been beat up, and it was all because of cashews. This was the result of one of those things that will guilt you as a parent for the rest of your life.

Bella is allergic to cashews. We still have them in the house but have always been careful to make sure she doesn't come into contact with them, even washing our hands after handling them to make sure we don't contaminate anything.

Well, Last week I made a smoothie while she was at school that had cashews in it. It was pretty big so I saved half of it in a sealed container in the fridge for later. Bella came home from school and spotted it when looking for a snack. Being a pretty obedient child, she brought it upstairs to ask me if she could have some. Before she got to me, she had noticed a tiny bit that had seeped out on the edge, whiped it with her finger and licked it off. It was only moments before her tongue started burning and she was screaming.

Now, a little background information on our family. If any type of catastrophe or illness is going to strike our family it's going to do so when J.T.'s out of town. It happens time and time again. Why should this emergency be any different? He's doing a rural medicine rotation out of town. He's only home on weekends. So, I was alone.

Even though I was panicking on the inside with my heart about to beat out of my chest, I feel I held it together pretty well. I rushed her downstairs and quickly dosed her up on Benadryl. By this time she's not only screaming because her tongue is burning, but her throat is as well and she's getting hives. I made sure to hide the epi pen in my pocket, praying I wouldn't have to use it but keeping my eyes glued on her for signs of breathing trouble or a new purplish hue in her lips. Luckily, that didn't come and all she was left with was a sad little swollen face until the next day.

Yes, the guilt still remains, and I'm sure it will for quite awhile. My poor child!