That was close.

If you have the extreme pleasure of knowing us in real life then you likely know that Michael has a serious shellfish allergy. While we do take precautions and try and be careful, to be honest we really aren't careful enough. We get lulled into a false sense of security because it's a shellfish allergy in an adult, not a peanut allergy in a three year old. That in itself makes it easy to downplay the risks. One thing we do and really shouldn't is eat at Chinese Buffets. It is so easy for cross contamination to occur in a situation like that and it often does or at least that's what Mike's swelling lips tell us. And yet we still go back, but after the events of the last 24 hours I am putting my foot down and saying no to buffets and very likely Chinese food in all it's forms.

Yesterday Mike went out for lunch with some work friends to our local Chinese Buffet restaurant. I will mention here that we've eaten there many many times over the years without incident. However, since the original owners sold the restaurant we've had a couple of cross contamination issues with just some very minor swelling. Yesterday not long after beginning his lunch Mike began to experience sharp pains in his chest and difficulty breathing. Yoli was convinced he was having a heart attack. Mike was certain this cold he'd been battling had turned into pneumonia. With out family doctor out on holiday Yoli convinced Mike to go to a walk in clinic. The doctor there heard chest pains and shortness of breath and stopped listening. He was insistent that Mike go to emergency and have a ECG immediately.

Now the original plan had the girls going to Papa and Grandma Linda's while I joined Mike at the hospital. With absolutely no idea how long he was going to be Mike decided to go on his own and I would stay with the girls. Even though he insisted he'd be fine and refused to let me come with him, I knew he probably would have liked me to go. Luckily just after he left I talked to Yoles and she immediately went down to keep him company and I am glad she did. Mike ended up having an ECG that was fine, the next step was bloodwork to check for a blood clot. For some reason before they did that Yoli thought to ask if this could possibly be an allergic reaction. Bingo.

According to the doctor over time your body can change how it reacts to an allergy. This time Mike's esophagus was doing the exact opposite of what it is supposed to do and that's what was causing the pain and shortness of breath. I was so relieved to hear that, great it's not his heart or a blood clot, phew! Then I thought, hey dumb ass he could have died. An allergy of this magnitude should never be taken lightly and that's exactly what we were doing. We got off so very lucky this time. Thanks again Yoles for going with him. You're the best!

In other allergy news, Abby had a couple of hives pop on her person this afternoon. Just behind her ear. My neighbour thought it might be lice, so she gave a quick check but found nothing. We did a quick check of her torso and it was clear. I have no idea what could have triggered that. Also Maya's face broke out in hives this afternoon at the sitters. She got a dose of allergy meds and was fine. It appears Fruit Loops (I'm thinking food dye) was the culprit. So yeah, fun times. I'm thinking it's time for the girls to have allergy tests done, to see what of anything we're dealing with here.