Monday, August 18, 2008

Three Cool Things Conor Reacted to While We Were on Vacation

OK, I am feeling kind of sorry for myself today. I think I have post vacation let down. We just moved up to the bay area about 6 months ago, and just got back from the first real visit to the area where we used to live. I like it better up here, but there are just some things and people I miss from down there. School does not start until next week, and we are just hanging around in a holding pattern........
Ok, so to cheer myself up, lets list off 3 cool things Conor has reacted to while we were on vacation.


#1
The offending green cup. (Napkin not included)

The first was a green plastic cup we brought with us to the camping site on vacation. Anytime Conor drank from it, it left red welts where it touched his face. He was walking around for quite a while looking like the joker from Batman until the benedryl kicked in. (much cuter though)
He had the whole deal, red all around his mouth, and extending up the sides of his face. He even got an extra spot on his forehead where the cup hit it. We immediately threw away all the green cups, said a little prayer that we would not have to find the local hospital or holiday inn. Thankfully benedryl kicked in, he had no other symptoms except for a Joker face, and we all had a great time.

#2

The Hotel Room


Since the unfortunate cat incident on our last trip, C0nor can not set foot into Grandma and Grampoo's house, and we stay in a local hotel room. We always bring our own air mattress, sheets and pillows for Conor, and it has not been too big a problem in prior hotel rooms. The first morning in the room, we got wheezing, hives and eye swelling. Thankfully I packed the pharmacy, and after his doses of benedryl, allegra, singulair, flovent and albuteral he was doing great. He tried to refuse his medicines later in the day because he claimed he felt great now, but Mommy knows best. Mick got a new camera, and experimented taking pictures of the hives. He wanted me to share his great photography here, but the pictures did not come out well. Only we would have vacation photos of hives.


#3

The Pet Store

Since we were unable to find someone to take care of our extremely cute pug dog,

Buster,

we were forced to check him into the PetsMart Pet Hotel. For those of you that have not experienced the PetsMart Pet Hotel, I highly recommend checking it out for yourself, simply for the amusement factor. Your dog can have a regular room or you can upgrade to a suite furnished with a Poochy Cot, hypoallergenic lambskin blanket and a TV tuned to pet themed shows. Meals and daily walks are of course included with the stay. Your dog can have Treat Time featuring dog-safe soft serve ice cream with a side of crunchy dog biscuits. You can even call your dog to talk to them while you are out of town.

When dropping Buster off at first I politely requested that they please not feed him any peanut products. The woman at the check in area looked at me with great concern, and said that they knew how serious peanut allergies were, and of course would not feed Buster any peanut snacks. I was so relieved she did not look at me like I was crazy, and understood how dangerous peanut allergies were to my child. At this point she informed me that she was so sorry my DOG had a peanut allergy, but they were trained to deal with all sorts of dangerous food allergies, and had all sorts of protocol in place to ensure his safety. At this point I contemplated whether I should tell her it was my son who had the allergy, and not my dog, but decided not to bother. I was not sure she would care if it was only my son who had the allergy. So, if anyone wants a safe day care or hotel to send their peanut allergic dog to, I think I found one.

Anyways, the pet hotel is at the back of the pet store. Conor has the amazing ability to break out in hives just from being in the pet store. The first time it happened we did not figure out what was going on and where the hives came from. After the cat incident, it kind of made sense, and this time I was watching to see how long it took for hives to develop. It took exactly 1 minute 23 seconds.

This has gone on way longer then I expected, but has definitely worked to cheer me up. I think I am off now to go and cover up those four inches of grey roots I have growing on my head. Natalie nicely pointed out "wow Mommy, your hair is really grey at the bottom" Gee thanks.


2 comments:

Christine said...

What do you think it was on the cup? I know that cups and paper plates can sometimes be coated with corn oil, but I didn't know that they could be contaminated with other allergens.

Jennifer said...

Christine,

I have no clue what is on the cup. For us it really could be anything. Maybe it was stored in a dusty place, maybe it touched a cat, who knows. Conor has tested allergic to everything, so it is really a trial and error to figure out what things are really serious.