Plan for the Worst, Hope for the Best

The last time I posted was in early October, just a few weeks before our trip to France. The trip was eventful, to say the least. Our youngest daughter, Margot, has a peanut allergy and at the time of our trip we also avoided tree nuts since we didn't know if she was also allergic to those. (We saw a new allergist after our trip and found out she is also allergic to all but two tree nuts). We are always very careful to monitor everything she eats. We also always carry two EpiPens in case of an anaphylaxis reaction.

In preparation of the trip we did a lot of research on traveling to France with a food allergy. Many have done it before and we felt confident we could handle it for a few reasons.

1. Since her diagnosis a year earlier, we had successfully avoided an anaphylaxis reaction by closely monitoring what Margot ate - reading labels, asking questions and alerting the staff at restaurants to avoid cross contamination or hidden peanut and tree nuts. 
2. Tom speaks French, plus we also ordered translation cards from SelectWisely that detailed Margot's allergies and included pictures. For part of our trip we would also be traveling with Tom's brother and his sister-in-law, who is French. 
3. Allergens are clearly stated on food labels in grocery stores. Sometimes translating was needed if the labels didn't include English.
4. We packed four EpiPens - Tom and I each carried two at all times. We also brought a bottle of Children's Benadryl that I carried in my purse, a jar of WOW Butter, a ton of safe snacks (and we should have brought more!), plus Wet Ones to wipe down surfaces and hands.
5. We had a plan in place in case there was an emergency - dial 112, the French version of 911 - and we were prepared to do it. We just didn't think it would happen. 

Unfortunately it did. It was our second night in France. Around 10:00 PM Margot and Isabelle did not want to sleep, so we caved and let them crawl into bed with us to watch Sesame Street on the iPad. So glad we did! Margot started coughing, so I gave her some water. Then a bit later she was wheezing. The breathing didn't sound good. We gave her some Benadryl, but it was getting worse so I gave Margot the EpiPen - one of the scariest moments of my life. Tom stayed with the girls while I ran down to the hotel lobby. No one was there so I called the French version of 911, which is 112. The hotel employee came back and spoke to the operator who sent an ambulance. Margot was doing much better and her breathing was returning to normal, but it is standard procedure to go to the hospital after using an EpiPen because of the risk of a rebound anaphylaxis reaction. We got Margot ready to go and Tom went with her since he speaks French. I stayed back with Isabelle and got her to fall asleep. She was very worried about Margot. The ambulance took them to the children's hospital in Paris, Hôpital Necker - Enfants Malades.

Tom texted me updates all night long and I tried to get more information online. I belong to many Facebook allergy groups and one in particular was a tremendous resource and comfort that night. I also contacted our families to let them know what happened and my friend who has a daughter with the same allergies and had been through similar experiences. Margot and Tom came back from the children's hospital around 5 AM. She had a few shots (steroids and an aniti-allergy) and they wanted to make sure she didn't have another reaction. Tom said it was an excellent hospital and we had the best care. He also spoke French almost the entire time, so I'm glad he went! Margot was pretty wired when they got back and watched more shows on the iPad. Tom zonked out and finally Margot and I did too. We all slept until the very last possible moment and somehow we packed up and got the rental car to make it to our next destination in the Loire Valley. We also had to pick up a few prescriptions for Margot. In retrospect we should have stayed in Paris for at least another night, but I think we just needed to get out of that hotel.

So what caused the reaction??? We have no idea! That evening she had an apple from a produce stand that may have had a minuscule amount of peanut or tree nut on it that we didn't get wiped off. She also ate cheese pizza and maybe there was peanut oil in the pizza dough or a cross contamination issue in the restaurant's kitchen. They may have even used lupin flour in the pizza dough which may have caused a reaction. We just don't know. Before we ate dinner we asked the restaurant if there were any peanuts or tree nuts in the pizza - in French and showing them the allergy card. They said no. So that was the scary part. The not knowing what caused the reaction. Plus the fact that it happened almost two hours after we ate.

The rest of the trip we got food from grocery stores to make breakfast and lunch. Many food labels did not include English (although many other languages were usually represented), so I spent a lot of time translating from French to English. For dinner we went to McDonald's, which was an allergen haven for us. The digital ordering system was amazing! At the touch of the screen you could see every ingredient. A bonus was the hardcover books included with the Happy Meals and the coffee there was really good! So we all survived the rest of the trip and even managed to have fun! I have to admit it was a relief to get home, to say Tom and I were on edge the rest of the trip is an understatment. I will share more about trip in upcoming blog posts, but I wanted to get this one off my chest first.