Today I saw this series of photographs called the face of anaphylaxis. A mom of a milk allergic boy photographed how scary and life threatening a milk allergy really can be. I feel so lucky when I see this because we have never had to deal with a reaction this serious. Bo has had an anaphylactic reaction where I had to use the epi-pen, call 911 and spend the afternoon in the ER while they monitored Bo but the epi-pen made everything better and Bo’s reaction never worsened. I can’t even fathom how difficult it would be to have your child on a ventilator because of a milk reaction. That is one brave mother, family and little boy.
This series reminded me of some photos I had on my phone. Ever since Bo’s anaphylactic reaction I have wanted to make it a point to try to take a picture of Bo when he has any kind of reaction. I have to say that it is really hard to remember to take a picture when you’re in full on panic mode….but now that we have been doing this for almost 2 years I think I am starting to get better at managing my anxiety in the moment and in the last few months I have remembered to snap a picture of Bo once I knew he was getting better because the Benadryl appeared to be working. I thought these photos would be handy for a few reasons but one main reason I wanted to have them was so that I could show other care takers what to look for or what a reaction can look like for Bo.
The photo on the bottom right is a NORMAL/NO REACTION photo of Bo so that you have something to compare the other photos to. These were all pretty mild reactions and were just treated with Benadryl. We also have NO idea what caused any of these reactions. If it’s hard to tell in some of them his eyes are red, bloodshot and his nose is running…some of the first signs (along w/hives) that he is having a reaction.
