Week 7:Nutella

I didn't write about a song, but I felt this was appropriate because of what I've been through this week.
I really hope that no one else in our class has an allergy nearly as severe as mine but I wanted to share with you the experiences I have had with my best friend, hazelnuts.
My mom actually had an allergy to hazelnuts all growing up that would only result in an itchy throat and eyes, but doesn't have a problem with them anymore. The first time I had hazelnuts was when my Dad brought back chocolate from Europe and we were all gathered around the table listening to his stories about a business trip he had just returned from. I had some chocolate, alright maybe a lot of chocolate, but didn't notice anything bothering me at first. Then my throat felt like I had ants crawling up and down it that I wipe away and my eyes started to tear. My mom noticed first, gave me some benadryl, and before long I was asleep. Between then and now I have had 3 more occurrences with hazelnuts but nothing like the reaction I had over Thanksgiving break.

Nutella: the hazelnut spread. I went on a trip to Honduras for Thanksgiving with a medical team that performed mainly dental work on members there preparing for missions. I assisted my Grandpa, who is a dentist, on the trip and we worked out of a local stake center building there. For lunch we would go down to a room next to where oral surgery was performed and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Unfortunately one day someone brought Nutella and the knifes were traded between that and the peanut butter. I tried to be so careful; I got a new knife, checked the peanut butter for remnants of Nutella, but alas, I didn't know it, but my allergy had become very sensitive. I took one bite of my sandwich and the next thing I knew I couldn't breathe. I was going into anaphylactic shock.

I know Heavenly Father must have been watching out for me that day. Usually oral surgery was the most busy station at our little clinic but when I started to have a reaction, all the oral surgeons were in-between patients and waiting for equipment to come back from sterilization. The head oral surgeon is a nationally acclaimed and is responsible for saving my life. He pulled me into the recovery room and shouted, "I need everyone out, we only have 3 minutes." Before I knew what had happened I had an I.V. hooked up to my arm, a heart monitor and oxygen level read connected to my finger, a blood pressure band around my bicep, and an oxygen mask around my face. 20CC of benadryl later I came out of anaphylaxis but boy was I out of it. Supposedly the sister missionaries who were volunteering as translators were both registered nurses and recorded my vitals every 30 minutes for the next couple hours, but I slept through all of it.

This weekend I got to use my new EpiPen for the first time. I'm fine now but my allergy is getting steadily worse, though I don't know how much worse than 3 minutes from death you can be. I guess in essence I want to express my thanks for modern medicine, and Heavenly Father's hand in my life. Without it, I wouldn't be here today.