A few minutes later, he was back in the bathroom throwing up - a LOT. He had a small rash on his shoulder blades, so I called the clinic onsite and talked with the nurse, explaining his symptoms. She didn't know what to think about the rash, but that everything else sounded like altitude sickness. She said to watch him and bring him by if he needed fluids.
Thankful for an Internet-capable phone and network availability, I got online and looked up altitude sickness symptoms. Couldn't find anything about rashes related to it. Then, we noticed his rash had spread everywhere and now looked clearly like hives. We've seen this pattern before when he has ingested nuts accidentally. Both times, it was a rash and vomiting followed by difficulty breathing. We gave him Benadryl immediately. That was half an hour ago now, and the hives are going down. His breathing is normal, but we are keeping a watchful eye.
The culprit? Likely the maple syrup on his pancakes this morning at breakfast. Back online, I saw many sites noting the connection for people with nut allergies to some maple syrups. How many times has he had maple syrup on pancakes? Countless times. Evidently, this was a preparation that he was allergic to. Thankfully, because only ate half the stack, he's had (what seems at this point anyway) a mild reaction, compared to the whole peanut ingestions in the past that have caused respiratory distress and landed us in the ER for epinephrine injections. So, we're feeling pretty lucky right now. Still keeping watch, but it certainly seems the danger has passed. Whew!
That's more adventure than we like! But, that is life with food allergies. And why we always carry our epipens with us, because you never know. :)
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