We've had a rough few weeks here at casa Dahn, my mind is still spinning about it. As you can see, our little Peyla lost her two front teeth over the weekend. And as some sweet lady in the supermarket asked- "Awww, she lost her teeth so young! Were they loose?" Um, no. Two year olds aren't supposed to lose their little teeth. She had several years left with those chompers. But I'm getting ahead of myself...let's start at Costco. This is mostly being documented for posterity reasons as most of you know what Peyla's experienced lately. But some family out-of-state are unaware.
Brendon took a week off recently, we had no major travel plans. We just wanted to be together and pack our days full of fun memories with the girls. The Children's Museum. The World Wildlife Zoo. Maybe a trip to the snow. Chuck-e-Cheese? Yes, please.
Well, it didn't happen. Peyla had a strange virus that started the week off. She ran a low temp, vomited only once, had no appetite and generally just wanted to lay on the couch. Very strange by Peyla's standards. We chalked it up to the flu apocalypse that is sweeping the country. By Thursday, she had bounced back. Our happy, smiley pixie was back! We spent an awesome day at the zoo, a picnic lunch, topped off by her first trip to the self-serve frozen yogurt shop (life-changing, by the way)! We were so relieved to have our girl back! Then the trip to Costco on Friday. Peyla wanted a sample of some homemade granola that this sweet little grandma was spooning out. "Be careful mom, there are nuts in it" she tells me. "That's OK!" I say breezily, helping myself. Hey, the kid eats PBJ daily- I thought we were in the clear. Wrong. Very very WRONG. Within two minutes, Peyla was crying that her mouth hurt. I took her outside to get her drink from the car. She now had welts on her face. Brendon came out moments later with our Costco loot, and she was crying that her back hurt. We speed off, saying to one another "is she having an allergic reaction??" How naive we were...it just didn't sink in.
We stop at the Walgreen so I can talk to the pharmacist. Her eyes were now hurting and she was screaming and clawing at her face. I stumble into the store and see the pharmacist. I described Peyla's symptoms and she told me to go straight to the ER. No! Better yet, take her to the fire department for them to evaluate and use an epipen if need be. That will be quicker she told me. I sob like a baby and off we go to the fire station. The fire captain checked her and determined she isn't in anaphylatic shock but needed Benadryl and the pediatrician. So off we go again. Long story short- we spent almost two hours in the doctor's office for blood pressure/oxygen evaluation. Given two epipens for future need (God forbid) and told to give her 24 hours of Benadryl to suppress the reaction. By the time we get home from the doctor, her face, ears and neck were beet-red. She was running a fever again. We ran her a bath and went to put her in to relax a little. Her whole body looked like a 3rd degree sunburn. I was afraid to touch her, it looked so painful. I pressed on her little legs and asked if it hurt- it didn't. She took her bath (unwillingly) and we cuddled off-on for the rest of the night. By noon the following day, she was beginning to look like my girl again. Brendon was relieved. I was...traumatized. I didn't want to let her out of my arms.
A week passed. One week of standard, everyday joy of being with Peyla and Ali. Just running errands, visiting our Team Frigard friends, playing outside. All of the things that I take for granted, even though I try so hard to mindfully appreciate our life.
Then comes the birthday party in the park for Peyla's little buddy. It was held in her favorite park and all of her pint-sized friends were attending. We had to go! Five minutes into the party, Peyla takes a tumble inside a large blue (of course, her favorite color!) slide. Brendon hears a "thump!" and she comes out with a bloodied mouth and her little tooth trailing behind. Her second front tooth was partially knocked out and hanging in a strange position. She was completely traumatized (as were we!) so we drove her to the nearest ER at the direction of our pediatrician. Peyla became very tired and groggy in the car, just adding to our concerns! We arrived at the ER and she was met by the most gentle and caring people. Everyone from the receptionist to the attending physician and resident, even the billing coordinator treated her with kindness and compassion. Her vitals were taken, they checked for fluid in her ears (that would suggest a brain injury) and then pulled her remaining little tooth. She was a champ! We were SO blessed that everything else was completely normal. We followed up the next day with a pediatric dentist who confirmed that her permanent teeth were not damaged in the fall. One of her other teeth is slightly loose so she might lost that too, only time will tell. Fingers crossed that this was it! That our precious girl is on the mend.
