"Hey guys, Callie is asleep so please try to keep it quiet…" Stef told the rest of her brood.
"Yeah moms sure." Brandon said.
"So you all know that Callie had a severe reaction to the bee sting right?" She looked at her kids as they nodded their heads. "What she had is called anaphylactic shock. And she needs what's called an epipen. We have to teach you all how to use the epipens that Callie has to carry around now. Just in case you guys are with her and something like yesterday happens." Stef got all of her kids attention with that.
They all looked at the moms with a scared expression. "Really? We have to give her the shot? She can't do it herself."
"You guys saw the way she got and how fast the reaction happened. Lena looked at each of the kids. "The doctor said she might not have the capability to give herself the shot. So in that case someone has to know how to do it and I'm counting on you guys to help. At least to get an adult and tell them what to do. You're sisters life depends on that injection now and we have to make sure that she's with someone that can give it to her when she needs it." She finished.
"So what do we have to do?" Jude asked.
Stef went to get the training epipen so Lena could show them how to do it. She gave Lena the epipen and sat down next to the kids.
"Ok. This is a training epipen. So it has no medicine and no needle." She showed them the epipen. "The first thing you're going to do is hold it like this." She held it in her fist just like the pharmacist told her. "Then you're going to take off this blue cap." She popped the cap off. "And then you are going to press the tip of it hard into her outer thigh like this." Lena did it to her own outer thigh until she heard the click. "Make sure you don't put your thumb on the top where the blue cap was because it won't dispens the medicine." She put her thumb on it so they could see. "You have to hear that click so you know it's working. When you hear the click you count to 10 before removing the epipen from her thigh." She counted to 10 then removed it. Then you rub the injection site for 15 seconds. She rubbed the site in circles for 15 seconds. "And you're done. Now after you give her the shot you have to call 911 because she has to go to the hospital. If me and mom are not there you give us a call, but only after you talk to 911, not before." Lena explained.
"So that's it?" Jesus asked.
"That's it. If the injection malfunctions or she starts to have trouble breathing again before the ambulance gets there she should have another epipen in her bag. You can give her a shot up to every five minutes. Me and mom are going to carry one each and the school nurse is going to have two also. That's a total of 6 epipens." Lena told her family.
"Any questions?" Stef asked everyone.
"So we give her that injection right?" Jude asked and Lena nodded her head. "Why do we have to call 911 anyways? Shouldn't she be ok after she gets the medicine?"
"Because this", Lena held the epipen up so they could all see it, "is just a small fix. She might still have a reaction after you give her the shot and stop breathing again. That's why you need to call 911. She has to be seen by a doctor and given the proper medicine to make sure that her allergic reaction is under control."
They all nodded their heads in understanding. "Also callie is going to be wearing a medical ID bracelet. Me and mom are going to make sure that she has it on but we need help in making sure she keeps it on. So please keep an eye on her." Stef asked then
"On Monday, I'm going to call the pediatrician so all of you can get an allergy test done. After that we will make any arrangements necessary." Lena informed the kids. They all groaned to show their feelings about the whole test.
"So when are we getting this test done?" Brandon asked.
"We will call Dr. Carlson on Monday and ask to see when this will happen." Lena said. "She will most likely want to do it as soon as possible because of what happened with Callie."
"Wait, what kind of arrangements?" Mariana asked.
"Well like if any of you are allergic to a specific food for example. Then we would make sure we don't buy it. You guys know momma likes to try different recipes all the time. This way we know that none of you are going to get sick in the house and we can prevent it from happening outside the house as well." Stef said.
"So if one of us is allergic to something no one can eat it?" Brandon asked.
"Not around that person, no." Stef told her son.
"About this medical ID bracelet, are we going to get one too? I mean if we have an allergy?" Mariana asked.
If the allergy is severe enough, yes. It's for things like serious medical conditions and severe allergic reactions. Like what Callie had. Somthing that could potentially keep you from telling someone, that wants to help, what is wrong with you. With the ID bracelet, they can just read it, and if they can help, they will, if not, they can call 911 and tell them what is wrong." At this the kids looked a little freaked out.
"Don't worry guys everything will be ok. Once we know all the details, we can come up with a plan and adjust to our new lives." Lena told them.
"How do they do allergy tests?" Jude asked.
"Well, last I remember. They would scratch you with a bunch of needles that have some known allergens on them. If it reacted then you we're allergic. If nothing happened then you're fine." Stef was trying to remember about her first allergy test. They found out that she was allergic to daisies.
"Needles? As in plural?" Mariana was starting to look a little green.
"Yes plural but don't worry they won't inject you with anything. It's just a surface scratch. And they might have a different way to do the test now a days." Lena tried to take control of the situation. At this rate they would have problems getting all of them there, not just Callie
"Any more questions or concerns?" Stef asked. "Yes? No? Ok, good. As you we're!" Stef told the teens.
They all dispersed and went back to what they we're doing.
The moms decided to go check on Callie to see how she was doing. When they got to her room they noticed that she had a little sweat on her forehead. "Lena?" Stef looked at her wife with worried eyes. "What do you think?"
"Let's check her temperature and we can take it from there." Lena didn't want to wake the teen. She needed rest but if she did have a fever then they had to call the doctor to see what they wanted them to do.
Stef got the thermometer and put it in Callie's ear trying not to wake her. When it beeped she held it up to Lena to see. "100º that's a low grade fever. What should we do?"
"We have Leslie's cel number let's call her and ask." Leslie was the kids pediatrician. She had been taking care of brandon since he was a baby and the twins since they were adopted. Callie and jude have had their physicals with her, so they knew her a little and Callie somewhat trusted her. She new about Callies needle fear and other problems they've had with her.
Stef pulls out her cell, walks to her bedroom and dials her friends number. Hello Leslie? Hi It's Stef.
"Oh, hi Stef how are you?" Leslie Carlson said.
"Oh I'm doing good. How are you?" Stef asked to be polite. She wanted to get to the point.
"Great, great. So what can I do for you?" Leslie asked.
"Well I'm sorry to call on the weekend but we seem to have a problem with Callie…" Stef said hesitantly.
"Really? What happened?" She didn't like getting these calls on her days off but the Fosters where dear friends of hers.
"Well yesterday she was stung by a bee. And it turns out she's severely allergic. She went into anaphylactic shock." Stef informed her friend.
"Oh no, I'm so sorry to hear that. How is she?" Leslie knew what Callie had gone through and felt terrible. It's was always something.
"Well at the hospital the sting site got infected and she had a pretty high fever. They gave her antibiotics and a fever reducer. Lena and I wiped her down with cool compresses and we we're able to get her fever to break. Before she went down for a nap we checked her temperature and it was 99.8º." Stef told her everything that happened.
"Ok, is she not feeling well now? How did she feel before bed?" Leslie asked. She had gone into doctor mode.
"Before bed she said she was just tired. She's asleep now but when we came to check on her we noticed that she had sweat on her forehead. When we checked her temperature it's 100º flat." Stef was worried.
"I see. Well I'm not really doing anything at the moment so if you guys want I can stop by the house and check on her. From there we can decide if she's ok to wait until Monday or if we have to get her to the ER." Leslie advised.
"You would do that? Thank you so much." Stef was grateful that she could come.
"Yeah sure, I'll be there in about 15 min." Leslie said
"Thank you so much. Again I'm really sorry to bother you on the weekend." Stef apologized.
"It's no problem at all. What are friends for. Plus Callie hate's hospitals. If I can make her more comfortable by checking her at home, I will." The doctor stated.
"Ok well, I'll see you in a bit. Thank you again." Stef was so relieved that she would be coming over. "Bye."
"Bye." Leslie replied.
As Stef makes her way back into callies room she sees her wife's worried expression. She had a wet towel on their daughter's head. "What's wrong? Is everything ok?"
"What did Leslie say?" Lena asked without taking her eyes off Callie.
"That she's on her way. Why what's wrong? Did she get worst?" Stef asked in a panic.
"No she's still asleep. She hasn't made a peep." Lena changed the cloth on her daughter's forehead.
"Then why do you look so worried?" The blond asked.
"Because I just want her to have a normal childhood. She's just a kid but she doesn't catch a break. Nothing is black and white with her. It's never easy for her. She has to work hard for everything. She's so strong… I would have probably given up by now if I were her. But she just keeps getting up every time." Lena said sadly.
"She's a fighter. We just have to love her through it all and give her all our support." Stef wanted to comfort her wife.
Lena nodded her head and kept wetting the towel she was using.
"I'm going to wait downstairs for Leslie." Stef told her wife.
"Ok." Lena said absentmindedly. She kept changing the cloth on Callie's forehead while Stef left the room and went downstairs to wait for the doctor.
Sorry for taking so long in updating the story. With work and the holidays I just don't seem to have time. I promise I'm going to try to update more often.