Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Person Who Took Me Out On Valentine's Day

While visiting my in-laws in Łódż a couple weekends ago, we decided to take advantage of the free babysitting (not that we ever pay for babysitting...) and go on an early Valentine's date.  

On the way to our destination Greg snacked on a bag of hazelnuts.  He's a lover of all nuts and has always eaten them.  Quite a lot.  As he drove and ate I asked, "Did you eat that whole bag!?!"  

It was really only 100grams (I think), but I could never eat that many nuts in one sitting.  He replied, "It was a small bag!" while tipping the last few nuts into his mouth."  

Within less than a minute his nose started running like crazy.  He had to pull over to take care of it.  He felt very weird and congested and couldn't believe how suddenly the feeling had come on.  Although he'd never experienced anything like it, we realized it must have been an allergic reaction.

I was a little worried it would get worse and suggested we go back home.  Or maybe to the emergency room.  He said he'd be fine and we continued to Manufaktura.  When we got there we bought a box of tissues and he took some essential oils and we headed to a neat little cafe and ate cake.

It was hard to talk about anything but his reaction.  Especially because I got in the car with a man that was approximately this dashing:


And then found myself sitting across the table from an alien man that was approximately this dashing.


Yikes!  Poor guy.  The swelling was gone by the next afternoon, but unfortunately he won't be eating nuts, probably ever again. Or seeds, as he learned when he ate bread with sunflower seed in it.  (or "shine seeds" as Aaron calls them).

After reading on the subject he learned that sometimes it is just a matter of the amount you eat.  You could eat, for example, 90 grams of nuts and be fine, but if you ate another 10 grams you might have the reaction.  He wishes he'd stopped eating when I asked about it (although I was only a little surprised, and didn't mean to criticize).  Seriously that last 5 nuts probably made all the difference.  He swears he'll start taking what I say into greater consideration.  :)

9 comments:

Stephanie said...

Oh boy. I have a nut allergy kid, and Greg's lucky the reaction was only swelling.

Makes for a funny memory though, doesn't it?

Carolyn V said...

Oh no! I'm allergic to certain nuts too and at first I started swelling, but now I can't breath when I eat them. =( I'm so glad he was okay!!!

Love the pictures though. It's amazing what a little allergy can do to someone!

lesa said...

Reactions can be scary! I'm glad he is okay.

Kazzy said...

Oh. My. Gosh! Poor guy!

Susan said...

Okay, you have me sooooo scared. I love nuts. So does Tom, even more. So does this mean Greg can't eat ANY nuts EVER AGAIN?! Que lastima!

I love the sunshiney name Aaron calls sunflower seeds.

I've looked and looked at that picture. Is it really Greg? I feel so stupid, but like stupid: duh it IS Greg, or just as easily: duh, it ISN'T Greg!

Anonymous said...

Forget special effects or movie make-up! The next time Tom Cruise needs a disguise in a Mission Impossible movie...just give him a big bag of nuts.-Suzanne Millar

Anonymous said...

Got to say, Lisa, I LOVE YOUR TITLES. I know this has nothing to do with the actual post, but I scrolled down through them and your titles are awesome.

I want to read (like) everything you write.

Good work.
Sebastian

Erin said...

I think Greg should at least carry some benadryl with him. Hazelnuts are in a lot of stuff in Poland! Is he still good with peanuts since they are in the legume family?

Anonymous said...

Ooh! Scary! (Although, I didn't think his picture looked all that bad. But I imagine in person, it freaked you out. It would for me!)

I once had my face swell and tingle and it scared me to death!