Ramblin’ Prose

The last time a teacher called me on my cell phone during a school day, Abby had forgotten her EpiPen. On Friday, I got a call that she was having chest pains. The voicemail her teacher left (she was substituting for the day and has a child in Abby’s class with food allergies) left a chill.

When I called back, the teacher was on the phone with Susan, another sure sign that this was serios.

One thing went through my mind at that moment: I was a sh* head. Let me explain.

Thursday night, we ate fish with seafood stuffing. I didn’t want to give Abby any at first. Why? Well, the last time we had her checked for allergies, she tested positive for an allergy to crab. She’s been allergic to peanuts since she was very young. But over the years, her allergies have changed. Her last test said she was no longer allergic to beef, pork, lamb and eggs. But she had a sensitivity to crab.

The seafood stuffing with Thursday night’s tilapia had crab in it. But, knowing that most of the “crab” they put in the store-bought stuff was a white fish with crab flavoring, I was reasonably sure that it would be safe. And she loves it. She’s had it before without any adverse affects. So we let her have it.

Now mind you, when she’s reacted to peanuts, the effect builds over time. A few months ago we had to take her to urgent care because she’d ingested peanuts at her after-school program. It was an accident. She showed the telltale signs then: swelling, watery eyes, trouble breathing, etc. They zapped her with epinephrine and she was fine almost immediately. It was her first scare from peanuts since she was diagnosed way back before she was 2.

She’s never experienced chest pains before without labored breathing. I figured it was my fault for letting her have the seafood.

I rushed out of the office while on the phone with Susan. My wife thought it might be asthma. Abby does experience trouble breathing with extreme exertion and has been known to cough uncontrollably when our rambunctious play (tickling mostly) goes overboard sometimes.

When I got to school, I was happy to see that she did not have the classic signs of food allergy distress. And she wasn’t having trouble breathing. But the chest pains remained. They’d come and go, but they were there.

To be on the safe side, I took her home and watched her, EpiPen at the ready. Susan made an appointment to see Abby’s pediatrician in the afternoon. When we got there, I went over all the possible causes I could think of. But it was none of those.

The word Costochondritis sounds kind of scary. When I said it to Susan without explanation, she gasped. What is Costochondritis?

In two words, growing pains.

Costochondritis is an inflammation of the junctions where the upper ribs join with the cartilage that holds them to the breastbone or sternum. The condition causes localized chest pain that you can reproduce by pushing on the cartilage in the front of your ribcage. Costochondritis is a relatively harmless condition and usually goes away without treatment. The cause is usually unknown.

* Costochondritis (with unknown cause) is a common cause of chest pain in children and adolescents. It accounts for 10-30% of all chest pain in children. Annually, doctors evaluate about 650,000 cases of chest pain in young people 10-21 years of age. The peak age for the condition is 12-14 years. [Via eMedicineHealth]

We’re very relieved. And very lucky. Abby and Camille both remain relatively illness free. Abby doesn’t complain lightly. Camille will pull the sympathy card from time to time, which means we’re a little more skeptical when she complains. She got away with a big one a few months back when Abby was sick. She paid for that TV watching when she should have been in school. But we generally take Abby at her word.

And we’re glad we do.