Our First Monster Jam Didn’t Happen: A Story About Croup, Allergies, and Parenting

My son and I were getting ready to go to our first ever Monster Jam at SoFi Stadium.  It was Friday and we were going the next day.  We played with monster trucks and ramps in the play room as we pretended to be the Monster Jam trucks we would see the next day.

Z had a mild cold, but seemed like he would be fine to go to the event the next day.  Z has some health issues, but nothing that is overly concerning.  Since he was probably one, cold could turn into pretty bad asthma attacks for him, and his lungs would have tons of junk in them.  We typically need to use an inhaler, nebulizer and steroid inhaler at home to treat what would be a normal cold for our daughter that lasts 2 days.  When Z was 2 ½ we also found out that he has a tree nut allergy and is “severely” allergic to at least cashews and pistachios as well as some other tree nuts.  I put severely in quotes as I always though severe allergies meant if someone is eating a peanut on an airplane your kid could stop breathing.  He had two anaphylactic responses to tree nuts, but neither had to do with breathing—he threw up and had some swelling/ itching on his face.  These two reactions together deem it an anaphylactic response.  But apparently, though not as common for tree nut allergies as peanut allergies per say, each anaphylactic response can get worse and worse for kids.  So, Z may have an anaphylactic response that does cause breathing difficulty—which is scary.  This world is all so nuanced though and it doesn’t seem like any Allergist or specialist truly understands it. 

So in the early days of Z’s allergy if something said “Made in a facility that also processes tree nuts” we said.. F it.. let’s give it to him he doesn’t have it soo bad.

So back to Friday.. we have friends over and there is ice cream that is processed in a facility with tree nuts.. I give it to Z thinking, I need to be less crazy about this.  We have an epi pen and he’s normally fine.  Everything is fine with him that night.  I should also note that allergic reactions typically happen instantly or within at least 30 minutes- from what doctors have told us.

So Friday night I hear an odd sound coming from Z’s room.  Like a bark.. A sound I had never heard before come out of him.  It didn’t make sense why it would be an allergic reaction but that’s the first place my mind went.  I ran him into my bedroom where my wife was sleeping and woke her up.  We quickly gave him his inhalers (steroid and albuterol) and set up his nebulizer as it was obviously breathing.  We then frantically tried to Google things to figure out what was making breathing so hard.  As I ran downstairs to get him Benadryl in case it was allergic my brother woke up (who lives downstairs) and asked if we need help.  I told him to call 911.

Z continued to struggle to catch his breath and had the barking sound.  I had been preparing myself to use an epi pen since we got one, and it felt like now was the time.  Looking back this part is actually comedic.  I pull out the epi pen and breathe deeply, Z and my wife’s eyes get really big—like.. what are you going to do with that.  I take another deep breath and jam it into my sons thigh as he looks at me with a “WTF are you doing bro” look and screams “Owwwwww”. 

It took the ambulance 10-15 minutes to get to our house which was the longest 10-15 minutes of my life.  When they got there, some relief instantly came realizing these people likely knew what was going on.  Pretty instantly when they got there they realized it was croup.  Z was having stridor so they decided to take him to our local hospital.  The medicine started to work. I believe they gave him dexamethasone and oxygen.  Perhaps some nebulized epinephrine too.  

Z did have another croup episode about 4 months later.  This time we brough him into the shower instantly as he tried to catch his breath and called 911 sooner.  He was coughing so hard with stridor, the poor guy threw up.  They checked on him and said we could likely take him to the ER ourselves, as he was getting better with their nebulizer (which we didn’t have since we were at my in-laws.).

The main reason I wanted to make this post though was to share what I’ve now learned about croup and to make other parents with children with croup feel a little better. None of this is medical advice- just what I’ve noticed worked for our son.

1. This sh*t is scary.  So sorry if you went through something like we did or if it was better/ worse.  When you’ve never heard or seen this- it’s so scary to see your kid go through it.  It is paralyzing. 

2. Cold air did truly seem to work better than the hot shower.. when we went outside the next time to take him to the ER he seemed to get a lot better. If he has another attach- I will likely wake up my wife and tell her to get inhalers (since he has asthma I feel like he needs these too) while I take him outside to the car.  From there I would have my wife and daughter just drive with us to the ER which is 15-20 minutes away with the windows down.  Kaiser won’t give us dexamethasone and nebulized epinephrine and he always needs it- so it would be better to get to the ER right away.

3. Any time he has a cold coming on we give him his steroid inhaler which is supposed to help keep his airways open.  I also will put a humidifier in his room and make sure it is very cold in there either through our AC or leaving a window open.

4. Approximately 360,000 children aged 1-3 years in the U.S. develop croup annually:

a. Around 18,000-54,000 children (5-15%) go to the ER. 

b. Around 18,000 children (5%) are hospitalized due to severe cases.

c. Of those hospitalized, between 180 and 540 children (1–3%) require intubation.

I do wonder if it would make sense to create a nebulizer that produces chilled air for when the temperature is hot outside-- but for the time being, I feel safe with our plan of action above.

Note: The information provided in this post is for informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a healthcare professional for personalized guidance.