The Allergic Kid

Betsy DeVos, Disability Law, and the Time I Applied to Florida's Model Voucher Program for My Food Allergy Kid

2017-02-01T18:32:00.000-05:00

Photo courtesy Wikipedia.

Hi, again.

I was gone from the blog for all of 2016 while dealing with the messiness that real life sent my way. My husband tested that bit about "in sickness and in health" with over half a dozen surgical procedures. Meanwhile, my son has hit both middle school and puberty, and...wowza. If your kids are still little, all I can say is brace yourselves.

I'm back, though, because those of us with food allergy children are facing some alarming changes in the way that established disability laws are going to be administered by the Department of Education.

I've always avoided discussing politics here because I want everyone to feel welcome. Occasionally I've dipped my toes into specific policies which affect our community. Today I'm going to take a much deeper dive, and ask you to come along with me. Please take the time to hear out my very personal story.

On my blog and public social media, I have two rules to protect my son's privacy. I've never used his name and I've never mentioned any of his medical issues other than his food allergies and asthma. Today I'm going to break the second one because I need to speak out to protect him.

My son is what is referred to in school disability accommodations as a "2E," a double exceptionality. What that means is that he takes the elevator instead of the stairs to get to his advanced math class. There he is allowed extra time to take tests and has permission to use his phone to take pictures of the information on the board, rather than copy it down. He doesn't have a 504 plan for his food allergies because he already has a ten page IEP, which has the additional four pages of his Individual Health Plan attached to it.

To say that I'm invested in the Department of Education's policies in regard to kids with disabilities, is something of an understatement.

You may have heard the news yesterday that Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, was confirmed by Senate Committee and will now be voted upon by the full chamber, despite her performance in the committee hearings.

DeVos shocked some education policy wonks tonight when she suggested that states should decide when schools must comply with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act....The discussion began when Sen. Tim Kaine asked DeVos whether all schools that receive taxpayer funding should be required to meet the requirements of special education law.
"I think that is a matter better left to the states," DeVos responded. The exchange prompted gasps from some watching the confirmation. Sen. Maggie Hassan then followed up, noting that IDEA is federal law and "federal law must be followed where federal dollars are in play."
"Were you unaware that it is federal law?" Hassan asked.
"I may have confused it," DeVos said.
"I'm concerned that you seem so unfamiliar with it," Hassan said, adding that some private school voucher programs supported by DeVos aren't honoring students' rights under IDEA.
DeVos said that if confirmed, she'll be sensitive to the needs of students under the law.
"It is not about sensitivity," Hassan said. "It is ensuring that every child has equal access to a high-quality education. The reality is the vouchers that you support do not always come out that way."

The entire Politico article is important reading, but the two items I want to highlight are Betsy DeVos' complete lack of familiarity with disability law and her advocacy for voucher programs.

Section 504 gives children with disabilities the right to a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), while the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008 (ADAAA) specified that "hidden disabilities," such as food allergies, must be included in disability protections. In addition, IDEA, the Individuals with Disabilities Act, mandates services that children must receive for specific disabilities. The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education enforces those rights.

Betsy DeVos' is clearly unqualified to enforce the laws that allow our children to attend school safely.

Her education background is as a proponent for charter schools and voucher programs, including McKay Scholarships, the Florida voucher program for K-12 students with disabilities, which DeVos briefly mentioned in the hearing, and were criticized by Sen. Hassan as requiring parents to sign away IDEA protections. It's worth noting that Maggie Hassan originally entered politics as an advocate for her son with cerebral palsy.

Fortunately, I applied for a McKay Scholarship for my son a few years ago, so I can tell you exactly how well this type of program worked for our food allergy kid.

At the time, the program offered up to approximately $14K for students with disabilities to use toward private school tuition per year. The amount each student receives is based upon the number of services that a student uses. My son qualified for about $10K. I checked into nearby private schools, and found a lovely Montessori school which cost about $16K a year.

That's the first obvious problem. These programs are only designed to help upper and some middle class families, not lower income or ones that rely on public school buses to transport their children.

That $6,000 difference was too much of a stretch for us, but we have some amazing family members who have regularly helped us with our child's outrageous medical expenses. I felt them out, and they encouraged us to apply.

After going through the entire interview and application process, my son was turned down. Partly because the school did not think he was self directed enough (a fair assessment at the time), but primarily because they did not feel that they could keep him safe because of his food allergies.

Let me repeat that. It is legal for a private school to turn down a student because the administration does not want to put food allergy accommodations in place. If a school does accept a child with disabilities, including food allergies, whose tuition is being even partially paid with public funds, the parents are required to sign away their child's legal protections.

This is what Betsy DeVos wants our education tax dollars to fund. I cannot urge you strongly enough to call both your senators, especially the Republicans, and urge them to vote against her appointment.

I am truly glad to be back on the blog, despite the frightening circumstances which brought me here, and hope to get back to the recipes soon. If you choose to leave a comment, thank you! Be aware, though, I will not approve abuse or off topic political commentary.

Back to School Lunches!

2015-09-11T15:00:00.000-04:00

The Kid has just started middle school (gulp), and we've had all the bobbles and glitches you might expect when taking such a huge step. One thing that hasn't changed is that I'm still packing a daily lunchbox. Here's three lunches from the first couple weeks of school.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

For the first day I packed a burrito stuffed with homemade refried beans, rice, tomato, and corn. On the side are a few corn chips and mandarin oranges in a silicone cup with a food pick, because I wasn't ready with fresh fruit on the first day. (I did manage to track down the school's new nurse, who was assigned less than a week before the start of the year, and get my kiddo's food allergy accommodations sorted out, so I'm cutting myself some slack.)

Please let me know in the comments if you might be interested in my recipe for the refried beans!

Take a look at the EasyLunchbox with the orange lid in the photo. Now say goodbye to it, since my overwhelmed child left it at school in a brand new insulated lunch bag, and neither have been seen again.

The next lunchbox has 4 mini heart shaped sandwiches. I used a sandwich cutter on 2 slices of homemade Honey Oat Bread to make the hearts, then filled them with Sunbutter, banana, and honey. On the side are some nice fresh grapes and a pair of Surf Sweets Watermelon Rings.

This last lunchbox never even made it to school, since our family has been hit hard by a cold bug and I kept my little germ factory home for a few days. We're not even 3 weeks into the school year and have already exceeded last year's total mucous production.

It contains 2 triangles of leftover tomato and oregano pizza, apple slices soaked in orange juice to keep them from browning, and Jello Jigglers made in a LEGO ice cube mold. I used cooking spray on the mold, and the little LEGO bricks came out like a charm. One caution if you decide to try something similar: the packaging only rated the mold for up to 140°F. After I mixed 2/3 C boiling water and a 3 oz package of Jello, I used a thermometer to track the temperature while stirring until it had cooled enough to pour. The mold was fairly small, so I also had my Star Wars mold greased up and ready for the excess. The jiggly LEGOs were a huge hit with my son, and I will definitely be making them again.

Now for the unsolicited testimonial. There are some truly high quality lunch boxes on the market, but until my child becomes responsible enough to stop losing his things, I will continue to buy the equally well designed EasyLunchboxes at 4 for $14. I simply cannot afford to spend $30 a pop for a lunchbox that may or may not make it to the lost and found bin.

I wish all of you a safe and productive school year, and hope yours starts more smoothly than ours has!

Education Isn't a Special Right

2015-09-07T14:48:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest worries for parents of food allergic children is preventing a potentially life threatening reaction at school. Sometimes the steps a school takes to create a safe environment for our kids lead to controversy, especially peanut bans.

Recently a blogger wrote an inflammatory post titled "12 Reasons Why Peanut Free Schools Are Not Okay." (I'm not going to link to anyone who argues that accommodating the "special needs" of another child "sends a terrible message to normal and healthy children." Google it if you must.) It was widely shared on Facebook and the comments responding to it resembled a pro wrestling match refereed by Jerry Springer.

This type of outrage bait pops up pretty regularly, and the writers always use the same tired set of food allergy tropes. In the hope of spreading more light and less heat, here is my own list in response. Please feel free to use it the next time you're fighting the urge to chuck a virtual chair at someone's head.

1. "What about my child's rights?"

Welcome to the false equivalency, in which a parent magically creates a "right to feed my child peanut butter" to counter the food allergic child's actual, federally mandated right to receive a public education.

Whether the accommodation in question is restricting foods or requiring hand washing, the purpose is to make it possible for the child to attend school safely, just as accommodations are made for children with other disabilities.

Protesting a peanut ban is like complaining that your child is forced to walk around a wheelchair ramp or that a diabetic child is allowed to eat a snack at a time your child can't.

2. "Your kid should be responsible for managing their own allergies."

This is the argument of the pseudo Darwinist, who will tell you that the world won't adapt to your child. So stop the coddling and teach your kid to suck it up, because life isn't fair.

Guess what? Adults don't have someone to hold their hands and carefully guide them across the street when the light turns green, but that doesn't mean we allow toddlers out into traffic to fend for themselves.

Young children have almost no sense of personal space or personal hygiene. They indiscriminately touch (and often taste) each other and everything around them. Peanut and tree nut bans are sometimes the only practical way to manage these food allergies in preschool, kindergarten, and lower grade levels.

3. "What about kids with other food allergies?"

Don't mistake this supposed concern for other children as anything other than the classic slippery slope. If the school bans peanuts today, it will ban milk and strawberries tomorrow! Soon our children will only be allowed to have water!

There are too many tragic reasons for school policies specific to peanuts. In the last few years, peanuts have overtaken milk as the most common food allergy. They are responsible for over half of the approximately 30,000 emergency room visits and 200 deaths caused by food allergies each year in the United States, all of which are preventable.

4. "Why don't you just homeschool?"

Because I don't want to. Please refer back to my child's right to a public education.

5. "What about kids who will only eat peanut butter?"

If your child is fixated on the creamy goodness of PB & J to the exclusion of all other foods, let me introduce you to the world of peanut butter alternatives. There are spreads made from soy beans, pea protein, tree nuts, and various seeds, such as sunflower and pumpkin.

6. "Peanut butter is an inexpensive protein. What about parents on a tight budget?"

Peanut bans at school do not prevent parents from feeding their child the most economical option at home. For families struggling to buy groceries, free and reduced price lunches are available through the National School Lunch Program. Many school districts will allow you to apply for them online through ApplyForLunch.com.

The good news is that although I frequently encounter disregard for my child's life on the internet, I have personally been met with almost nothing but kindness from other parents in real life. A few years ago one mother told me how her child requested that she stop making him peanut butter sandwiches to help keep my son safe. I almost burst into tears.

Food allergies bring overwhelming stress to the families living with them. Perhaps they are also teaching compassion to the generation of children growing up with our food allergy kids, despite the parents who do not choose to practice it themselves.

Pizza Lunchbox For Food Allergy Awareness Week

2015-05-15T14:02:00.000-04:00

The only day of the week that my son wishes he could eat the school cafeteria lunch is Friday, or as it's better known, Pizza Day. Since this is the one school meal he asks me to match, I usually keep a stash of little home made pizzas in the freezer. I've tried a couple different ways to make and freeze mini pizzas and calzones, but a small veggie pie seems to be the winner.

This one has tomato, mushroom, and spinach, and is tucked into an Easy Lunchbox with grapes and a Yoda Jello Jiggler. (Unfortunately, Yoda doesn't really show up in the photo.) Jello may not be my first choice nutritionally, but my kiddo is terrible about drinking enough fluids. As the temperature here in Florida creeps up, I try to compensate by making him more soups, smoothies...and Jello. I found a Star Wars Jiggler Mold Kit on the clearance table of my grocery store, and have been putting it to good use ever since.

All of May is Food Allergy Awareness Month, so be sure to check out some of the resources to educate while showing your teal pride from FARE and Kids with Food Allergies!

Disclosure: Post contains affiliate links.

Peanut Allergy Moms Needed to Take Survey!

2015-03-09T11:00:00.000-04:00

I received a request for help finding participants for a peanut allergy study from Adrienne Cotaya, a masters of nursing student at Southeastern Louisiana University. She needs mothers of kids with peanut allergies to fill out a 9 question survey. Ladies, can we help her out?

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/peanutallergystudy

March 3, 2015

Dear Participant:

I am writing to request your participation in a survey, which is part of a research project I am conducting in partial fulfillment of the required course work for the Master of Science in Nursing program at Southeastern Louisiana University. The purpose of this survey is to examine the relationship between maternal peanut consumption during pregnancy and the development of peanut allergies in children.

Please use the link provided below to access the survey on Survey Monkey. It would be greatly appreciated if you complete the survey by March 20, 2015. Participation in this study is completely voluntary. There are no known risks from participating in this study, except for mild frustration, sometimes associated with participation in a survey. You do not have to answer every question and you may quit at any time. By completing the survey, voluntary consent is implied. The survey is expected to take approximately 10 minutes of your time. The information provided through this survey is strictly anonymous. No identifying information will be collected. The survey responses will be downloaded and stored on a password-protected computer to which only the researcher will have access. Survey responses will be evaluated for statistically significant associations. Findings may be included in future publications.

For any questions regarding your rights as a research participant, you may contact Dr. Michelle Hall, Chair of the Southeastern Louisiana University Institutional Review Board at985-549-2077. If you have any questions regarding this survey, please contact me, Adrienne Cotaya (225) 572-6189 or my course faculty Dr. Lorinda Sealey at(985) 549-5045.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/peanutallergystudy

Thank you in advance,

Adrienne Cotaya, RN, BSN, FNP-Student

Southeastern Louisiana University

Graduate Nursing Program

Cranberry Orange Scones

2015-01-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Scones may conjure up images of fancy pastries and afternoon tea parties, but they are actually just glorified biscuits. These simple, vegan cranberry orange scones are one of our weekend morning favorites.

To create an allergy friendly treat for our kiddo, I adapted this scone recipe from King Arthur Flour by making them egg and milk free. If you are unable to use dairy free margarine, I would suggest trying either coconut oil or a shortening such as Spectrum instead.

Cranberry Orange Scones

(Printable version here.)

Dry Ingredients:
1 3/4 Cups l purpose flour
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Additional Ingredients:
6 Tablespoons non-dairy margarine
1/2 Cup dried cranberries
zest of one orange (optional)
1/2 Cup orange juice

Topping:
1 Tablespoon orange juice
1-3 teaspoons sugar, preferably demerara or other raw sugar

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (That's a 10" by 15" sheet in the photos, but use what you have.) Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl and whisk together. I cheat and use my pastry cutter to stir for fewer dishes. Slice margarine into small cubes and work into flour mixture with a pastry cutter or a large fork until the texture resembles corn meal.

Add cranberries and zest and toss them in the flour mixture until evenly distributed. Pour orange juice into mixture and stir. Initially the liquid may not appear sufficient, but persevere until the ingredients are combined into a firm ball, kneading together if necessary.

Lightly dust hands and work surface with flour, move dough onto it, and gently pat the dough flat. Another cheat: I work the dough right on the baking sheet. Fold dough in half, pat flat, and repeat five or six times, dusting hands and surface with flour again as needed. Round dough into a ball again and move onto the baking sheet if not already there.

Cut the dough into 8 wedges and move them apart. If the dough is too thick or the slices too close together, the scones will not cook all the way through and will be gummy in the center. Brush orange juice on the top and sprinkle with sugar. You can make it a light dusting or a thick crunchy coating if you prefer. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve hot or cold. They are best eaten the same day they are made.

Traveling with Food Allergies: Packing Meals for Three Days

2014-07-30T08:00:00.000-04:00

When we've gone on vacation with our son in the past, we've either flown to a relative's home with a full kitchen for me to use or taken a road trip with our electric cooler plugged into the dash and occupying a full half of the back seat. This summer my son and I made a trip to New York by air, where we would be staying at a hotel with only a refrigerator and a microwave.

I needed foods that packed well and that my picky eater would consume without complaint. After some deliberation, I tried to simplify the project by repeating the same foods for all three days, using containers that would stack with each other for the trip home, and by freezing parts of the meals themselves, instead of using ice packs.

For breakfasts I baked bagels, which I froze and packed individually in sandwich baggies. Each had two small packs of Sunbutter, a plastic knife, a paper towel to heat and eat it on, and some wax paper to separate the bagel from its accoutrements.

The next meals were packed into Easy Lunchboxes and contained Sunbutter and jelly sandwiches on homemade bread, which I cut into squares, slid onto a wooden coffee stirrer with wax paper between them, and froze, plus a tube of apple sauce, a frozen chocolate chip blondie, a little box of raisins, a roll of homemade strawberry apple fruit leather, and a napkin.

For dinners I kept it simple by bringing three frozen calzones in Chinese carry out containers. I used my usual pizza dough, which I stuffed with sauteed onions, red bell pepper, mushrooms, and spinach. (I am fully aware of the irony of bringing bagels and calzones to New York.)

The bagels all fit into a lunch bag, the lunches into an Easy Lunchbox cooler bag, and the calzones into a freebie baby formula bag, which I also slipped four apple juice boxes into. All three insulated bags went into duffel, along with a letter from my son's allergist, explaining that he needed to carry food, beverages, and EpiPens. Our clothes, which were much less of a priority, shared the other carry on suitcase.

New York was an awesome place to visit and my kiddo had a great time, but we had a far more serious reason to go to all this trouble for a short trip.

I have some truly amazing news to share.

One of the most promising areas of medical research into a cure for food allergies has been the studies being done at Mt. Sinai into an herbal formula developed by Dr. Xiu-Min Li from traditional Chinese medicine. The initial trials have gone extremely well, and Dr. Li has begun accepting private practice patients.

Last week my son saw Dr. Li and began a two to three year course of herbal treatment that may be able to cure his food allergies.

That's a story that will have to wait for another blog post, though.

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Petition to WhiteHouse.gov: Direct the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of all food ingredients in prescription medications.

2014-06-04T16:17:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I posted about how I discovered that my son has been taking a daily medication that contains an ingredient to which he has a life threatening allergy. After some additional research, I've discovered this wasn't due to an oversight, but rather a flaw in the system which provides drugs to patients.

Too many of us in the United States manage food allergies and intolerences to allow this to continue. I've started a petition on WhiteHouse.gov to ask the Obama administration to take action to fix this problem. Here's the full text:

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Direct the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of all food ingredients in prescription medications.

15 million Americans have food allergies, 3 million have celiac disease, and an unknown number have additional food sensitivities. Currently pharmacies are not required to ask patients about food allergies and intolerences or to provide information about food ingredients in medications. We ask the Obama administration to direct the Food and Drug Adminstration to:

1. Require prescription medications be labeled for all ingredients derived from food, such as milk, corn, soy, and nuts.

2. Require pharmacies to ask for and record customers' food allergies and intolerences and check them against the ingredients in the medications they dispense.

3. Direct drug manufacturers and distributers to put in place procedures to prevent cross-contamination of food ingredients in medications.

Thank you.

We have until July 4th to gather 100,000 signatures. If we reach that goal, the White House will issue a formal response and hopefully take action, especially since the First Family is directly impacted by food allergies.

Please share this petition. Share it on Facebook, Twitter, G+ and Tumblr. Share it with your friend with celiac disease, Tell the mom whose child is on a GFCF diet. Let all your coworkers know.

Let's get the word out!

Caution: CVS Pharmacy Providing Incorrect Medication Ingredients

2014-06-03T13:27:00.000-04:00

In my seemingly never ending quest to determine why my son has been having mysterious symptoms of anaphylaxis since last year, I make a point of reading every single label every single time. I have called countless manufacturers and eliminated food after food if there was any possibility of cross-contamination. I also read the label of every single medication that is prescribed to him.

Last week my kiddo's gastroenterologist prescribed a new med to try to contain his symptoms. Unlike the typical pill bottles, this one came in the original packaging. When, as usual, I checked the ingredients on the medication guide, I discovered that it listed lactose monohydrate, a milk sugar. Then I looked at the package itself and discovered that the capsules I had received did NOT actually contain this inactive ingredient.

The pills were generic, but the medication guide that CVS provided was for the brand name medication. It was wrong. The light bulb went off, and I wondered if the ingredient lists that I read diligently every month were for the wrong medications.

Yesterday I went to CVS and discovered that is exactly what has happened every time they fill my son's prescriptions with generic medications. I was right to be concerned. I discovered that one of the generics do contain lactose as an inactive ingredient. I contacted the pharmaceutical company that manufactures it today. The lactose is "bovine sourced". The medication contains cows milk.

CVS's failure to provide the correct medication information has caused me to give my child a pill containing an ingredient to which he has a life threatening allergy. Every single day.

I'm sure there will be more to this story, but for now, please make sure that the pharmacy filling your prescription is providing you with the information for the pills you actually receive, not another version of the medication.

Important Update: I've started a petition on WhiteHouse.gov to direct the Food and Drug Administration to require labeling of all food ingredients in prescription medications. Link to post about it here and direct link to the petition here!

Corn Chowder

2014-04-24T11:27:00.001-04:00

I grew up in the Midwest with the phrase "knee high by the Fourth of July" and ate fresh, crisp ears of corn at the end of every summer. Living in Florida now means that our seasonal vegetables are a little out of sync with most of the country. This week I found a springtime crop of sweet corn at the grocery store. The weather is still cool enough for hot soup, so I decided to make a pot of our favorite corn chowder and to experiment a bit by using corn broth as the liquid base.

The broth turned out to be remarkably simple and satisfying, not to mention a great new non dairy option for a rich soup. To make it I cut the kernels from four ears of corn and set them aside for the chowder. I broke the cobs in half so they would fit in the pot a little more easily and combined them with six cups of water. After simmering for an hour, I removed the cobs and had a quart of lovely golden liquid remaining. To save time, you can go ahead and chop and saute your vegetables while the broth simmers, or else refrigerate it to make a quick meal later.

To make a heartier broth, you can also include both the husks and the silk from the corn, as long as the brown bits are trimmed off first. I'm a fan of shucking the corn into the garbage bin that the produce department provides, so that less mess makes it through my front door, and I leave them out. If you do use them, though, you'll need to strain the liquid through a mesh sieve before using it.

If you don't have fresh corn on hand, don't hesitate to make this soup with frozen kernels and coconut milk instead! It's warm, filling and delicious, with a natural sweetness that appeals even to my finicky kid.

Corn Chowder

(Click here for printable version.)

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 stalk celery, finely diced
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves or 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
4 Cups corn broth (see notes above) OR 2 Cups coconut milk and 2 Cups water
kernels from 4 ears of corn OR 2 Cups frozen corn kernels
2 medium gold potatoes, finely chopped
kosher salt to taste

Pour olive oil into a large, heavy bottomed pan over medium heat. Once hot, add onion, bell pepper, celery and a large pinch of kosher salt. Saute while stirring occasionally until softened, about 10 minutes.

Stir in thyme leaves, then add liquids. Mix in corn and potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 to 30 minutes or until the corn and potatoes reach desired tenderness. Taste and adjust salt. Serve hot.

I'm sharing my golden soup with:

Meatless Monday with Bento for Kidlet,
Allergy Friendly Wednesdays at Real Food Allergy Free,
Gluten Free Wednesdays with The Gluten Free Homemaker,
Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop,
What's Cooking Wednesday at Turning Back the Clock,
Gluten Free Fridays with Vegetarian Mamma and
Real Food Fridays at Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen.

Banana Crackers Lunchbox

2014-04-04T14:27:00.000-04:00

For years, one of my kiddo's favorite snacks, and occasionally meals, has been what we call Banana Crackers. Basically it's a graham cracker with a schmear of Sunbutter, a slice of banana and a raisin on top. Assembling them is as much fun as eating them, so I created a homemade Lunchable out of the ingredients.

All the Banana Cracker ingredients are in the main compartment of the Easy Lunchbox. The Sunbutter is in a Mini-Dipper container with a toddler spoon to scoop it out. (All my little plastic knives have disappeared from the kitchen...) I presliced the half banana, but left it in the peel The graham crackers and little box of raisins are in a green silicone cup that came from the awesome lunchbox stash I won from Keeley McGuire, so I'm afraid I don't know where to find them!

On the side are a clementine orange in a square silicone cup and a Double Chocolate Brownie Bite cookie in a round one. The orange is already peeled and sectioned to encourage my son to actually eat it in his limited lunch time, especially since the rest of his lunch requires assembly.

I'm sharing this lunch with:

What's for Lunch Wednesday at BentoLunch.net,
Fun Food Friday at Eats Amazing and
Bento of the Week at Bento Blog Network. (Ironically they are having a peanut butter round up. I think this qualifies!)

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Love Remembers. Fear Never Forgets.

2014-03-31T14:23:00.000-04:00

When I learned that today was planned as "Love Remembers Day" to celebrate and honor those lives lost to anaphylaxis from food allergies, my first reaction was, "How could I forget?"

When my son straps on his Epi-Pen belt in the morning, I remember that Sabrina Shannon left her Epis in her locker.

When he goes to school, I remember Ammaria Johnson ate a snack given to her on the playground.

When his class plans a party, I remember that Katelyn Carlson had Chinese carry out at a school celebration.

When I read an ingredient label, I remember that Jharrell Dillard ate a store bought cookie.

When we go shopping, I remember Emily Vonder Meulen's trip to the food court.

When we go out to eat, I remember BJ Hom's last meal was at a restaurant buffet.

When my son takes a bite of something and says his throat itches, I remember the delay in giving Natalie Giorgi epinephrine cost her life.

These children, and far too many others, haunt me every day. Thoughts of them are so painful that I actually avoid articles about and interviews with the families of someone lost to anaphylaxis. My own fears keep me from sharing their losses and acknowledging their amazing accomplishments.

Every time I see the parent of a child lost to food allergies publicly campaign to keep other children safe, I am astounded by their strength and love and dedication to their child's memory. I am not strong enough to survive a world that does not have my child in it, let alone improve it.

I still have not been able to make myself watch the documentary that Sabrina Shannon made herself about living with a food allergy. Yet her mother Sara Shannon advocated for Sabrina's Law and made all children with food allergies in Ontario safer.

When Emily Vonder Meulen's father, @GrievingDad, followed me on Twitter, I followed back, but was unable to make myself contact him. Paul, I am so sorry. My heart goes out to you and your family every day.

The 5K Memorial Run for BJ Hom organized by his family to raise funds for FARE is a tribute to them, as well as to him.

These families deserve all the love and support that we in the food allergy community can give them and their children deserve to be remembered as more than a cautionary tale.

Sabrina was a budding, talented film maker.

Ammaria loved school, her teachers and her friends.

Katelyn was a second degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and was often outdoors playing sports and going fishing.

Jharrell's family donated his organs and saved the lives of seven others with their selflessness.

Emily was planning a huge combination birthday and middle school graduation party for her and her friends.

BJ had just graduated high school and was getting ready for college.

Natalie loved to draw and wanted to be a neonatologist when she grew up.

They all deserved so much more. The very least we can do is remember.

A Visit with Kyle Dine

2014-03-28T17:59:00.000-04:00

Kyle Dine's music has been the soundtrack to my son's childhood. So when I found out the the food allergy educator would be touring in the southeastern U.S., I reached out, just in case he'd be in my area. To my happy surprise, not only was he coming through Tampa Bay, Kyle was planning to stay for a couple days so he could fulfill his dream of watching some of his hometown Toronto Blue Jays' spring training games.

My excited kiddo barely believed me when I broke the news. For a child with multiple, life threatening food allergies Kyle is, quite literally, a rock star. His joyful verses about avoiding allergens, wearing medic alert bracelets, carrying epinephrine and reading ingredient labels make my son's world a happier and safer place.

My child is fortunate to already have one food allergic adult in his life, since my brother is violently reactive to shellfish. Still, my kid made a point of telling Kyle the allergens they have in common: seafood, eggs and nuts, as well as the ones they didn't. I absolutely loved having my son's musical hero casually pull an epinephrine auto-injector out of his pocket and talk about safely and successfully navigating plane flights and baseball games.

When Kyle joined us for dinner one evening, I wanted to make sure he got a taste of Florida that someone with food allergies would not usually be able to enjoy. So I made chicken instead of fish tacos (recipe to come) and a vegan coconut key lime pie for dessert. Unfortunately I wasn't able to find safe cans of the thick coconut milk I usually use and had to make do with the much healthier kind from the carton, so it didn't gel quite right, but the pie was still a smash.

The highlight of the visit was the evening Kyle pulled out his guitar and played a mini concert. We even got to meet the puppets EpiMan and Epi, Jr, plus a new one, Chef Allergie. Despite my amateur video making, Kyle's musical talent and ability to connect with kids are easy to recognize, as is the happiness on my son's face.

Due to technical difficulties (my inability to put an SD card with sufficient memory in the camera), I was only able to capture one other song. It was also clearly a hit.

In a true act of dedication to a young fan, Kyle even managed to charm our pet ball python, Millie, but I don't think we were able to convince him to write a song about our hairless and dander free, ultimate allergy friendly pet. If you make it to one of the shows on the tour, Kyle may sing about Smellephant the Allergic Elephant instead. (Feel free to ask him how the song about Millie is coming along, though!)

Don't miss a chance to see Kyle perform live, if you are near any of his concerts. They are an uplifting experience for anyone with food allergies and a rollicking, highly educational event for anyone who doesn't. I thought my son was a huge fan before Kyle came to visit. Now he listens to both of Kyle's CDs constantly, singing along loudly, proud of the food allergy connection to his hero.

Click here for all the tour dates and locations!

I don't know of any other medical condition that has it's own musician. We are incredibly fortunate to have Kyle as an ambassador who educates and inspires with his music. His passion and dedication are part of the reason those of us living with food allergies aren't just a population with a shared diagnosis. We are a caring and welcoming community that absolutely rocks!

The Snack Shelf

2014-03-19T10:15:00.000-04:00

Raising a child with life threatening food allergies means walking a fine line between safety and increasing independence. Almost everything in my kitchen is safe for The Kid, but that doesn't mean that every item in the pantry is always appropriate or even within his reach.

My solution has been to create a designated snack shelf at my son's eye level that contains safe and reasonably healthy foods that he can help himself to without requesting assistance. (There's a bowl of fruit in the kitchen, too, but he usually ignores it.) I've also moved his old toddler dishes and cups onto the shelf, so that he isn't trying to get breakables out of a high cabinet.

We do ask our child not to eat while both my husband and I are sleeping, just in case he has a reaction. Sometimes he'll forget if he gets up early on Saturday morning, but for the most part, the snack shelf has worked well.

Now for a little tease....

We had a couple of wonderful guests for dinner last night, Kyle Dine and his dad, Steve. Kyle was kind enough to perform a few songs for us and I managed to get some of it on video. I'm looking forward to sharing them...just as soon as I can figure out the video editing software!

Burrito Lunchbox

2014-03-07T08:56:00.000-05:00

The Kid's lunch options have been somewhat limited lately, but he always loves burritos, even without tomatoes, garlic and cumin. This one has a wheat flour tortilla wrapped around leftover homemade refried beans, rice and corn. Grapes and plain corn tortilla chips are in the side compartments of his Easy Lunchbox.

I'm sharing today's lunch with:

What's for Lunch Wednesday at BentoLunch.net

Have a great weekend!

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

The Language of Anaphylaxis

2014-03-05T21:26:00.000-05:00

It began four or five months ago. Sometimes after eating in the evening, my kiddo would complain that his throat itched or his tummy hurt. Of course, I would prepare for full scale anaphylaxis. Several times there were additional symptoms. Hives on his face, tightness in his throat or the terrifying slurring in my child's speech that meant his tongue was starting to swell.

We made a few trips to the emergency room when the mystery reaction progressed beyond itchy throat and upset tummy. Our allergist ordered RAST testing for a some potential new allergens, but we couldn't make it an entire month without antihistamines, which can throw off the IgE levels, and it kept getting put off.

As the weeks went by, the frequency of my son's reactions increased. We couldn't take him to the emergency room every single evening, so my husband and I took turns sleeping so that we could watch our child and make sure he continued to breathe during the night.

I called food manufacturers. I learned that the only wheat pasta I had been able to find without egg in it still had egg in the facility, so I eliminated it from my child's diet. Then I found out Jennie-O Turkey puts at least one of my son's allergens into their turkey sausage as a "flavor", which creates a risk for cross contamination in their plain ground turkey. My guess is garlic, but the rep didn't say.

The Jennie-O phone rep also gave a horrible canned response to my suggestion that the company include all the ingredients on the label. She said they couldn't share proprietary information because that would allow their competitors to learn what made the Jennie-O brand special. When I mentioned that the company also sold their products in Europe and the EU requires complete ingredient labels, so they were already providing that information in other countries, the rep suggested I take my grievance up with the FDA.

You want me to advocate for more stringent government regulation of the food industry? I can do that.

Our allergist decided not to delay the RAST testing any longer, despite the antihistamines in my son's system. There were no new positives, only the same increased IgE levels to the the nine food proteins of which we were already aware.

He also put my son on a daily antihistamine. We began giving him Zyrtec tablets in the evening. My son's symptoms promptly escalated. I rechecked the label and found "lactose monohydrate" listed in the inactive ingredients. There was no additional information either on the label or on the website indicating that it might be a milk product, but I called the manufacturer as a precaution.

Sure enough, it was a milk derived ingredient that had slipped through the sieve like FALCPA legislation which does not require food allergens be listed on medications or health and personal care products. So perhaps that's another issue to discuss with the FDA. We switched him to a liquid generic form of Zyrtec which didn't contain any of his allergens.

By the New Year, my kiddo had begun to lose weight. My husband and I reached a level of constant stress and anxiety, not to mention sleep deprivation, that is difficult to describe. I had long since stopped blogging, despite planning a series of holiday posts months before.

As the symptoms progressed to constant throat and stomach discomfort which spiked after eating, our allergist wanted to have my son evaluated for Eosinophilic Esophagitis. We saw a gastroenterologist who decided to perform an endoscopy and take biopsies of my son's throat, stomach and upper intestine.

We had to wait two weeks for the procedure and another week after that for the results. During that time I removed wheat and soy from my kiddo's diet, since those were the only two foods on the EoE Elimination Diet he wasn't already avoiding.

All the results were negative. The nurse practitioner suggested we have our son evaluated for anxiety. I began baking bread again.

We returned to the allergist who has started treating the kiddo for reflux with Zantac. We are now avoiding acidic foods, such as tomatoes and citrus fruits. His appetite has improved, but the constant discomfort in his throat and stomach continue, so we still don't have a definitive diagnosis. I don't even know whether my son's symptoms are unrelated to food allergies and he is simply describing them in the words he knows best, the language of anaphylaxis.

Our next check up with the allergist is in a few weeks. I've decided to ask our pediatrician for a referral to a psychologist. Even if the symptoms aren't caused by anxiety, my son is still living with a life threatening medical condition which stresses his entire family and plays havoc with his social life. The Kid could use some emotional support.

Until then, I make the terrifying decision every night to put my child to bed without treating symptoms identical to the first stages of an allergic reaction. I've started to make some more hard choices. A few friends have kept me from the brink of despair these last months, but mostly I've retreated from the world and just focused on day to day survival and managing my child's medical needs.

It's time to come out of my cave and write again. There are recipes to post, stuff to review and months worth of email to answer. Hi everyone. I'm back.

Brussel Sprout, Apple and Cranberry Salad with Maple Dressing

2013-11-25T13:43:00.000-05:00

If you're still looking for a food allergy friendly Thanksgiving side dish, this simple salad may fit the bill. It's vegan, nut free, gluten free and cooks in just minutes on the stove top, so it's not fighting the turkey and baked sides for oven space, and tastes delicious either warm or at room temperature.

I've just added a Holidays page to the website, which has a list of links to recipes from The Allergic Kid for celebrations throughout the entire year. Be sure to also check out Go Dairy Free's incredible annual round up of Thanksgiving recipes, plus a second list of just pies!

Brussel Sprout, Apple and Cranberry Salad with Maple Dressing

(Printable version here.)

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound brussel sprouts, trimmed and halved

1 firm apple, thinly sliced

1 sweet onion thinly sliced

¼ cup dried cranberries

Dressing

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

kosher salt to taste

Heat 2-3 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet or fry pan over medium heat. Add brussel sprouts, apple and onion. Stir to coat with olive oil, then saute for about ten minutes or until ingredients reach desired softness, stirring occasionally. Mix in dried cranberries to warm through, then remove from heat.

.Whisk ingredients for dressing together in a large bowl. Toss with warm salad and adjust salt. Serve warm or room temperature.

I'm sharing my wonderfull, warming fall salad with:

Healing with Food Friday at Peeling Back the Onion Layers and
Wellness Weekends at RickiHeller.com. (Ricki, that maple leaf is for you!)

Simple Sandwich Lunchbox

2013-11-16T14:31:00.001-05:00

Ever since daiya slices appeared at our local health food store, my kiddo has been requesting "cheese" sandwiches almost daily. This one is on homemade Honey Oat Bread spread with Earth Balance Margarine with a couple of slices of turkey bacon slid into it.

On the side are honey pretzel twists, apple bunnies in a square silicone cup and a little box of raisins. This lunch was from the week of Halloween, so there's a little Jack Skellington sticker. The whole thing is packed up in an Easy Lunchbox.

If you are looking for more lunchbox ideas, you should check out Keeley McGuire's blog. She packs amazingly cute food allergy friendly lunches. Keeley was also at the incredible Food Allergy Blogger Conference, and I was lucky enough to win the drawing for the the set of lunch box goodies she donated.

It includes a jigsaw puzzle sandwich cutter, various cups and containers, bento picks, Lunchbox Love notes and two egg molds. I've wanted to try making Jello Jigglers in egg molds, but wasn't willing to purchase any just to experiment, so I'm looking forward to trying that now. There's so much awesome stuff here you can hardly see the Easy Lunchbox and matching Cooler Bag! Many thanks to Keeley for the lunch packing loot.

I'm sharing today's sadly undecorated lunchbox with:

Allergy Friendly Lunchbox Love at Allergy Free Vintage Cookery and
What's for Lunch Wednesday at BentoLunch.net.

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Dear Malia

2013-11-15T14:16:00.000-05:00

President Obama's signing of the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act yesterday included a surprise announcement. The President revealed that his 15 year old daughter Malia has a peanut allergy. After school I told my kiddo that he had something in common with the President's daughter. His eyes got big at the news. "She has a food allergy, too?" He decided to write her a letter.

Dear Malia,

My mom told me your dad Barack Obama said you have a peanut allergy. In fact I have these allergies too: milk, lamb, shellfish, eggs, beef, garlic, black beans and cumin. Do you have an Epi-Pen? I'm in 4th grade and I've started carrying my own Epi-Pen this year.

Are peanuts allowed in the White House? What is your favorite food? My favorite food is pizza. My mom makes it safe for me to eat. Do you want to come have pizza with us? We are in Florida if you want to have dinner with us.

I'm pretty sure she won't be able to come, but I'm hoping my son will get a response from the White House!

During his excitement, I almost missed another obvious parallel. I have something in common with Michelle Obama. The First Lady also knows the fear of having an excruciatingly vulnerable child. She too spends her life on guard against the mistake that could make her child stop breathing.

I'm not surprised that the Obama family chose not to share Malia's private medical information before now. I've only had to deal with the occasional internet troll who feels eating PB&J is a constitutional right or suggests Darwinism is the cure for food allergies, though I know others who have faced far worse. Their family already has legions of nutjobs actively wishing them ill. Allowing Malia's personal kryptonite to be public information could not have been a decision that was made lightly, and I am grateful that President Obama decided to stand in solidarity with other American families living with food allergies.

John Kruzel of Slate has suggested that Malia Obama would be an outstanding advocate for the food allergy community. I would also be very pleased to see a gifted, well-educated and highly connected young woman such as her take up this cause. Ultimately, though, it is Malia's decision whether she wants to make her personal life political, and we should respect any teenager, including the daughter of the president, who does not wish to do so.

On the other hand, there's a new food allergy mom in town. One who has already spent her time in the White House working to improve children's health with better nutrition and excercise. Someone who is a perfect fit for this issue.

I want to see Michelle Obama on Sesame Street, explaining food allergies to Elmo and discussing how kids can help keep their friends safe. I want to see her in public service announcements telling parents of children with food allergies that they are not alone. I want the First Lady to advocate for a registered nurse in every school in this country, not just the ones in wealthy districts.

Even more importantly, I'd like to see President Obama put some serious political capitol toward increasing funding for scientific research. It's been over five years since the Centers for Disease Control announced that the increase in food allergies in children had reached epidemic proportions and it is long past time we started treating food allergies as a national health crisis.

So I'd like to welcome the Obama family to the food allergy community. We are all here for you and we would be very grateful if you would stand up for us as well.

Finally, I have the winner of the Allermates Gear Giveaway. Congratulations to vierkajet, I will be sending you an email to get your snail mail address!

AllerMates GiveAway

2013-11-06T21:34:00.000-05:00

Update: Contest has been closed.

I just returned from the absolutely amazing Food Allergy Bloggers Conference, where I finally was able to meet some of my favorite people from the allergy community in person for the first time. Jennifer Sprague and Homa Woodrum deserve more thanks than I can possible give them for organizing the first annual FABlogCon, or as Jenn calls it, HugFest.

We all received bags (yes, plural) of some of the best swag I've ever gotten my hands on. The con loot was impressive, not to mention tasty! One of the coolest things in my bag was a set of food allergy gear from Allermates, and I managed to nab a second set to give away here on the blog.

To be perfectly clear, Allermates is in no way sponsoring or supporting this giveaway. I just got same really great free stuff that I want to share with you!

The Allermates gear includes:

An EpiPen case
An Allergy/Health Alert Wristband for kids with six different charms
A "Pint" Dairy Allergy Wristband
A set of Food Package Allergy Alert Labels

To enter in the giveaway, leave a comment below. Make sure that there is some way to reach you, either by linking to your own site or including an email address. You may have up to two additional entries by either tweeting or facebooking a link to the giveaway. Just put a link to the tweet or post in the comments section.

Don't worry if your privacy settings don't allow your facebook link to appear. If your facebook post wins, you can friend me for just long enough to verify it.

My usual comment guidelines apply here, which means that I allow absolutely no links to scammy websites, such as muscle enhancement (either above or below the belt), "review" blogs devoted to a single product or anything else that I don't want a link leading to from my website. This is entirely at my discretion.

The drawing will close Wednesday, November 13, at midnight EST and I'll announce a randomly selected winner on Thursday, November 14. Good luck!

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Halloween Lunch

2013-10-31T15:43:00.000-04:00

My kiddo is ten years old now and we're making the transition from Halloween cuteness to Halloween grossness. I won't be at all offended if you say "ewww" to the Jello brains or monster fingers in here!

Today's EasyLunchbox contains a turkey dog turned into monster fingers. Almost all the recipes for severed finger foods have slices of almond as a fingernail. I played around with some turkey dogs and daiya slices. I'm still not completely happy with them.

Alongside the fingers are raisins, pepitas made from the seeds from our Jack o-lantern in a round silicone cup and an apple slice and brain shaped Jello in square silicone cups. I used my only box of pink jello for my first batch of tasty brains, which stuck in the mold. For the second batch with black cherry flavored Jello, I rubbed the inside of the mold with vegetable oil first and they came out perfectly.

Here's the Jello mold I used. (Technically it's an ice cube tray.) I used half the amount of water called for by the instructions to make jiggler style brains

I hope you have a safe and spooky Halloween!

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Halloween Round Up

2013-10-30T17:14:00.000-04:00

Here's a quick round up of some Halloween treats!

From the archives we have Spider Cupcakes,

Gingerbread Skeletons

and Mrs. Lovett's Meat Pie.

I also have a couple Halloween themed lunches that I packed in years past.

Here's some simple cookie cutter sandwiches with a pumpkin cupcake.

My favorite was the year I made a turkey dog mummy with edible googly eyes!

You'll see this year's Halloween lunchbox tomorrow, but here's a glimpse of the basket I've put together for the annual post Trick or Treating candy exchange. It has safe candy plus an assortment of non-food treats, such as Lego minifigs, Halloween pencils, eyeball erasors and stickers. Having the non-food items helps cut down on the sugar overload, too.

Don't forget to enter a photo of your child in costume safely celebrating to Kids with Food Allergies Halloween Costume Parade for a chance to win a $100 Amazon gift card and to Enjoy Life's facebook costume contest, which has several delicious gift baskets as prizes.

Finally here are additional tips for trick or treating safely on the FARE website plus a handy guide from Mylan. (Click to embiggen.)

Have a safe and wonderful Halloween!

Disclosure: Posts may contain affiliate links.

Changes and Challenges

2013-10-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

Egg challenge failed: hives on left upper lip at four minute mark.

Almost a year ago my kiddo had an unusual reaction. I had made one of his very favorite meals, Turkey Chili, which he gobbled up with typical enthusiasm. Towards the end of the meal, he started to get red spots on his cheeks. They weren't exactly hives and they weren't clustered around his mouth, which is where the evil red bumps usually make their appearance. We gave him some Benadryl and kept an eye on him for the rest of the evening.

The next day I called the allergist's office. They asked me to list all the ingredients in the chili and dropped an order for bloodwork in the mail to me. It looked more like a recipe than a medical document. When the results came back my son had tested positive for black beans, cumin and garlic.

I was dumbfounded. At that point he already had confirmed allergies to peanut, shellfish, egg, milk, beef, lamb and pork. We had hoped that he would outgrow at least some of them. Instead he had three more.

It just didn't seem fair. In the past I've probably been somewhat less tormented by my son's food allergies than other parents because of my family's long history with them. In contrast, this latest diagnosis seemed like a cruel practical joke by the universe. I thought I'd done what I was supposed to do, carefully cooked at home, kept him away from the allergens and managed to avoid any major reactions.

Still, he had three more food allergies. The only good news from the allergist was that my son's bloodwork showed the levels for pork had dropped off significantly. So at the beginning of the year my son had an oral challenge for pork. He passed.

Of course, I don't cook or eat red meat anyway, because it nauseates me. (I suspect a food intolerance of my own.) This didn't exactly open up wide vistas of food opportunities.

On the other hand, I have had a long, meaningful relationship with garlic.

My ceramic garlic roaster, garlic storage container and garlic press.

My son has always had food allergies and never missed what he couldn't have. He loves garlic, though, and even asked if maybe he couldn't have just a little sometimes? This was the first time he's really been upset about something he couldn't eat.

Following the successful pork challenge, our allergist decided to try an oral challenge for eggs in March. That one didn't go quite as well. Four minutes after swallowing a tiny bit of egg, his throat started to itch and he began sprouting hives on his lip.

This wasn't the end of the bad news. After many meals followed by my poor son's complaints of an itchy throat, I finally realized that almost all processed foods have become unsafe for him. Every brand of tomato sauce I have found contains garlic, which means that all the other tomato products coming from the same production line are unsafe.

Then I came to the belated realization that it's virtually impossible that any of my spices are from a facility that doesn't also process powdered garlic or cumin. I'm having trouble coming to grips with saying farewell to my entire spice cabinet right before I gear up for holiday baking. Does this mean that I'm going to have to grow all my own herbs and grind my own spices?

I feel as if I've fallen down the rabbit hole. The monumental task of cooking almost everything from scratch is completely overwhelming. I've eliminated most processed foods from my son's diet since his life threatening allergic reaction two weeks ago and he's had only one itchy throat since then.

I'm just starting to cope, and I'll post new recipes as I go. ~~Tomorrow~~ Sometime in the next few weeks I'll share my new Saucy Roasted Tomato Puree. I'm trying to see a silver lining, and a healthier but still delicious diet may be it.

Overcoming My Fear of the Epi-Pen

2013-10-10T13:06:00.000-04:00

After an allergic reaction.

Last Saturday I attended the first USAnaphylaxis Conference hosted by the AANMA in Washington, D.C. When I got back I thought I would be writing about what I had learned there. Instead I had to put it into practice. My kiddo is ten years old, and we've been managing his food allergies since he was a four month old infant. In all these years, we had never used an Epi-Pen. This week that changed.

Monday evening didn't get off to a great start. I had returned from the conference, but the house hadn't recovered from my absence. My husband's car was in the shop, so he took mine to work and I had walked the kiddo home from school, only to get caught in the rain halfway back.

After making it home I tossed him into a warm bath and gave him a cozy set of sweats that he could wear to bed later. Then we ploughed through his homework and I made dinner. It was a stir fry with rice, turkey sausage, bok choy, carrots, green onions and a handful of snow peas. Afterward he had a frozen fruit bar, his usual glass of soy milk and his meds.

About an hour after he went to bed, my son wandered into the living room complaining that his tummy hurt and that his throat and tongue were itchy. I wasn't sure what was going on, so I let him sit up with me. Although I was tempted to give him Benadryl, I held off, since I've learned it can mask the symptoms of a worsening reaction. (Now I only use it to treat hives from skin contact.) Within half an hour my child's lips started to puff, his voice became slurred and he complained that his throat felt like it was getting tighter.

This was clearly the moment of decision. Still, I hesitated. I didn't want to use the Epi-Pen. If my son needed CPR I wouldn't question the necessity for a second. Why didn't I want to use it? Was it because I didn't want to admit the life-threatening nature of my son's reaction? Was it because I dreaded calling an ambulance to go to the hospital?

At the conference, one of the presenters had described several scenarios in which children had symptoms of anaphylaxis and yet parents, including physicians, had hesitated to give epinephrine. After listening to each case, the room full of allergists and nutritionists, advocates and bloggers, would groan. I imagined this room full of people dedicated to keeping allergic children safe hearing a description of my son's symptoms. Then I got the Epi-Pen.

USAnaphylaxis Summit.

Although an Epi-Pen can be used through clothes, I pulled down my child's sweats, because I didn't want the thick fabric to cause me to give it in the wrong location. My son suddenly became afraid of the needle, and I spent precious minutes calming him down. Then I took off the cap, pressed the orange end into the side of my child's thigh, heard the click and counted to ten. My kiddo howled in protest.

Using the Epi-Pen was easy. Deciding to use it was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

I called 911 and described what had happened with a shaking voice. By the time the firefighters arrived at my messy home, we were ready to go and my son was bouncing around the living room, all symptoms gone. They checked his vitals and chatted with him about snakes. (There was a book about Florida reptiles and amphibians sitting on the coffee table along with hundreds of Lego's.)

The ambulance crew arrived and whisked us off. My son had a great time in the back of the ambulance, asking about the functions of all the machines. At the hospital he was checked again and put under observation. My husband met us there and I finally started to relax.

About an hour after we arrived, my son's tongue and throat started to itch again and he was treated orally with Benadryl and prednisone and we waited some more. In talking with the nurse, I discovered that I was not the only one nervous about using the Epi-Pen. She said that many people who came in for an allergic reaction were actually holding it in their hands, but hadn't used it.

Used Epi-Pen.

After that my son stayed under observation for another few hours. We finally went home at about 3 AM.

The next day we recovered and my detective work began. Almost everything my son had eaten the night before came from packages of food that my son had eaten from previously without problem. The only exception was the new bottle of soy sauce that I had opened while making the stir fry.

I checked the Kikkoman website, then sent the company an email. I received a phone call back from them literally within minutes. After a short conversation I discovered that the Less Sodium Soy Sauce is manufactured on the same line as the Garlic Teriyaki Sauce. (My son developed an allergy to garlic about a year ago.) Other sauces with milk and shellfish are manufactured on different equipment in the same facility. So the soy sauce is my most likely suspect as the probable cause of the reaction.

After the incident with the bread, I'm starting to wonder if I will have to stop using all processed foods. I've been reading tomato sauce labels with dismay, since all the brands at the store have garlic in them, which makes me question whether I can safely use any other tomato products from the same companies. I feel like I'm heading down the rabbit hole and my cooking is going to be even more restricted.

We saw the allergist yesterday, and just like everyone else, he said that I handled the reaction correctly. My son doesn't seem to be the least bit traumatized, and other than the reaction itself and being stuck with the needle, enjoyed the adventure tremendously. I'm still a bit shaky and owe a huge debt of gratitude to the AANMA and to Mylan for sponsoring the summit and giving me the tools I needed exactly when I needed them.

Disclosure: I attended the USAnanphylaxis Summit as a guest of the AANMA. All opinions are my own.

Monday Meme

2013-10-07T11:22:00.000-04:00

I just returned from the amazing USAnaphylaxis Conference, and will be writing more about that later this week. It was an incredible peek behind the curtain into food allergy research and legislative process. I came away with a ton of information and the realization of how much more I have to learn about the subject.

In the meantime, I decided to sctibble graffiti on a picture an call it a meme, just like everyone else with an internet connection. Let me know if you'd like more of these!

Have a great week!

Disclosure: Posts may contain Amazon Affiliate links.