How We're Doing

It's been awhile since I've had anything to post. Not much to report but I will write "briefly" about an e-mail I received awhile back. Since October, I've gone through a bit of job transition. Part of my transition included a brief stint subbing in the school district. By brief I mean one day of subbing! What does this have to do with peanut allergies?

While being in the pool of available subs, I received e-mails from the woman who coordinates the subs. One day an e-mail came through asking that subs NOT bring any candy to classrooms because of possible food allergies. I was VERY pleased to receive the e-mail for a variety of reasons. One reason: awareness! More people who know about food allergies, the better. Another reason: WHY must we feed our children extra candy throughout the day? Pretty sure childhood obesity is an issue right now. Leave the candy at home.

Very pleasing to get the e-mail but also a little scary. Why did the e-mail have to be sent? Did someone have a reaction? Are substitutes not being made aware of food allergies right now? My hope is that subs ARE being told about food allergies AND that subs are not bringing in candy regardless of food allergies.

Taking Heath's peanut allergy one day at a time is the easiest way to not go crazy but there are times when I can't help but think about the future when he goes to school and all that that entails. Hopefully by the time Heath enters kindergarten, candy will be banished from the classroom! {Ha! who am I kidding!?}

Happy New Year!

Riding in a little wagon...
he won't fit for much longer!

Happy New Year! We went to a party last night to celebrate the New Year. It was our first party since Heath was diagnosed as super duper allergic to nuts. I was a little nervous about going to a party but our hostess was very gracious and understanding about Heath. She let me read labels and said that the cookies she made would not be safe for Heath.

Another couple came to the party along with some goodies. She brought out a bowl full of Reeces Peanut Butter cups. In the past, I would have been REALLY excited as they are one of my favorite treats. But...now they looked REALLY scary sitting there. Thankfully, Lisa {hostess} saw them and told the woman that Heath was allergic to peanuts so she then put them right back into her bag so they wouldn't be an issue!! With 8 kids of all ages around, I was very relieved to not have to worry about Heath getting his hands on those candies. We had a fun night {and some very tired kids!!} and no trips to the ER!!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We have had a wonderful holiday. This is a picture of my babies in their Christmas pajama's {SERIOUSLY cute!!}

It's Official

Heath in the subway
on the way to his appointment

Last week, Heath had an appointment with a pediatric allergist. The first part of the appointment was spent talking with the doctor about what happened when Heath ate peanut butter back in November. She did say that Heath should have been given epinephrine while they were at the mall. She was also fairly sure he would test positive for peanut allergy. 


After we talked, the doctor left the room and a nurse came in to educate us. We learned {again} how to use the epipen and how to keep Heath safe. After the education bit was over, the doctor came back in and we talked about the future. We'll go back in when Heath is 3 and hope that he will be allergy-free. 


We left the doctor's office and Heath had a blood draw. No baby likes a blood draw and he knew all about it having had an IV last month. But it was quick, they are pros! 


So on Monday we got a call with the results from the blood test. Heath IS allergic to peanuts and is NOT allergic to tree nuts. He scored a 62.7 and is a level 5. Basically...very allergic to peanuts. Here is a little chart from wikipedia.org:

RAST rating	IgE level (KU/L)	comment
0	< 0.35	ABSENT OR UNDETECTABLE ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
1	0.35 - 0.69	LOW LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
2	0.70 - 3.49	MODERATE LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
3	3.50 - 17.49	HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
4	17.50 - 49.99	VERY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
5	50.0 - 100.00	VERY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE
6	> 100.00	EXTREMELY HIGH LEVEL OF ALLERGEN SPECIFIC IgE

Finding out that he truly is allergic to peanuts has not been super easy. It is really a fairly big life change. We will have no peanuts or tree nuts in the house and purchase nothing that has been manufactured in a plant with those things. We're getting really good at reading labels!


Aside from being allergic to peanuts, Heath is healthy. We're very thankful for that. We're looking forward to celebrating Christmas...but no peanuts in our stockings this year, Santa!

Our Advent Calendar

The past few years, we have had one of those chocolate advent calendars. The kind where you pull open a little door and find a chocolate. This year, with a peanut allergy, I haven't been able to find a calendar that would be safe. As advent got closer, lots of the blogs that I read started sharing their calendars. Lots of creativity out there! I found one I liked and recreated it for our home!

The advent calendar is a bunch (24) of mittens, mini clothes pins and a red cord. I've started sewing on numbers (I'm only up to 7 so far!) but it's working out great. The mittens are filled with chocolates from Vermont Nut Free Chocolates, little toys and other trinkets. Audrey is thrilled to peek in one mitten each day. Heath...totally clueless!


In totally unrelated news...I was thrilled to find this subject in an e-mail this afternoon:  For Mon: The Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Lunch

Eating at Chinese restaurants with Heath is pretty much not going to happen anymore. When I was in college, my friends and I went to a certain Chinese restaurant ALL the time {I can't remember the name...help me out, Nicole!}. It's very sad that I cannot take Heath to my favorite Chinese restaurants.

A few days ago, we were over at Grandma Judy's house at lunch time. The egg rolls {in the picture} had been on sale at the grocery store so they were what we had for lunch. Amazingly, they were REALLY tasty! The label has allergy warnings but none are for peanuts. Not only are they yummy, they're safe. Right now I'm almost 100% sure there is no way Heath would even let an egg roll touch his plate...let's just say he's a little picky. But eventually he'll get more adventurous and maybe try an egg roll!

{I must admit I was a little grossed out by one allergy warning...fish. More specifically, anchovies.}

ZPizza

Yesterday Heath, Audrey, Grandma Judy and I went to the Festival of Trees. I knew we would be having lunch afterwards so I looked on-line for ZPizza {where we would be eating} to see if it would be safe for Heath to eat. After searching the site for awhile, I couldn't find anything that looked like the language the labels on food say, ("this food contains peanuts") so I sent an e-mail. This is the response I got:

Mara,

 

Thank you for taking the time to check with us.  Our cheese and pepperoni pizzas do not contain any nuts or nut products.  We do have peanuts in the store, it is contained in our basil pesto sauce and we use pine nuts to top a few different pizzas.  We take every precaution to avoid any and all possible cross contamination.  That being said, because we do have peanuts in the store there are no 100% guarantees that I can offer.  I will say however, that we do everything in our power to keep our customers, and their food safe.  We have consistently scored perfect on our Olmsted County Health inspections, and take food safety very seriously.  There is no list available that I am aware of, but if you would like I will check with the corporate office.  We do use natural, fresh ingredients, and never MSG's or unnecessary preservatives.

We did end up eating at ZPizza. Heath did just fine...mainly because he was too tired to actually eat anything! We have yet to meet with the pediatric allergist so I really don't know how cautious we need to be but I felt comfortable taking Heath to ZPizza. Had the slice of the day had the basil pesto sauce, we'd have gone elsewhere. I'm happy to have received a response since that was my first time contacting a restaurant (aside from the time I called ahead to Outback!) We'll continue to eat at ZPizza unless the doctor tells us to stay away.

PS This was not Heath's first meal at ZPizza.