Comments From the Peanut Free Gallery

Wow, Time Flies When You Are Not Having Fun

2011-05-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it has been so long since I have been here....almost a year and a half. Time really does fly when you are not having fun. While not here we were having the fun of a little life trauma, that is finally fully resolved. Whew!!!! I don't want to get into the specific details to maintain everyone's privacy (do I have you intrigued yet??) but just in case any of you were worried here are some important updates:

Everyone is fine.

Nothing bad has happened in regards to allergy and asthma

Conor took a peanut challenge and failed, but it was a good thing.

Super Epi-pen has not had to use his super powers

Grandma is hanging in there except for an unfortunate run in with Bells Palsey

Buster the pug is doing well also after his second cancer scare and loss of half his ear.

We got a new dog named Rooney who is a crazy hyperactive Labradoodle, but great for Conor's
allergies.

I am still trying to remember how to use this lovely blog program, so this post is probably not quite as pretty as it could be.......but hey, it is what it is (something I learned over my absence) until it is something else of course.

Almost a Challenge Mr. Peanut

2009-10-13T09:57:00.000-07:00

So, we went into the allergist for a check up a week or so ago, and while we were there, she mentioned the option of doing a peanut challenge for Conor. I have to say I was a little surprised by this request, as I have always assumed he would never outgrow it since he has asthma and is allergic to almost everything that grows or walks. Of course previous Doctors had told me that he only had a 25% chance of outgrowing his egg allergy, and after a successful egg challenge last year we have welcomed the egg back into our family with open arms. (Although I do still make my exciting and quick Coke Cake sometimes).

According to my allergist, she said she suspects that he has not outgrown it, but it is worth checking him every once in a while to make sure, and see just how reactive he is. I have to say despite my trepidation, I would really like to know just what we are dealing with here with the evil peanut....kind of like knowing your enemy. And I really trust my allergist.... she has been great with everything else including not thinking my crazy, and really explaining cough variant asthma to me. Conor's rast # were 7 or so last time he was tested, and she said if he has not had a reaction in over 2 years and is now over 5, it is worth testing him.

So I put my head around the idea for a while. Especially after she told me I would need to bring in some peanuts to do the challenge. BRING IN PEANUTS!!!! I would have to buy peanuts!!!! aaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! But after it sunk in, I decided we should go for it.

But then came the real issue. For this challenge he would have to be off of any antihistamines for 7 days. I remember having problems with this for the egg challenge, but don't remember how we finally were able to do it. But we did, so I figured we could do it again now.

Later that day I went home and skipped his evening antihistamine. Then we skipped his morning dose...... Then it started........ The poor child was secreting, sneezing, coughing and itching away, after only being off of his antihistamines for not even a day. It took 3 days of extra anti-histamines and nebulizers to get him stable again. I guess we do take all that stuff for a reason.

After discussing it again with my favorite allergist we decided perhaps this would not be the best season to try and take Conor off of his antihistamines for the challenge. So after all the excitement/ fear/ surprise, it has all been put on hold again until flu season is over, and allergens have calmed down.

Almost a Challenge Mr. Peanut, Almost a Challenge

Sometimes the Needle Is Better Then The Nose - Always Double Check Everything Your Doctor Tells You

2009-09-25T13:07:00.001-07:00

OK, I feel like a bad bad Mommy. I thought I had learned never to trust Doctors, and always double check any information I was given, especially if it comes from a plain old pediatrician. But no, life gets busy, and somehow something I should have done slips by the back burner.

It all started when I called our local pediatrician to arrange flu shots for my three sweet young things. As I was talking to the nurse on the phone, she informed me that all three would be eligible for the flu mist instead of the flu shot. I asked her if even Conor could have it and she left for a second and then came back assuring me it was fine for him.

So, we head off to the Doctor's office last Wed, all excited to be misted and not shot, and still get our immunity to bad bugs. Everyone got the mist, and not a scream or yell was heard from the bunch. Natalie even thought it smelled kind of good!!!, And we went on our merry way to go on with our busy lives.

On Friday I picked Conor up from school, and he was secreting, hacking and sneezing to no end. Confused as to what could have brought on such an attack, I went home and drugged him and nebulized him for a few hours. After much hacking, sneezing and secreting, he fell asleep for the night, and then woke up in the morning perfectly fine, and well enough to score 2 goals at his soccer game. For the life of me though, I could not figure out what caused this sort of reaction in him, as there was nothing out of the ordinary in his day that I could put my finger on.

Later that Soccer filled day, I was talking to another parent whose son also had asthma and even goes to our same awesome allergist. I mentioned Conor had asthma also, and told her we had gotten the flu mist instead of the flu shot. This other soccer mom looked at me and told me her Dr. had said that kids with asthma should not get the flu mist. I was a bit disturbed on hearing this, as my son has asthma, and even had some sort of reaction a few days after having the mist. She told me it was even on their package insert in bold letters. OOOPPPPPSSS!!!!!

After all my distrust of doctors, I failed to double check a recommendation given not by my allergy son's allergist, but by the local pediatrician and his nurse. I feel so bad that I put Conor through an evening of fun. I subsequently went on line to check this myself, and of course it is clearly stated everywhere that the flu mist should not be given to those with asthma. Thankfully Conor only had that episode of hacking, etc, but I have still learned my lesson about double checking everything doctors tell me!!!

Super Epi Pen Swims With Sharks

2009-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

Jamacian Irish Moss Peanut Drink

2009-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Just when you think you have seen everything...

http://www.roboppy.net/food/2009/02/why-did-i-drink-that-irish-moss-peanut-drink.html

Big Bamboo Irish Moss Peanut Drink,

Can 11ozIrish Moss / Sea Moss Drink - Ready to drink, right out of the can!INGREDIENTS:Water, sugar (sucrose), milk, peanut butter (roasted peanuts, dextrose, monoglycerides, and salt), corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated coconut oil, sodium caseinate, disodium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, mono & diglycerides, soybean oil, sodium silicoaluminate, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, annatto color, modified food starch and carrageenan.
Shake Gently Before Opening.
I'll give you one good reason to try this beverage. It has been said to increase a man's sexual ability. Long before Viagra, Caribbean men have been drinking this gel-like drink to increase their natural ability.

You can buy this exciting concoction online here.

If Only Some Adults Thought More Like 4 Year Old Boys

2009-09-10T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have just had my second appointment for my root canal, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise, but root canals suck!!!! Yes, they hurt like heck, no, they are a big deal, and yes, the second appointment will hurt even more then the first!!!

OK, now that I have said that, I wanted to share a cute story. At Conor's totally great school, he has a little friend he knows from the pre-school who just turned 4. This little friend apparently went home and told his mother (as she was making him a peanut butter sandwich), that he would no longer eat peanuts or peanut butter. If Conor could not eat peanuts he would not have them either. He would only eat soy butter, and he and his mother went out together to buy some. This little boy was willing to not eat peanuts at home because his friend could not have them. If only some adults thought more like 4 year old boys.

OK, maybe not..........

Peanut Free Zones - Consent Agreement

2009-09-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

Conor started kindergarten this week at a local little private school that I LOVE!!!! They are totally peanut and nut free, and are really consciencous about enforcing their rules. One of the things that impressed me the most is this form every student's family must fill out and agree to before entering the school. I thought I would include a copy here in case it could be of help to anyone else.

Consent Agreement

Peanut Free Zones

In order to ensure the health and safety of students at ********School, we are aware of the need to implement a peanut free zone and to inform parents and students of the severity of this allergy at the school. We humbly request parent participation in this matter so as to ensure that the *********School is a safe and fun environment for all students.

We have children with peanut and tree nut alelrgies that puts them at severe risk of death. We are therefore designating all areas of the school free of nuts/nut products and nut residue. There are signs posted around the school reminding the community of this policy.

A "peanut free zone" essentially means that nuts or food items containing nuts may not be brought or eaten at school. We also ask that any treats provided for school events or birthdays be nut free and not processed in the same facility wehre nuts have been processed.

In addition, parents and students will receive information on the severity of peanut and tree nut allergies and the risk to students. We ask parents to educate their children at home on nut allergies and are happy to provide parents with articles and materials to help them do so.

We appreciate all parent participation in this matter, and know that it is every family's goal to create a safe learning environment for all students. We are asking you to play your part in making *******School a safe environment for all of our students. Please feel free to discuss any questions/concerns with the *****School staff.

Please initial:

___I have read the Health and Safety information above.

___I understand the requirements and stipulations stated herein and agree to abide by them

_______________

Child's Name

_______________

Parent/Guardian Signature

_______________

Date

Super Epi-Pen - What I Did Over My Summer Vacation

2009-08-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

I was going through some of our summer pictures, and I was happy to discover that Super Epi-Pen was with us on our travels. Here he is exploring the giant redwood trees during an excursion to the redwood forest at Memorial Park near San Francisco.

Things I Wish I Had Not Heard...

2009-08-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Having three children so close in age, I sometimes hear things that I wish I didn't.

On the way home from the dentist...

"Mommy, these new toothbrushes work really well. It is really cleaning up this penny I found on the ground."

"Look Mommy, my new toothbrush can clean the bottom of my shoes."

"Mommy, can I use this floss stuff to clean the cleats on my soccer shoes?"

Around the house...

"Mommy, Conor is cleaning the sink with the ice pack you gave him when he hurt his leg. He is even using soap and everything!!!"

"Mommy, you don't want to know how Conor is wetting his head to spike up his hair." Me, "I am sure I don't" Laughs and giggles come from the bathroom. "Mommy eeewwwwww, Conor is sticking his head in the toilet to wet his hair!! Look how spiky it is!!!"

"Mommy, Michael is wearing your bra as a backpack"

Give Bees the Bounce!!!

2009-08-14T18:06:00.000-07:00

Michael has been attending soccer camp this week and loved every minute of it. He was even named the best camper out of his group (yes, I am gloating like a proud Mommy). The only bad thing about the camp was the bees. They were everywhere, and lots of people had gotten stung. Of course the first thing I thought of was "I hope none of those kids are allergic to bees, and if they are, someone has an epi pen and knows how to use it." I even packed an extra epi pen in Michael's lunch box and told him it was there just in case - and he does not even have any known allergies.

While I was trying to avoid bees and calm screaming beephobic children, another mother told me a great tip. Apparently dryer sheets keep away bees and wasps. Each day she sent her child in to camp she rubbed down his clothes and hair with the dryer sheet. When I got home I looked it up on the Internet, and it appears to be true!!!

Huh! Who knew? dryer sheets keep bees away

Someone even told me that the US Postal service sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow-jackets away.

While researching this fascinating information on the Internet I also found many other uses for dryer sheets.

1. It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. It also repels mice.

2. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

3. It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.

4. It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

5. Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.

6. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

7. Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

8. To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.

9. Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.

11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

12. To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.

14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

19. Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.

20. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

21. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.

He He He An Assaulted Peanut

2009-08-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

Assualted Peanut!!!

He He He. THis is something I dream about doing on a daily basis!!!

AAHHH I Never Knew Mr. Peanut Played Soccer

2009-07-26T10:34:00.001-07:00

Unfortunately, I guess I was a bit naive in assuming that since there were no peanuts at soccer matches in England and Ireland, there would be no peanuts at a soccer match in America. So, even though it was soccer and not baseball, apparently there were still a few moments where evil Mr. Peanut reared his head. I am glad I was not there, since I worry alot about everything, and would have been hyperventilating through the whole thing cursing evil peanut villains under my breath.

The report I was given by Mick, was that there were peanuts on the floors and stairs in most of the general areas, but not that much. He was pretty much able to avoid these areas and Conor sat on his lap during the game. There was one incident where the man seated in front of them opened his bag of evil and started shelling his peanuts, but after informing him that the little boy behind him could die if he continued, he nicely moved to another section to finish his snack.

Conor appeared to have no severe reactions to any of these brushes with danger, but he did start sucking his fingers (for us a sign of the beginnings of something. I have no clue why). He was dosed up with my favorite product portable benadryl, and all seemed ok from there.

In general, I would say the soccer game went well. The boys had fun, and enjoyed seeing their first real sporting event in person. I think they would even go back with proper precautions, lots of wipes, and all of our emergency medicine. I just have to remember.....Never underestimate the evil legume!

When All Else Fails, Try Distraction - Or Why Soccer is Way Cooler then Baseball

2009-07-18T18:01:00.001-07:00

Thank you everyone for all the great ideas about what to do about my child's dreaded question. I have come up with a temporary solution. It goes back to my old motto, when all else fails, try distraction. Since the boys are huge soccer fans, we did some looking and discovered that a famous European team was playing some Americans (can you tell I know absolutely nothing about soccer???) in Palo Alto.

Mick and the boys are off to go to their first real sporting event tomorrow afternoon. Mick has assured me that peanuts are not a part of any sort of soccer tradition, at least in Ireland or England, so we should be ok. Even though I have absolutely no interest in Soccer, I have come to the conclusion that it is a way cooler sport then baseball. There is more running up and down the field, less of people waiting around to do something, and most importantly of all, peanuts are not such an integral part of the game that they are included in a song everyone sings during a break between innings.

OK, I will admit it, I actually have no love for soccer. I used to hate playing it when I was younger, and felt I was aimlessly running up and down the field. I also don't really enjoy watching it, and it seems like nothing ever really happens. Although I enjoy watching my son play on Saturday mornings, I am very relieved that I do not have to attend tomorrow's soccer outing and instead get to hang out and do girly things with Natalie.

I used to really like baseball too. I would watch games on tv and even attend some in person. I excitedly cheered when the Angels won the world series, and followed their seasons for some years after. I even own an Angels t shirt.

But you know, sometimes distractions can distract your outlook. Soccer is way cooler then baseball!!

The Other Day My Child Asked Me That Dreaded Question..

2009-07-10T15:02:00.000-07:00

The other day, I heard those words every mother of a peanut allergic child dreads to hear. They are the words that put a chill through my heart and an ache in my head. And even worse these words were not even uttered by my peanut allergic child!!! It is so painful I have trouble typing them even here......... But OK, here goes. Other peanut allergic child mothers look away if you have to.

Two days ago, on July 7 2009, my oldest son Michael looked innocently up at me and asked, "Mommy, when can we go and see a baseball game?"

I calmly replied in an attempt to distract him "T-Ball season is over for the year, you can play instructional next year"

Michael looked up at me exasperated and replied, "No Mommy, like the one on TV. My friend friend is going to see the Giants. When can we go?"

I was able to tell him we would have to look into it, but what do we do???

I quickly ran over to the awesome web site Peanut Free Baseball Games, to see if I could find any sort of somewhat safe games, but Alas the closest games to us that I could find are in San Diego and Seattle.

I know I could try and take all sorts of precautions and just go, but I think I would have a heart attack ducking peanut shells, and trying to get an almost 5 year old to continually wipe his hands. Of course this is also the child who may have reacted to sitting next to a man on the airplane eating a bag of peanuts. I just don't think I could stomach going without actually going insane.

So, what are my other options.... Send the older child with his father while the other one sits at home and I am wracked with guilt over what he is missing out on. Send the older child with a friend and hose him down when he gets home? Don't let anyone go???

If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them. Maybe it is time for a road trip to San Diego or Seattle.

Peanut Knows

2009-07-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I get everyone ready to head down to Southern California again for the July 4th weekend, I thought I would share an interesting find I came across while surfing the Internet superhighway. I don't know how I find these things, but hey, I do have many hidden talents.

This is posted on the web site The Greener Grass. As they describe themselves,

"The Greener Grass is produced by Kaleidoscope, a product development consultancy in Cincinnati, Ohio. It uses our resources to initiate positive change by opening discourse, connecting people, and becoming a conduit for new thinking and discussion that leads to positive outcomes. Our goal is to build a community by interviewing experts and thought leaders, identifying trends, and creating concepts for products, services, and ideas that bring solutions to life."

Sounds like a great goal for me.

Anyways, one of the products they have on this site is called Peanut Knows.

"The Peanut Knows is a friendly little fellow that can detect the presence of peanut and peanut trace in food products. The electronic nose sniffs out the culprit and alerts the user, helping to prevent allergic reactions.

The concept is from a form metaphor of the elephant's affinity for peanuts. This is an elephant pendant that, when placed on the side of your dish (bottom button is depressed), 'sniffs' for peanuts. If peanut content is detected the 'mouth' lights up."

How cool is that???? It would be like the Peanut Detection Dog, but in a small pendant in the shape of an elephant. I got all excited until I tried to do further research, and discovered that this is just a concept for a product, and one like it does not appear to be in the works anywhere I could find.

So, all you people who make products.....

I would buy one of these!!!

Please make it!!!

What a great idea!!!!!

My Amazing New Talent

2009-06-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

This week I discovered an amazing new talent. I know, I know, you are saying that I already have so many talents already, how could I discover even more....but alas, the trials of motherhood have shed light on this previously (and thankfully) undiscovered skill.

It all began on Tuesday. Conor woke up in the morning saying he was not feeling well. Despite this, he still wanted to eat, so I fed him his usual breakfast. As soon as Mick walked out the door to go to work, the puking began. WOOoohooooo. what fun. I got the puke bowl, and the towels, and proceeded to get the other two sweet young children ready for their camps. Then it dawned on me I have to get them to their respective camps, and I have no one to stay home with Conor. After the throwing up subsided, I figured I would try my luck, and load everyone in the car and hope for the best. I took the puke bowl, and the towels and we were on our way. Everything seemed fine driving along the road until I heard the words I dreaded to hear...."Mommy, I don't feel so good."

Of course my sweet young child had dropped the ever useful bowl, and that was when the adrenaline started. Somehow, with reason beyond reason, I was able to find the missing puke bowl, catch the sick child's regurgitation and drive for 5 minutes until I was able to get to a safe place to pull over on the highway. I did all this without hitting anything, getting a ticket, or even getting a drop of the unfortunate sickness onto the car. I was even able to sooth the sick child, and clean out the bowl by the side of the road without making a mess.

Now if that is not a talent, I don't know what is.

A Peanut Butter Tree

2009-06-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

I know I don't have too much free time on my hands, but I find these oh so interesting things when I should be doing other oh so interesting things. So, here is my latest find, The Peanut Butter Tree (also known in plant terms as Bunchosia)

And of course the Peanut Butter Tree produces the Peanut Butter Fruit.

This of course lead me to my favorite source Wikipedia

"Bunchosia argentea is a species of plant in the acerola family, Malpighiaceae. It produces a small red-orange fruit with sticky, dense pulp and a flavour resembling a dried fig. It is native to Venezuela and Colombia in South America.[1]
It has a flavor similar to that of peanut butter, hence the name. Additionally, the scent is unmistakably of peanut butter. Mostly eaten fresh, also used for jellies, jams, or preserves. It is cultivated in South Florida."

Of course this raised many questions for me that lead me to waste even more time trying to pursue. I first tried to find out if this fruit is in any way related to the peanut. If my darling little allergic son ate this fruit would he have a reaction. After hours of research I was unable to find an answer on the Internet superhighway, and I am not that worried because I don't think the tree is too popular here but still inquiring minds want to know......

So now I am off to find more answers for myself (Does anyone know the meaning of life?) and avoid doing all those other things I should be doing. Until I find the answer though, beware of the peanut butter fruit.

Why God Made Moms - An End of the School Year Tribute

2009-06-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

With the end of the school year upon us, I am presently sitting at home trying to write this while 3 still pajama clad children run wild around the house. I am finding it quite hard to concentrate with things whizzing by my head, and dangerous sounds coming from the next room. There is no screaming yet, so I figure all is good for now. In honor of the end of the school year a friend of mine sent me this below. It gave me a chuckle and I hope it will for you too. (Hmmm, I just heard from the other room "I think it is stuck in the oven" to look or not to look, that is the question.)

WHY GOD MADE MOMS
Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:
Why did God make mothers?

1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.
2. Mostly to clean the house.
3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.

How did God make mothers?
1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.
2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.
3. God made my mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.

What ingredients are mothers made of?
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.
2.. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.

Why did God give you your mother and not some other mom?
1. We're related.
2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's mom like me.

What kind of a little girl was your mom?
1. My mom has always been my mom and none of that other stuff.
2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.
3. They say she used to be nice.

What did mom need to know about dad before she married him?
1. His last name.
2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?
3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?

Why did your Mom marry your Dad?
1. My dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my mom eats a lot.
2. She got too old to do anything else with him.
3. My grandma says that mom didn't have her thinking cap on

Who's the boss at your house?
1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because dad's such a goof ball.
2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.
3. I guess mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than dad

What's the difference between moms and dads?
1. Moms work at work and work at home and dads just go to work at work.
2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.
3. Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friends.
4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.

What does your mom do in her spare time?
1. Mothers don't do spare time.
2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.

What would it take to make your mom perfect?
1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.
2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.

If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?
1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.
2. I'd make my mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it not me.
3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

Things I Learned on our Vacation - Lesson #2

2009-06-05T11:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know, more lessons from our fun filled vacation to Ireland. When we arrived my very well meaning mother in law told me all the preparations she had done for our visit. She really is wonderful, and after a month or two of trying to understand Conor's allergies, she now really gets it, and does her best to help us out. Before we arrived she cleaned the house of any peanut products, made an effort to find safe foods for him, and cleaned the whole place thoroughly. She even had some things she was not sure of to have me check out for myself.

After we had been there a few days, (and I recovered from our 3 flights see lesson #1 only take direct flights) she excitedly told me she had checked out a local restaurant and thought it would be safe for Conor. She said she had gone in and talked to the staff and person in charge, and they said Conor could eat there safely.

Hearing this great information, we headed over there one night for dinner with tons of family. We all excitedly sit down and peruse our menu for our exciting dinning options. When I get to the bottom of the menu I see a giant disclaimer , "This restaurant is not safe for those suffering from nut allergies." Uh Oh, not a good sign. My husband gently points this out to my mother in law who stated that she spoke to the manager, and just never quite looked at the menu. I called the Manager over to our table, informed him about Conor's life threatening allergies. He first told me the food was safe, and there were only peanuts in a few things. I politely pointed out the giant disclaimer at the bottom of the menu stating his restaurant was definitely not safe, and then explained to him how cross contamination works. He went off to double check again, only to discover that many other products in the kitchen were not safe, and if my son was that sensitive perhaps he should not eat there.

Thankfully there was a McDonalds around the corner, (yes, McDonalds are everywhere) and the restaurant manager kindly agreed to let Conor eat his McDonalds happy meal in the restaurant while everyone else ate their regular food.

So what was my second lesson of our vacation.....

#2 Always double check any information someone gives you

and sub lesson - restaurant managers are idiots!

Another Lesson I Learned About Blogging About Our Vacation

2009-05-30T17:52:00.000-07:00

I just checked my last post about that very important lesson I learned on our vacation only to discover that half my post was missing. Yikes!!! Where in the world did that brilliant prose disappear to in the cyberspace universe. Of course it was filled with brilliant pithy commentary about peanut allergies and flying, and may have even held the secret to peace on earth, but now it is all gone.... snif, snif snif.

So, the important lesson I learned is

Always Check Your Blog After You Publish It to Make Sure Your Entire Post is There.

Of course I discovered this almost a week later. Big oooppssss. I can not believe me or the three people that read this did not try and alert me that my blog ended in mid sentence. Talk about a cliff hanger.

OK, so I will see if I can finish off the exciting story. I am sure I can not remember all the really insightful, humorous details, and of course I seem to have forgotten the part about creating peace on earth, but I will try my best.

So, I think that after tossing Conor over the seat to Mick, he took him to the bathroom and tossed him back to me. Of course in this second toss, Conor's foot somehow hit the guy in the aisle in the head, thus awakening him from his peaceful airplane slumber. OOPPPPssss sorry. So, after I get Conor settled I look over to my right to again apologize to this poor man besides us only to discover that he has pulled out a snack to eat. Of course this was no ordinary snack, it was a giant bag of peanuts. My heart started to beat faster, as I turned to the man and anxiously requested that he put away his airline snack because it could kill my son. The poor man was so nice and apologized profusely that I offered to give him one of our snacks, or buy him a safe one from the airplane. Of course he declined my offer, and politely rubbed his head where my poor sweet thing kicked him, but I still felt bad for the guy.

I finally got Conor sufficiently drugged to calm the hacking and fall asleep. I contemplated giving him a nebulizer with really cool little nebulizer, with the fun option of freaking out the annoying flight crew by not telling them why smoke was rising from the middle of isle 24 but finally thought the better of it. I do have to say that I wonder if the proximity to peanuts could have caused all of Conor's symptoms, or could they just be related to the dust, etc on the airplane. It is something I will have to try and keep an eye on in the future.....

So we finally made it safely to Heathrow where I gave Conor a nebulizer, got all of our pictures taken in security, and wondered why the security people paid more attention to my socks then the large bag of liquids and needles I showed them.

We made it onto the third airplane where I discovered my air sickness gets very bad when traveling for almost 24 hours, and proceeded to throw up on the airplane, and for the hour ride to Nana's house. Those barf bags are really useful sometimes, and I made sure to stock up on our way home for little peoples new car sickness issues.

So anyways, just a simple reiteration of my first lesson that I have now hopefully completed....

1) Always Take a Direct Flight

Another holiday at the doctor

2009-05-25T11:08:00.001-07:00

Happy memorial day everyone. I am presently writing this from our
friendly very crowded pediatric aftercare office. Conor seems to have
yet another ear infection on a day all normal medical offices are
closed. Last time he had an ear infection was on super bowl sunday. I
think he times these things on purpose. Hopefully we will be called
soon..............

Sent from my iPhone

Things I Learned on Our Vacation

2009-05-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Whew!! We made it home, and I am still trying to recover, but am finally able to try and function normally. I know, I know, you have all been waiting with baited breath to hear about our globe traveling exploits. So, my next few posts will cover important things I learned on our trip, so everyone can learn from our experiences. (just don't laugh at my expense :)

1) When traveling a long distance you MUST take a direct flight.

That is right, whatever you do, take a direct flight. It does not matter how much it may cost but you must beg borrow and steal to raise the funds to go direct. This is a non negotiable aspect of any of my future excursions to Ireland. Even if you are presented with free frequent flyer tickets for your entire family, do not take them unless they are a direct flight. No exceptions apply!!

On the way there, we took 3 airplanes to get to Dublin. One from San Francisco to Los Angeles, one from Los Angeles to Heathrow, and one from Heathrow to Dublin. The flight from LA to San Francisco was fine, and we quickly hopped over to the Heathrow to Dublin flight with an ease that made me think this was no big deal. Ok, I was wrong....don't base your assessment of a 20 hour trip on the first 2 hours.

So, we make it on to plane #2, where my lovely husband informs me we have 3 seats in one row, and 2 seats in the row in front, with only one row having an aisle seat. The other row with two seats together is right in the middle of that long center isle in the middle of the plane.....Cool. Of course no one would trade with us, so at first I sat in the back row with 2 children, and Mick sat in front of us with one.

About 10 minutes after we got on the airplane Conor started sneezing, wiping and itching. Cool.... I quickly popped out the benedryl to drug him up and it seemed to help a bit. We took off, and made do as the time very slowly passed. Thankfully there were tv screens in the seat in front and that kept everyone entertained for quite a while.

Much later in the flight after many of the seat changes, they dimmed the light to pretend it was night. Conor and I were in the first row, and the other three were behind us. Conor started his mas mucas production again, and I drugged him again with another round of benedryl since it had been over 4 hours. Of course once the man next to me with the aisle access fell asleep, Conor decided he had to go to the bathroom again. (I spent half the flight taking one child or another to the bathroom!!) So, I tossed him to Mick over a seat

Super Epi Pen Over the Rainbow

2009-05-15T11:49:00.000-07:00

Whew, we and Super Epi Pen are back from somewhere over the rainbow.

This labeling is nuts

2009-05-06T04:36:00.000-07:00

Ok, bear with me here as I am trying to blog from my iPhone and I am
really bad at typing on this tiny little keyboard thing.
What would previously take me two minutes to write now takes me 20

Hhhmm let's see what happens if I slam my fingers on all the keys at
once. Htdgfidjfudhh. Ok not quite as exciting as I was expecting

Things here are going fine except for an unexpected funeral of my
sister in laws 94 year old mother. Well the woman was 94, I guess
not that unexpected, but still kind of sad. I opted out of the open
casket wake at the sibling in laws house and stayed home breaking up
fights about whose glass of water was the tallest and who has the most
freckles.

Anyways on to what I was originally going to write about.
Labeling. The labeling here is actually pretty good although
searching through isles of unfamiliar products can be a bit time
consuming and frustrating.

Despite the good labeling there seems to be some over labeling and
warnings put on everything of some brands just to be safe legally. My
favorite labeling was this

"this product contains no nuts..............
This product may contain nuts"

Hhhhhhhhmmmm confusing get my hopes up that the product
Might be safe and then dash those hopes in a conflicting statement.
Think of the ink wasted to write both those lines. Why not just write
may contain nuts. Maybe these labels are written by those stupid
idiots who write articles claiming peanut allergies are just a figment
of the imagination of crazy mothers who want to feel important

Ok enough rambling. Stay tuned for more excitment
Sent from my iPhone

Going on a Jet Plane

2009-04-26T14:22:00.000-07:00

We are leaving tomorrow on our big excursion over to Ireland, and I think I am almost ready with everything. Of course as I am trying to write this two sweet little boys are pretending to hit each other with their shoes. HHHMMM, I wonder why I sometimes forget things.......

For this recent journey, I have discovered the exciting world of iphone apps. I was just looking for some entertainment, but wow these things are so cool!!!!!! I am also going to try and blog from my iphone while we are gone......I think I have it figured out, but I am quite technologically challenged, so we shall see.

My latest interesting app find is called Eat Safe.

It is basically just a series of clear illustrations that you can show to someone to get them to truly understand that no, you can not eat this food!!!

"Eat Safe, a new iPhone application ($3.99), helps bridge the communication gap between diner and waiter when it comes to ingredients in certain dishes.
The program, a model in simplicity, allows the iPhone to display a clear illustration of 18 products, such as fish, dairy products or peanuts, that the patron can’t eat.
You can download it to your iPhone from the application store or through iTunes"

Although they speak English in Ireland, this could still be a really good app for those people who just seem really dense about the fact that no peanuts really does mean NO PEANUTS!!!! Maybe it would help Grampoo...

Taking Medication on the Airplane

2009-04-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

I am so relieved that spring break is finally over, and the house is momentarily quiet again. I think we all just spent way too much time together. The three little ones were able to push each others buttons in a matter of minutes, and the fighting was brutal. It got so bad in the car a few times, I threatened to take everyone into the local police station, so we could talk to a policeman about car safety. We once made it to the outside of the police station, but I never had the pleasure of dragging everyone in and trying to explain to the local police why I was there. I am not quite sure what their reaction would have been, but I will do it if I ever need to.

Now I have started to get back to what we need to do on our vacation. I can not wait to see what fun we will be on such a long plane flight. I plan on apologizing to everyone around us as soon as we get on, and maybe passing out earplugs to them. If I can not keep three children under control in my car that I can pull over, what in the world am I going to do on an airplane for 12 or so hours.

Anyways, I have been trying to get all of Conor's medicines in order, and realized I need to use half my carry on luggage just to carry it. Here is a list of my booty.

Allegra

Singulair

Benedryl (a wonder drug, good both for allergic reactions, and just in case to help little people sleep)

Pulmacort (for nebulizer)

Xopanex (for nebulizer)

A totally cool sleek little nebulizer

4 epi pens

And just in case you were wondering, here is the information now on what you are allowed to carry on airplanes in the case of medications.

"Additionally, we are continuing to permit prescription liquid medications and other liquids needed by persons with disabilities and medical conditions. This includes:
All prescription and over-the-counter medications (liquids, gels, and aerosols) including KY jelly, eye drops, and saline solution for medical purposes;
Liquids including water, juice, or liquid nutrition or gels for passengers with a disability or medical condition;
Life-support and life-sustaining liquids such as bone marrow, blood products, and transplant organs;
Items used to augment the body for medical or cosmetic reasons such as mastectomy products, prosthetic breasts, bras or shells containing gels, saline solution, or other liquids; and,
Gels or frozen liquids needed to cool disability or medically related items used by persons with disabilities or medical conditions.
However, if the liquid medications are in volumes larger than 3 ozs each, they may not be placed in the quart-size bag and must be declared to the Transportation Security Officer. A declaration can be made verbally, in writing, or by a person's companion, caregiver, interpreter, or family member.
Declared liquid medications and other liquids for disabilities and medical conditions must be kept separate from all other property submitted for x-ray screening.
For more information on these measures, please read our letter outlining this policy -- Changes in Allowances for Persons with Disabilities at Airport Security Checkpoints (pdf, 101Kb)"

The Sports Car of the Nebulizer World

2009-04-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

We finally sent Grampoo on his way back to Los Angeles. Whew!! that was a close one!!

Anyways I have spent the last few days trying to prepare for our trip. One of our major concerns was our nebulizer. I must bring a nebulizer. I have previously publicly professed my love for our nebulizer here. However I have been very concerned about dragging our grey brick like thing overseas on an airplane. In addition to it's rather portly size and weight, we also need to be able to plug it into the international electric circuits. Think what would happen if I blew out the nebulizer. It could be smoking, and I might just think it was the normal smoke that comes from it.

We went to my favorite allergist the other day. (Grampoo was still here, and I did not trust him to watch the little people alone, so he sat in the waiting room at the Dr, and I took 3 little children in with me to see the Dr. . FUN!)

After explaining our problem to our awesome allergist she showed me something that got my heart racing with excitement. I realized this is what some people must feel when they see a sports car. It was sleek and compact. It had smooth lines and technical innovation. It fit in the palm of my hand, but could handle its big job silently. The horsepower was incredible, and it could run on batteries, ac/dc, and even had a European adapter. I reached over to caress it, and knew I must have it at all costs.........

The Aeroneb Go Nebulizer system

The appropriate arrangements were quickly made, and this beauty was delivered to my door yesterday evening. I admired it yet again, and even liked the cool fish mask that came with it. Now I am just waiting for Conor to cough so I can take it for a test drive.

You Would Think Grampoo Would Know Better

2009-04-15T17:46:00.000-07:00

Wow, this has been one tough week. Everyone is off for spring break, I am Au Pair less, and I am trying to juggle 3 sweet young things whose main form of entertainment seems to be fighting with each other, and playing, lets annoy Mommy any time we are driving in the car. Fun!!

Anyways, Grampoo decided to come up and "help" out for a few days during the week. "Help" is of course a very relative word. I think he thinks he is helping, but I don't really know how much help it is. OK, not so much. Grampoo also does not get the whole peanut allergy thing. He should. He is allergic to penacillin, and some other drug, and has had some pretty severe reactions himself. But does he get it???? NO!

We went to McDonalds yesterday to have lunch. I stupidly let him go order the desserts....2 ice cream cones, and 2 hot fudge sundaes with no nuts. He walks over to the table with the desserts on the tray, and the two evil packets of peanuts sitting there. Thinking the counter person at McDonalds had just made a mistake and given him the peanuts, I tell him to either give the peanuts back or throw them away. My husbands father in law then sticks them in his pocket and says they are gone. When I respond that a jacket pocket does not equal gone, he kindly informs me that he is going to take them home (our home of course) and put them in his luggage so he can eat them on the airplane ride home.

After banging my head against the wall for a while, I insisted that he throw the peanuts away. I tried to explain to him why, but he just did not get it. Forget that he is also then planning to eat peanuts on an airplane, and then........Hello!!!! I said maybe someone else's grandchild who is allergic to peanuts would be sitting next to him, but got no understanding of the situation. I think I need a vacation from Grampoo......

OK, I am off to go and search Grampoo's luggage and jacket for any further contraband........

Who knows what I might find. I hope I find some money....

Flying With Food Allergies

2009-04-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

As things are starting to settle into a routine again, we somehow decided to go on a big vacation to Ireland in two weeks to visit Nana. Mick grew up in Ireland, and most of his family is still there including his mother, sister and 2 brothers and their families. We got a great deal on tickets, and at the spur of the moment decided hey, what the heck.

Now, exciting as this is, once the excitement wore off a bit, I realized that traveling with 3 little children is a challenging endeavor. But traveling with a child with life threatening food allergies and asthma is a whole other ball of wax.

We did travel to Ireland 2 years ago, and we were aware of Conor's peanut allergy. That trip went fine with no major reactions. (we did not know of the egg allergy at the time, and just could not figure out why Conor would get hives after helping to make french toast.....ooopppsss). I of course do not remember what I did to prepare, and what I need to do now yikes....

We are flying on United for the main trip across the pond, and also connecting to Aer Lingus and from my general research they both appear not to serve little bags of peanuts to all of their passengers in a snack time flurry. They also do not cover their web site with pictures of peanuts, and dress up as a peanut easter bunny too, so that makes me happy. For more on Southwest, an airline that does have a web site covered with pictures of peanuts, and dresses up as a peanut Easter bunny look here and here.

As you have probably guessed, my next few weeks will be filled with posts of preparation for our international air travel with three little people, food allergies, and asthma. I have just started my research, and FAAN is the first good resource I have found so far for general info. The FAAN Airline information page is here.

If anyone knows of any other good information sites or information in general, please let me know. I need all the help I can get......

Good By No Pair - Embracing Change

2009-04-04T06:55:00.000-07:00

So, the No Pair has officially vacated the house, and after a rousing game of name that mental illness (borderline personality disorder), we are officially ready to move on to our au pair less life. Since Conor is going to kindergarten in the fall, and we have alot of resources locally, we decided that we no longer needed an au pair anymore. Although we had two that were absolutely wonderful, the bad ones really take it out of you, and I am tired of dealing with a teenager in addition to my three little ones.

I have spent my past week or so frantically trying to re-arrange our schedule to have some sort of child care accommodations. While this is difficult already, there are many more challenges when you have a child with life threatening food allergies, severe cat allergies, many enviormental allergies and asthma. There is one wonderful woman near my house that picks up at the local elementary school and will take Michael and Natalie one day a week. I was all set up to send Conor one morning a week also, and she was ready to try and accommodate his food allergies, when I made the very unfortunate discovery that she has cats. .....Check that one off the list.

But you know, we are muddling through...... I am so thankful to have found the nut free school where Conor will go to kindergarten. He can stay later on the days he goes there, and they have a wonderful summer camp he can also attend. I found a local woman who is older, has a grown daughter with asthma, and is very responsible to help watch the kids on occasion. We joined a gym that has a safe child care everyone can go to.

At first I was frightened and scared about what we were going to do, and how this change was going to effect us. Then Mick and I sat down, and really talked about it. What I was really afraid of was not having new child care options, but the change itself. When we first discovered Conor was allergic to peanuts, it was a shock out of the blue that changed our lives in that very instant. This was also a shock, but I think in a good way. We as a family were able to sit down and re-evaluate what we want from each other and our time together. We were able to use this upheaval in our day to day lives as a way to communicate with the children about how much we love them and how important our family is to us. We were able to address our fear of change and embrace it. Fortunately or unfortunately change is an inevitable part of life. I guess I need to change the way I view change.

From Au Pair to No Pair

2009-03-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

So, I think we have finally recovered from all our illnesses. While there is still some hacking, heaving and nose running, I think we finally have everything under control and are ready to get back to life.

Or so I thought.....

I had previously written long long ago that we were getting a new au pair from Colombia. We had 2 previous au pairs that were absolutely wonderful, and one that was absolutely crazy. I had not written about our now No Pair much since I knew she knew of this blog, but now....oh well, here goes...

On Monday night she came to me and said she needed to talk to me after the children went to bed. Uh Oh, already a trouble sign. We had all sorts of interesting interactions with her, and occasional interesting behavior, but she was great with the kids, and always ready and always able to show up on time when needed, and seemed responsible, so we just kind of watched it. So this past Monday she sat me down and told me that although she loved the children and the job, she just was not comfortable being around us, and had to leave as soon as possible. After numerous conversations with the area coordinator, and her, she packed up her bags, and ran out the door early Thursday morning, never to be seen or heard from again.

So, this is kind of annoying. Just a bit. Well, ok alot. It is not like I will horribly miss her, but the kids are a bit upset, and I need a week or so to figure out our situation. After a few more days we decided that we are officially done with the au pair program, since we have lots of resources locally, and Conor will be heading to kindergarten in the fall. There were a variety of other factors that went into this decision, including the way the company handles your ability to interview prior host families of in country au pairs, and the fact that we would like our house back to ourselves.

So, I have been running around like crazy trying to figure out what our schedule will be for next week, and what my needs are. This is of course further complicated by all of Conor's allergies. Not only is the peanut allergy a big problem, but he is also severely allergic to cats, and can not go anywhere cats may be.

So, a new saga in our life begins......Lets call this the No Pair chapter.

Being Sick Sucks Lollipops!!!!

2009-03-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it has been almost an entire week since I last posted.Wow, time flies when you are sick. First Conor was sick, and when Conor gets sick any schedule, organization, or rest goes out the window. We get to hang out with our good friend Plain Old Brown Nebulizer 3-4 times a day. Sometimes I think I should just name the darn thing, we spend so much time with it. Lets see, 3 times a day average, 15-20 minutes at a time - wow, that is about an hour a day with Mr. Nebulizer. 7 hours a week, 28 hours a month...yikes!!!

Things I wish I did for 7 hours a week

exercise

take naps

get massages

watch tv

read

meditate

breath deeply

breath quickly

listen to the quiet in my house

compliment my children for getting along so well

eat

blog

play on the Internet

play off the Internet

walking the dog

petting the dog

acknowledging the dog's existence

eating lollipops

go for a walk in the park

Then of course after spending countless nights up with Conor coughing in my face, I too caught some evil illness that left me sniffling, sneezing and coughing for over a week. Thankfully I do not have asthma, but it was (and still is) not lots of fun. Then we had a few bouts of vomiting in cars from other folks, a cool nosebleed, and a fun trip to our favorite Doctor to round out our week. (aren't you glad you decided to come over here and read this????)

So, I am off to tend to some more sick people. Maybe I will even tend to myself a bit.....:)

Peanut Free T-Ball Anyone....

2009-03-15T16:12:00.000-07:00

You know spring is here when it is baseball season. In our house, Michael and Conor have just started practice for their first ever T-Ball season. We went to our first practice, and I have to say, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

One of the main parts of the first practice was to show everyone how to run around the bases.......in the correct order. Now this seems simple, but for ten 4-5 year olds, it is not quite as simple as it seems. In fact it is pretty darn complicated. You have to go around the bases in a counter clockwise motion, after you hit the ball, in numerical order. You need to step on all the bases as you run around them, not fall over, or run into anything or anyone in your path. Finally you must tag home plate, and STOP there, not continue running around as fast as you can all over the place screaming home run at the top of your lungs.

Then, of course there is fielding. Getting the concept across that little children must pay attention seems awfully difficult. Thus, it is necessary to take part in important drills like outfield flower bouquet creation, hat styling, and gardening. These activities take paramount importance in an outfielders time, even if one of those annoying balls seems to get in the way by coming by every once in a while.

Overall the practice went great. Our coach is great with kids, and a realist, claiming, we were off to a great start. According to him, his job, and our job was the equivalent of herding cats, and we ended the day with no scratches or bites. There was a bit of howling and whining, but I think that was par for the course. Our first game is next weekend, and I can not wait to see how that goes...

With T-Ball starting, our little sports fans have started to express an interest in watching Baseball on TV, and maybe even seeing a real baseball game in person. With a peanut allergy unfortunately, this is not so easy. The totally awesome blogger Jennifer over at Food Allergy Buzz has started a blog Peanutfreebaseball.com where she is putting all the information she has found about peanut free baseball games around the country. This is such a great resource, and I am hoping to see some San Francisco area games listed there soon.

In the meantime, I am making sure all the local T-Ball games are peanut free just in case you want to check them out in person.

Not Your Average Nebulizer

2009-03-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Although I love my nebulizer dearly, if it were ever to mysteriously stop functioning, here are some cool alternatives....

The Speedster race car nebulizer

The Margo Moo Nebulizer with its own barn carrying case

A cute Teddy Bear Nebulizer

A Play with your Lego while nebulizing nebulizer. (but don't pull out those little tubes, and try to attach them to the Lego, or keep pushing the colorful buttons)

The Here Taxi nebulizer

Check them out here

I asked the children in the house for their opinion, and the red race car won out with 2 votes from the boys, while the girl thought the teddy bear should be our next nebulizer. Maybe we will get one after we get one of those peanut sniffing dogs.......

Meet the Southwest Airlines Peanut Bunny

2009-03-05T06:35:00.000-08:00

With all this talk about peanuts on airlines, and Easter comming up, I thought I would share this cool stuff I found on my internet travels. Apparently to raise money last Easter a department at Southwest decided to dress up one of their employees as the Peanut Bunny. Apparently for $1.00 you could have your picture taken with this adorable creature. Wow, sign me up for this year!!!

But you know, this story is best told in the words of its own airline Southwest, in their blog
The Soutwest Airlines Blog, Nuts About Southwest in their fine entry Here Comes Peanut Cotton Tail

"The Provisioning Department at HDQ has recently formed its own Local Culture Committee* called The Peanuts Gang. (Why all the peanut references? Provisioning is the Team that stocks our planes with our famous peanuts!) All Local Culture Committees must come up with their own fundraising ideas to earn money to support their different events during the year; thus was born the Peanut Bunny.

What exactly is a Peanut Bunny, you ask? Picture a big papier mache peanut costume dressed up with big bunny ears and a big pink bow around its neck. Now picture one crazy Culture Ambassador and a Provisioning Auditor taking turns wearing that costume with a pink nose and painted-on whiskers hopping up and down the halls, visiting different departments, and posing for pictures with Employees, bringing smiles and laughter--and peanuts--along the way, and there you have the Provisioning Peanut Bunny"

Apparently future photo ops are in the works with Uncle Sam Peanut, Beach Beauty Bikini Peanut, and Peanut Claus! Great!!!

Dear Nebulizer....I Love You

2009-03-02T09:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Nebulizer,

I just wanted to say... I love you.

I know, I know, you are not the most attractive looking package we have ever seen, but the difference you have made in our lives has been astounding. When you entered our home 5 months ago, I was unsure what to make of your little brown exterior with all those tubes, wires, and funny dragon mask. You were bulky to carry, and awkward to use. I resented that your motor like hum filled the room making it difficult to hear anything else, and that it took all to long for you to need to attach your dragon like mask to my sweet little hacking son.

Then, I thought you were a bad influence on us. In order to make my sweet little thing sit quietly with you plugged into the nearby electric socket, I was forced to bribe him with television and video games I would never have otherwise exposed him to. You brought the Playstation into our home far more often then I would ever have allowed before. Sometimes I felt like we spent half our day hanging out with you, smoke like air coming from the dragon mask the television lights flickering.

As I was filled with anger and annoyance at your intrusion into our lives, I came to a realization. Since you have come into our lives, we have avoided trips to the ER, and oral steroids. You have gotten us through many colds, flu's and late night coughing excursions. You have been there for us when we needed you most. You have helped us where others have failed. Liquid Albuteral, Puffers, Spacers, all had previously been unable to follow through when we needed them most. They let us down just when we were depending on them, and I felt betrayed by their promises. But alas, not you. I don't know what we would do without you, and I can not thank you enough.

So again, dear Nebulizer, I just wanted to say... I love you

If Food Allergies are Disabilities - Why is it OK to Ignore Them????

2009-02-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

I am sure all 5 of you that read my blog are well aware that due to Northwest's merger with Delta, they are bringing back the evil peanut to their airline. Below are some of the great allergy blogs, etc that are trying to bring awareness to this issue.

Food Allergy Buzz post on the issue.

You Don't Need Nuts to Fly Facebook Page

Allergic Living's Campaign

The Nut Free Mom's Blog which has tons of great info, including a few posts about Northwest's return to the evil peanut.

After hearing about this disturbing development, I thought I would start to do a little research into the past history of peanuts on airplanes. I remembered some sort of discussion about it from the good old days when I had no clue peanut allergies existed. (and probably thought those people who don't want peanuts on airplanes are crazy). Here is some of the interesting information I found.

In 1998, the U.S. Department of Transportation issued instructions that all airlines were to declare at least three rows peanut free zones for all flights including any medically-diagnosed peanut-allergy sufferer. This was to bring policy in-line with the 1986 Air Carrier Access Act. Congress failed to grant financial support to enforce the directive and Newt Gingrich denounced the Clinton administration's anti-peanut attitude, but most airlines chose to comply anyhow. Some of them even began advertising their lower fat snack foods.

Mr. Peanut Goes to Court
Journal of Law and Health, Spring of 1999

"Recently, the Department of Transportation, "DOT," declared peanut allergy a "disability" under the Air Carrier Access Act,(1) a 1986 law that guarantees disabled passengers access to airliners, and which can be considered the air travel equivalent of the Americans With Disabilities Act, ("ADA.")(2) In doing so, the DOT sent letters to ten of the major airlines explaining that a medically diagnosed allergy to peanuts constitutes a "disability" under the Carrier Act.(3) Accordingly, the to DOT created "peanut-free zones" or "buffer zones," where peanuts would not be served, on commercial air flights in order to protect passengers who notify the airline in advance of their documented allergy to peanuts.(4)

In response, Congress, pressured by lobbyists for the peanut industry, attached a repealer to the 1999 Omnibus Appropriations Bill that prohibits the DOT from spending any money to implement "peanut free zones" and further requires the DOT to submit to Congress "a peer reviewed scientific study" which documents the severe allergic reactions before the DOT can once again move for "peanut free zones."(5) Even after Congress' response, the DOT is still recommending "buffer zones" on commercial flights; however, without funding, enforcement of the zones has become impossible.(6)"

Although I am not sure if this has changed over the past 10 or so years, it seems based on this that food allergies are considered a disability under Department of Transportation guidelines, so if you feel that you have been discriminated against due to your allergy, you have the right to (and should) file a complaint with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division. You can find the form at

http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/forms.htm

Also, the below is from the website of the Department of Transportation, Consumer Protection Division

Passengers with Disabilities
The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in air travel and requires U.S. air carriers to accommodate the needs of passengers with disabilities. The Department of Transportation has a rule defining the rights of passengers and the obligations of air carriers under this law. The following is a summary of the main points of the DOT rule (Title 14 CFR, Part 382).
Prohibition of Discriminatory Practices
Carriers may not refuse transportation to people on the basis of disability. Airlines may exclude anyone from a flight if carrying the person would be inimical to the safety of the flight. If a carrier excludes a person with a disability on safety grounds, the carrier must provide a written explanation of the decision.Airlines may not require advance notice that a person with a disability is traveling. Carriers may require up to 48 hours’ advance notice for certain accommodations that require preparation time (e.g., respirator hook-up, transportation of an electric wheelchair on an aircraft with less than 60 seats).
Carriers may not limit the number of disabled persons on a flight.
Carriers may not require a person with a disability to travel with an attendant, except in certain limited circumstances specified in the rule. If a disabled passenger and the carrier disagree about the need for an attendant, the airline can require the attendant, but cannot charge for the transportation of the attendant.
Airlines may not keep anyone out of a seat on the basis of handicap, or require anyone to sit in a particular seat on the basis of handicap, except as an FAA safety rule requires. FAA's rule on exit row seating says that carriers may place in exit rows only persons who can perform a series of functions necessary in an emergency evacuation.

I don't know how relevant any of this is, but the ex-lawyer in me thought I would consolidate all sorts of info I have found on my travels through the Internet superhighway. I am curious to know if anyone has used this before to file some sort of disability complaint, especially if they were kicked off a plane.

But, enough for now, screaming sick children are calling me to sit with them while we are waiting for the benedryl to kick in.........

My Dilema......

2009-02-24T17:56:00.000-08:00

So, here is my dilemma. Lets say we are eating out at one of those ever exciting fast food restaurants, that I consider somewhat safe for my sweet little food allergic children. We have all gotten our food and settled in at our table, eating away as only 3 sweet little children can. Then, you hear the words you have been dreading.........

Mommy, I need to go to the bathroom!!!!

I look around in horror, since I am the only adult with the three small children. I remember almost like in a slow motion horror movie how I asked each one directly when we first arrived whether or not they needed to go potty. Their voices are slowly drawn out as each says nnnnnnnnoooooooooooo, and shakes their heads side to side.

So, what are my choices....

1) try to get the child who needs to go potty to wait until everyone is done, risking accident and yucky mess

2) trek all three children to the bathroom, and leave our half eaten meal on the table, risking the one time the cleaning people are actually on the ball, and come back to a clean fresh table devoid of food. (yes, this has happened to me, and I was forced to buy three more meals to appease the traumatized children)

3) pack all the food up and take it with you to the bathroom with the three sweet little children. (yuck)

4)try and find some other reasonably sane looking people near you, and embarrassingly explain that you need to take your children to the bathroom, and ask them to please watch your food for you while you are gone, alerting any suddenly competent cleaning personnel not to throw away your food.

I am sure you are holding your breath, trying to guess which solution I used. After looking around and not seeing any reasonable sane people nearby, I decided to risk packing up three children and running to the bathroom as fast as we could in the hopes our food would be there when we returned. Lucky for us, there were no cleaning people at work today, and our food was waiting for us upon our return, just as we left it. Whew!!!

I am thinking of making up little cards in the future to leave on the tables to alert people that we will return shortly. I could print them up in vibrant colors, and many languages, and design them so they could pop up tall so everyone could see them. I think I may have to look into that in all my free time......

Always Know Your Target Audience When Selling a Product!!!

2009-02-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

"For every kid out there with peanut allergies, these erasers are for you. No more peanut deprivation! Just don’t eat them…Bag of five erasers"

(Yes, this is the actual wording used to advertise these cool erasers)

You can buy them here. They are $5.50 for a bag of 5 erasers.

We Are Back From Our Trip and I Hate Pixos!!!

2009-02-19T17:42:00.001-08:00

Whew!!! We finally made it back from our road trip to visit the relations, and I am still trying to recover. I spent all day yesterday doing laundry, and trying to unpack everything I could find. We celebrated Michael and Natalie's birthday again, with the grandparents, and have even more gifts then we did before.

(Just as an informative note, if you have three 4-6 year old children, do not, and I repeat do not let someone give them Pixos for their birthday!!! I am a bitter tired person who is very annoyed at sticking little balls into dots to try and make designs since their children are not able. Then, you get to do scientific experiments to discover if little escaped Pixos balls can be removed from wood floors and furniture once they have gotten wet, and someone has pressed them down..... So if anyone is interested in a free set of leftover Pixos please let me know!!!))

Our school district has somehow declared this week President's Week, and given everyone the entire week off. (When in the world did Presidents Day become a week off in February? Didn't they just get back from the Winter Holiday Break, and are soon going on the Spring Break???)This means I need to entertain the little people again tomorrow, and all weekend before sending them back off to school. I know some people cry and miss their children terribly when they go to school. I on the other hand cry when they are out of school. Three children so close in age means three times the energy, excitement, fighting and destruction. I always look back now, and wonder if my parents got excited when they were able to ship me back to school after a vacation.

Just in case you were wondering, here are some highlights from our trip.

We had a fun filled day at Disneyland that only included one breakdown when Conor saw a person dressed as Buzz Light Year walk by.

A comment from a stupid relative,

Stupid Relative, "Have you heard of the Salmonella scare with peanuts??? Isn't it terrible?"

Me, "Yes, it is , but thankfully that is something we do not have to worry about with Conor's peanut allergy"

Stupid Relative, "Yes, but people can get really sick from Salmonella"

Me, " People can get really sick and die from peanut allergies"

Stupid Relative, "Can you imagine if someone who ate peanuts tainted with Salmonella was also allergic to peanuts.....That would be really bad."

Me, "uh...yea"

You can eat at McDonalds 8 times in 4 days.

Grandpa
"Well of course everything at McDonalds is safe. You let him eat there don't you?"
Me, "Uh, no, the peanuts that come with the sundae's are not safe..."

After deciding I hated Pixos, I did a little research to discover that the company was actually called Aqua Dots, and the original annoying dot things were actually coated in something that turns into the date rape drug when ingested. Apparently there was a huge recall, and they are supposed to be safe now (but unfortunately are still incredibly annoying)

And of course, spending quality time with the grandparents.

A Heart Shaped Peanut !!!!

2009-02-11T14:31:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentines Day, here is another of my interesting peanut discoveries -

The Heart Shaped Peanut.

According to this blog Yumsugar.com a farmer in China has decided to grow heart shaped peanuts. I am not sure why, or how, or even if this is really true, but I sure hope no one decides this is a great idea, and makes heart shaped peanuts a part of the American Valentine tradition.

We are off to pack ourselves into the car and drive for long hours amid screaming and fighting to go and visit the grandparents in Los Angeles this weekend. I have a feeling I will be a bit busy/stressed/tired to get on here before then. On Friday before we leave in the afternoon, I have to orchestrate 20 plus valentines for 3 children. yikes!!! I hope no one decides on a healthy heart shaped peanut treat. So in case I don't get back here before then.....

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Why I Hate Decorating Cakes - A Happy Ending

2009-02-07T18:46:00.000-08:00

Whew!!! I finally finished decorating the cakes, and am so relieved to be done. I thought I would share the finished product with all of you out there waiting anxiously to see the finished product.

Natalie's Princess Cake

Michael's Hot Wheels Cake

I HATE Decorating Cakes!!!!

2009-02-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

I hate decorating cakes. That is right, I hate it. The icing is like glue and sticks to everything, the food coloring is messy, and it is a pain to clean all those little decorating tips. I hate it!!

Why am I going on about my cake decorating hatred. Well, you see, my twins 6 birthday is this Sunday, and since I am the proud parent of a food allergic child, I am forced to make my own cakes. Of course, because I am forced to make my own cakes, I aspire to make them better then any bakery cakes, so no one feels they are missing anything. My twins, of course want two separate cakes, so I need to decorate two cakes - Natalie wants a Barbie Island Princess Cake, and Michael a Hot Wheels Cake- which means twice the pressure.

I am sure you are now asking yourself how this all began. (I am sure you are also asking yourself why I am writing about my cake decorating hatred, but that is easy, I have spent the last 10 hours making and trying to decorate cakes). After Conor was diagnosed, and I made the unfortunate discovery that no bakery cakes would be safe for us, I decided to sign myself up for a cake decorating class. I had once tried to decorate a cake without such a class, and it was not a good experience, so I figured a class would give me all the expertise I needed. Each week we had to bake a cake, and make our own icing and then go to class and decorate the cake the cake of the week. Then we could take our decorated cake home and share it with all of our family and friends.

The first class was not to bad - I made the cake from scratch, and closely followed the recipe for the perfect icing. I did a simple Superman cake, and excitedly brought it home to share with everyone. As soon as Conor took a bite his face started to swell. Great, I took this class to make him cool safe cakes, and instead he has an allergic reaction to my first cake. Oops. I could not figure out what was going on, I had made everything myself from scratch. After some serious contemplation I finally figured it out - Conor was allergic to eggs, and was reacting to the meringue powder in the icing. After an allergist visit, and some testing confirmed the allergy (it all made perfect sense later, and explained alot of unexplained reactions) I learned to make icing and everything else without eggs.

This has gone on way to long for now. I need to get back to my cake decorating now that the little ones are finally in bed and not able to "help". Unfortunately in our house, "helping" ends up involving sticking fingers in the great masterpiece I have just created, and fighting, crying and large messes. I promise to post pictures of the finished projects when I am done.

Wish me luck

What I Learned During the Superbowl - Don't Freak Out if Blood is Ozing From Your Child's Ear

2009-02-02T19:14:00.000-08:00

It was Sunday afternoon. We were all ready to sit down and watch the big game. Conor had a cold for the past few days, but we had been able to control his coughing with the nebulizer, and he seemed on the road to recovery. (Yes, any time the asthmatic child gets sick, it is always a deal. I hear someone sneeze and immediately ask "Who is it?" If the response is Michael or Natalie, I always think oh good. Not good for them, but at least it is not Conor) I thought all was well, when he starts screaming about a terrible pain in his ear. After I force him to drink his chocolate milk spiked with ibuprofen, I realize it is time to toss him into the car and head over to the local after hours pediatric clinic. For those of you that don't have one of these places, I feel for you. It is just like a pediatricians office that is open from 5-10 pm during the week, and 10-10 weekends and holidays. It truly is one of the greatest inventions of all time, and cures the problem of what to do when your child decides they are sick first thing Saturday morning, and your Dr is not open again until Monday, and you really don't think it is that worth of the ER.

So I bribe my sweet little thing into the car with 2 cookies, and his sister decides to come along for the ride because she has no interest in watching football, and would rather watch her little brother get poked and prodded. We finally reach our destination and go into the office. The doctor comes in, and looks in his ear, looks at me, and proclaims that his eardrum is about to burst. OK, between my three children we have probably had about 10 ear infections and no one has ever mentioned the possibility of an eardrum bursting. Even better, she told me if the eardrum did burst, Conor would probably have blood and puss oozing from his ear. Cool!!! No doctor ever told me of this possibility either. If I woke up in the middle of the night to my screaming child with blood oozing out of his ear, I would probably freak out and rush to the emergency room.

Little did I know, that although a burst eardrum is not a good thing, it is not that bad, and usually relieves the pain and heals by itself. No one ever told me these evil ear infection possibilities. If they did, they could probably save alot of crazed worried parents some panic when dealing with their oozing ear infected children.

So just in case you want to learn more about this cool phenomena of eardrum bursting and puss and blood here is a link or two.

http://www.hearingaidscentral.com/bursteardrum.asp

http://www.emedicinehealth.com/perforated_eardrum/article_em.htm

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/ruptured-eardrum/DS00499

Thankfully we seem to have caught the ear infection just in time, and so far I have not seen anything oozing (I like that word), out of ears. (Noses are another story though) We are on the cool antibiotic that takes less time (the one good thing about being allergic to penicillin) and are hopefully on the mend.

You Know You Are the Parent of a Food Allergy Kid When...

2009-01-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

For those of you that have not been there yet, check out the totally awesome site Kids With Food Allergies. (Yes, I was a Valley Girl in my youth. Really, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley - home of the Valley Girl) It is a really great place with lots of great information.

While I was reading the support forums, I came across a great post that made me laugh at our not so funny situation of being parents of a child with food allergies. Check out the post "You Know You are the Parent of a Food Allergy Kid" here.

Some of my favorites are...

"...DD playing "Mommy" with her doll is feeding from the WHITE (Neocate-color) disappearing liquid bottle after totally rejecting the orange one and then giving Baby a neb treatment.

You know you're a pofak when finding a new safe candy bar gets you as excited as a little kid on Christmas morning. And, you have to tell the stranger standing behind you in the line why you are so excited.

...you can glance at a list of 20+ ingredients in minuscule font and pick out all of your allergens (including derivatives) in less than a second."

Of course this inspired me to think of a few of my own...

You spend hours deciding on what sort of product you should carry your child's epi pen in, and then a few more hours deciding if you should get the carrier in red race car fabric, or the cool floral. In the end you finally decide to buy both so you can have your choice of which you want to carry.

You unabashedly hate an advertising figure, and blame him for the downfall of modern civilization simply because it is an advertising figure for the food your child is deathly allergic to.

So there Mr. Peanut - I hate you and am proud of it!!

Even though you can not cook to save your life, you learn to bake and decorate nut free, egg free and dairy free cakes in the shapes of dolls, 3-D cars, and every character imaginable, just so your allergic child can have a birthday cake that is cooler then everyone else's bakery bought ones.

When you first make the wacky cake recipe you learn that if you combine vinegar and baking soda, you can make a cool volcano type eruption.

You know that there is such a thing as egg free mayonnaise, and that it really does taste pretty good.

All your son wants for his 4th birthday is a red medical alert bracelet.

I am sure I have tons more, but I am all tapped out for now. I would love to hear other peoples.

I Found My Perfect Dog - The Peanut Detector Dog

2009-01-26T17:48:00.000-08:00

Since Buster the pug has been getting up there in years, and had the big cancer scare, we have considered getting another dog to add to our household. Although Conor tested off the scales allergic to everything including dogs, we have had Buster since before he was born, and with general precautions like keeping Buster out of the bedrooms, and regular washing/grooming, Conor seems to be ok with him.

So, I started doing some research into what sort of dog we would be interested in next. Although Pugs are totally awesome little dogs they do SHED ALL OVER EVERYTHING!. Mick was also interested in getting a bit bigger dog, since we have the space for it since we moved. Much to my delight, I discovered that there are many non-shedding dogs such as the Poodle, Shit Tzu, Kerry Blue Terrier, and the greyhound. While I liked all these dogs, I was not sure how good they were for our family with three sweet little things running around. Then I came upon my answer - the Doodles. That is right, the Labradoodle, and the Goldendoodle. These dogs are combinations of Labradors and Golden Retreivers and poodles. They have the great disposition of the Labs, but are breed to have the non shedding coat of the Poodle. WOOO HOOOO

On my final scan of the Internet, I then came across my dream dog. The Peanut Detection Dog. That is right, a dog that can detect peanuts with a whiff of its nose.

These are special breeds of dogs specially trained to recognize the scent of minuscule amounts of peanuts, pretty much like those trained to sniff explosives or narcotics

According to their website peanutdog.com

"A Peanut Detector Dog is a valuable tool for a person with an allergy to peanuts. Since a dog’s sense of smell far surpasses that of humans, detection of odors is a perfect job for these dogs. Our Peanut Dogs, undergo extensive training, are easily able to detect minute quantities of peanuts in any form; raw, cooked, oil, butter, dust, etc."

Imagine, going to a restaurant with Fluffy the peanut detector dog, and letting him sniff everything on Conor's plate before he eats it to make sure it really is peanut free like the waiter said. Fluffy can scan the park and discover hidden jars of peanut butter, or a misplaced peanut butter sandwich. He could probably even sniff out Mr. Peanut from a slew of advertising papers. Think of the possibilities.

All my excitement crashed down however, when I saw the price...... 10,000 dollars. Yikes!!!

I can dream however. Maybe I will win the lottery.

Blood is Thicker Than Peanut Butter

2009-01-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Although I was not present, I was told this wonderful story about my children by our Au Pair Natalia. Natalia took all three sweet young things to the local park to play one afternoon while I was gallivanting around town.

Since they are so close in age, our home is filled with fighting, bickering and general turmoil and upheaval between the youngins. They fight over everything, and anything.

Here are some examples,

Child, "I want that domino"

Me, "there are 75 other domino's that are exactly the same"

Child, "but I want the exact one he is playing with."

Other Child, "I want that one and only that one too.

Here are some other things commonly heard in our home,

"Mommy, he/she touched me"

"Wwwwaaaaaaaa he bit me"

"That is mine and you can not play with it!!"

"OOOWWWWWW"

"NNOOOOOOO"

Me,"Help!!!"

So anyways, while they were at the park, they noticed a giant jar of peanut butter sitting out on one of the picnic tables. Having been well trained by their obsessive and paranoid mother, they jumped into action to protect the safety of their little brother. After securing the perimeter of the peanut butter laden area, they decided they needed to go home and make signs to put up around the park to let everyone know the dangers of peanuts to the peanut allergic. When I got home I discovered everyone working diligently around the table coloring in peanuts and putting x's through them. They made about 10 signs and were very determined to share their knowledge with the world. Unfortunately Natalia was unaware of the proper way to spell peanut, and all the signs declared loudly - NO PEANAUTS - DANGER.

I was so touched I gave everyone a big hug, and told them how proud I was of them for looking out for their brother. They really wanted to go back to the park to wallpaper it with their signs, so I had to explain that unfortunately the part is a public area, and although peanuts are my arch enemy, many people like and enjoy them, and have every right to bring them to a public park. As a compromise they agreed to just decorate our stroller and sand toys with the signs, so everyone would know to keep peanuts away from them.

I guess blood is thicker then peanut butter.

A Peanut Pig!!!!

2009-01-22T20:37:00.000-08:00

I Have a Confession to Make

2009-01-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, I know what you all are thinking.....Where in the world has Super Epi Pen been??? I have a confession to make.... We did a great spring cleaning in the middle of the winter over the holidays, and somehow every time I clean I manage to lose things. I have cleaned and organized the play room, the living room, and the kitchen. In the process of all this organizing I have somehow lost Michael and Conor's music book, their music CD, and my really cool dressed up epi pen - super epi pen. Don't worry, he is not hanging around just anywhere to be played with or abused, I put him somewhere so safe, so secret, I don't even remember where it is.

I know, maybe he is really off saving the world, or just someone from an anaphalytic reaction. Maybe he is flying through the sky right now in pursuit of truth, education, and freedom from severe allergic reactions. Maybe he is upset about all the stupid journalists and wants to set them straight. I know, maybe he was invited to the Inauguration in Washington DC today. Anyways, don't worry, I am sure he will be back soon. Super Epi Pen never lets anyone down......

Stop the March, I Want to Get Off

2009-01-19T18:24:00.000-08:00

I was talking to a friends sister the other day, and the topic came up as to whether her 2 year old food allergic child was going to have asthma. I asked her if her son was on the Allergy March. She looked confused, and stated she had never heard of such a march. I tried to explain it to her, but made a terrible attempt at organized thought.

I had first learned of the "Allergy March" upon visiting our first good allergist (not our first allergist though - evil Dr. story I am still angry about). I was saying how I was concerned he might have asthma, as we ended up on albuteral every cold, but all his Dr.s were saying no. The Great Allergist asked me a few questions about eczema, prior illnesses, and his food allergies, and told me in a way only he could. "I can not diagnose anything officially right now because he does not have any symptoms, but between you and me and the doorknob, I am sure he has asthma". I was relieved as I had a feeling and said, "I thought I was crazy, but I had a feeling he did." The Cool Allergist replied, "You may very well be crazy, but you are not crazy to think he has asthma." He then went on to explain the Allergy March. (Also known as the Atopy March)

Below are some articles and resources that explain it far better then I ever could. Click on the links for the complete articles.

Is it Allergy.com

Allergic sensitivities may affect not only a child’s symptoms today, but also his or her long-term health. In the small child, elevated food-specific IgE antibody levels are associated with significantly elevated risk of developing inhalant allergen sensitivities later in childhood.1 Ultimately, asthma may result from a cascade of atopic illnesses known as the pediatric Allergy March. In the Allergy March, symptoms manifest from low-level food and/or inhalant sensitivities and can trigger a progression of diseases from atopic dermatitis to gastrointestinal distress, recurrent otitis media, allergic rhinitis, and ultimately asthma—often by the age of 3 to 4 years.2,3 Although atopic illness often follows the common progression of the “march,” allergic sensitivities may emerge with symptoms of any one of the five conditions—and may involve more than one allergic illness at a given time.

Science Blog

Unfortunately, there can also be unpleasant milestones, such as allergic diseases occurring at a specific age range. These include eczema shortly after birth, gastrointestinal diseases as the child approaches age two, and asthma and other upper respiratory diseases starting at age three and lasting through young adulthood. This is the "Allergy March."

The Atopic March

The atopic march refers to the natural history of allergic
or atopic manifestations characterised by a typical
sequence of clinical symptoms and conditions appear-
ing during a certain age period and persisting over a
number of years. Characteristic of the clinical signs is
that some features become more prominent with time
whereas others diminish or disappear completely.
In general the clinical features of atopic eczema occur first
and precede the development of asthma and allergic
rhinitis.

The Science of Stupidity

2009-01-14T19:24:00.000-08:00

I am sure that anyone who reads this blog is already painfully aware of the utter idiocy of some journalists who have recently published articles about how their theories of science support nothing but their own Science of Stupidity. I get it that they were trying to be funny and sarcastic and witty (I know all about these things) by playing the nut card, but jeez, not so funny and witty when it discredits and calls into question a documented medical illness. Now lets have a chuckle about kids with Diabetes, Cancer and AIDS. Wow, good times....

So, instead of calling attention to the stupid journalists, I thought I would try and to compile all of the really great responses I could find. The one good thing to come out of others stupidity is that a discussion has been created and many great bloggers and journalists have given well informed, heartfelt rebuttals. Instead I choose to celebrate them. Read on....

Louise on the Left
Nut Allergies- A Yuppie Invention - As If

The Nut Free Mom
Shedding Some Light On the Nut Allergy Backlash

Strollerderby
Peanut Allergies, Peanut Smallergies

MaMaPoP
LA Times Writer Gets My Irish Up

Food Allergy Mama
Edward R. Murrow Would Be Rolling Over in His Grave

Rational Jenn
I Am Not an Attention-Seeking Psycho

Paging Dr. Gupta
Food Allergies: Not So Nuts After All

Sure Foods Living
What Some (Ignorant) People Think About Food Allergies

Noted and Blogged
Forget the Epi-Pen, It's All In Your Head. Not Mine Though, I Can't Keep Anything In There.

And Now It's All This
Joel Stein is an Asshole

Please let me know if I have missed any other worth responses..

Anaphalyxis Grading Charts

2009-01-12T19:56:00.000-08:00

Those totally awesome people over at the Food Allergy Support Boards have done it again. I think I previously wrote about their resources page that contains tons and tons of great and useful information before. At the bottom of this general page they have added a link to two great things.

The first is an Anaphalyxis Grading Chart. These are charts that help you figure out when you should give the epi-pen. They have even put up two versions of it, the Medical Professionals Chart, and the Average Joe Chart. These charts help assign a grade level to the anaphalyxis based on the symptoms of 5 different body systems, such as cardiovascular and respiratory. They also bold face the symptoms that they feel make an epi-pen necessary.

The second piece of great info is a link entitled Top Ten Mistakes People Make When Using an Epi-Pen. These are some really useful tips to think about now, and not in an emergency situation.

A Wonderful Suprise

2009-01-08T16:55:00.000-08:00

We have headed back into our non vacation schedules with full force, and I have been so busy I have not had a chance to do anything except try to get 3 little children to school, from school and around town. I forgot how hard it is to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door by 7:40 am every morning. I am exhausted by 8:00 am.

Because I am not so happy with our present pre-school, and our present pre-school director is kind of well annoying and ignorant, I have decided to transition Conor to that really cool peanut free school he is going to attend for kindergarten next year. I just realized they had a preschool that where he could go 2 or 3 days a week for half days. Woohooo. Since he does not seem so fond of his present school, I thought he would be excited to go to that other school he had a great time visiting a few months ago.

Boy was I wrong. Apparently Conor is very upset that he is not going to the same kindergarten and school as his older brother and sister, and has told me in no uncertain terms that he does not want to go to the school "in the little blue house". I felt so bad that I had to explain to a 4 year old that life is not fair, and unfortunately the school his siblings go to is not safe for him. Of course he does not understand why it is not safe, and why life has to be unfair (then again I do not understand why life is unfair either), and somehow thinks it is in my power to control things. If only I had such powers.....

I dragged a very unwilling little boy to visit the preschool side of the school a few days ago. I tried to explain to the staff why he was mad, and engage him in the activities they were doing. He did loosen up a bit, and it seemed a good fit, but it made for a very stressful morning. I don't know how many times I said "he really is not usually like this - very outgoing and personable", and have them look at me and think "of course lady", and working on prying an angry preschooler from my leg.

I decided to start Conor two days a week, and keep him at his other school two days a week to help the transition. I guess it is better to deal with this now, then when we start kindergarten in the fall. So I took my registration packet and headed home to fill out tons of stupid paperwork.

As I went through the papers later that day, I came upon a wonderful surprise. There was a paper entitled "Consent Agreements ---Peanut Free Zones". Apparently before anyone is able to enter the school they must sign and agree to abide by the schools Peanut and Nut Free Rules. This rules include hand washing when entering the classrooms, and that outside food must be okayed by a staff member. They also provide education on to the parents on life threatening food allergies, and ask the parents to all help educate their children on these allergies.

I want to go over there and hug anyone and everyone who helped put this together. I had always heard that the school was very good regarding peanut allergies, but this is more then I could have ever hoped for. It really does make such a difference when people take the time and energy to be educated and help facilitate our children's disabilities.

Now if only I can pry Conor off my leg next time we go.....

Things I Am Glad I Did Not Get For Christmas

2009-01-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

Peanut Shaped Soap

"Fun, realistic looking "peanut" shaped soaps! These soaps vary in size, just like real peanuts from a bag would vary. Peanut soaps are like the real "in shell" nuts, complete with textured finish. This soap set is scented. Each "nut" ranges from about 1.25" - 1.5" long and about 1/4 - 1/2" wide & thick." Check them out here.

The Quirky Peanut Characters

"History & Heraldry have created a quirky resin character that you'd be nuts to miss out on! The cute little nut characters are styled in a whole variety of occupations from Doctor to Bus Driver... so there's a nut for everyone! Each figure stands on a resin base fitted with a spring to add movement. The relevant job titles are engraved on each base and the nuts sit in nifty brightly colored open presentation boxes." Read more about these exciting peanut figures here.

You can get them in almost any occupation or character you can think of. I know a really annoying non understanding former pre-school teacher I could get this one for. he he he

A Resin Nut Bowl here.

"NUT BOWLS

Even those with nut allergies won't be able to resist our mixed nuts bowls. Designer Harry Allen casts walnuts and peanuts in white resin, capturing these everyday items and elevating them to the level of modern art. The perfect catchall for fruit, or even the daily mail, and a fun conversation piece. Made in the USA."

Somehow, I think I will be able to resist it.

New Years Resolutions - 12 Personal Commandments for Myself

2009-01-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

After discovering the great quote from my last post "The Days are Long, But the Years are Short", I also discovered a great blog where the movie is posted called The Happiness Project. The author of this blog Gretchen wrote a really great post about making personal commandments for yourself for the New Year. I was inspired by her idea, and thought it was particularly applicable for those of us dealing with life threatening food allergies and all our challenges. After some thought, here are mine below.

1) Remember the goal is the journey

2) Laugh often

3) Lighten up - Keep things in perspective

4) Be kind and gentle to everyone, including me

5) Smile, it's only life

6) Choose not to take things personally

7) Remember we all are what we are when we are and how we are. Find the beauty in that and embrace it.

8) Accept pain, difficulties and obstacles, acknowledge them, and use them to learn and grow.

9) If you want to cry, try and find a way to laugh instead.

10) Action, not reaction

11) Make alot of mistakes, just never the same one twice

12) Love Life

The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short

2009-01-01T15:04:00.000-08:00

So, a new year is upon us, and I have been reminiscing about the year that has just passed. It seems as the years go by time speeds up and slows down at the same time. I just found this absolutely profound little movie, and I have to say, it really expressed how we should enjoy what we have right now. Check out the movie here. It ends with one of my new favorite quotes "The Days Are Long, But The Years Are Short".

All these thoughts have me remembering the year past. 2008 for us was filled with big changes, and little moments all of which created a year of memories, growth and learning. So without order, here are some of my reminiscing of the year.

Mick and I celebrated our 10th Wedding Anniversary.

We made a move of over 300 miles from Southern California to Northern California where Mick started a new job with a new company. This was a complete shock to me, and if you had told me a year and a half ago that we would be moving that far, I would have thought you crazy. While the move has both good and bad elements (farther away from sick grandma, but nice little town, better job, etc), it again reminds me that life is frequently unexpected, and all the planning in the world can not make it come true. I never planned to have 3 children 18 months apart, I got the shock of my life when I discovered Conor had a life threatening allergy to peanuts (I never even heard of a life threatening allergy before), and even grandparent illness can come on unexpectedly without notice. Life can and frequently will change in an instant, it is more about how that instant effects our change long term.

Conor decided his Nana was cute, and now refers to her as Cutie. He likes to go by her and say "Hi Cutie" and run away, proud of his cleverness. It makes everyone smile including Conor.

I ran my first Marathon. (I finished, but had a little visit to the hospital after for dehydration. Long story)

We got our first real nebulizer. (No more of those sissy inhaler things for us!)

Michael and Natalie started Kindergarten this past September.

Conor taught himself to read a month before his 4th birthday.

Conor outgrew his allergy to eggs, and we now have eggs back in the house again. Yea!!!!!!

I started this blog, which has turned into a great outlet for me to express all my frustrations, triumphs, emotions, and joys. It has now turned into sort of a memoir for myself of our past year and our day to day journeys. I have always loved to be creative, make things, and write for myself, but never over such a long term. The fact that I am able to put together a blog that people might even read - (yikes, someone is reading this???) is a great accomplishment for myself for the previously year.

Happy New Years!!!

2008-12-31T06:42:00.000-08:00

Wow, time flies when you are having fun!! I have been out of my blog office for ages now. We had a wonderful holiday, but I am suffering from my Holiday illness. It seems every year at about Christmas or New Years, I get sick with some sort of stomach bug. A few times I have ended up at some sort of urgent care getting some sort of medicine to stop the vomiting. - fun!!

This bout with the evil illness was short lived, and I am on the road to recovery now. We had a great holiday, without any other big issues, faux paus, or traumas. There were no food allergy issues, close calls, or well meaning but scary gifts. (One year Mick brought home some peanut brittle from work without realizing it. When we opened it, it was like a bomb was in the house, and it had to be removed very quickly and carefully before it exploded. Thankfully no one was injured in the process :))

Everyone is very excited today, as we are heading off to a Noon Years Eve party at a local children's museum. They celebrate New Years at Noon instead of midnight, so all the little people can play along, and I don't have to feel guilty going to bed before midnight. As long as no one throws peanuts at noon, it should be lots of fun.

Everyone, have a safe, fun and happy New Years!!!

Track Santa on Your Computer

2008-12-24T14:07:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone!!!.

I have come across this really cool website where you can track Santa's progress to your house on Christmas Eve. As I write this now, it appears that Santa is in Cameroon, and soon heading towards his next location. This site has a really nice story behind it.

"For more than 50 years, NORAD and its predecessor, the Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) have tracked Santa’s Christmas Eve flight.
The tradition began in 1955 after a Colorado Springs-based Sears Roebuck & Co. advertisement for children to call Santa misprinted the telephone number. Instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids through to the CONAD Commander-in-Chief's operations "hotline." The Director of Operations at the time, Colonel Harry Shoup, had his staff check radar for indications of Santa making his way south from the North Pole. Children who called were given updates on his location, and a tradition was born

In 1958, the governments of Canada and the United States created a bi-national air defense command for North America called the North American Aerospace Defense Command, also known as NORAD. NORAD inherited the tradition of tracking Santa.
Since that time, NORAD men, women, family and friends have selflessly volunteered their time to personally respond to Christmas Eve phone calls and emails from children. In addition, we now track Santa using the internet. Last year, millions of people who wanted to know Santa's whereabouts visited the NORAD Tracks Santa website.
Finally, media from all over the world rely on NORAD as a trusted source to provide Christmas Eve updates on Santa's journey. "

You can also track Santa in 3D, watch video's about Santa, and take an interactive tour of his village on the North Pole. I just found a video on there also where Santa visits the International Space Station. WOW!! he really gets around.

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays to everyone!!

NoPeanuts - Yes iPhone - An iPhone Allergy Companion Application

2008-12-19T17:46:00.000-08:00

I got an i phone a few months ago, and I have to say it is really cool. So far I have figured out how to use the phone, surf the web (this took a while, why in the world is the web called Safari??), listen to music, and use the really cool map feature. Besides that, I am one of the most technologically challenged individuals out there. I was volunteering in Michael's class one time, and me and the other volunteer mother kept hearing this music coming from somewhere. We were trying to figure out, was it the school intercom???? something outside the class room??? After a few minutes I realized that I really liked all the songs that were unknowingly emanating around the classroom. In horror I realized that they were coming from my back pocket and my i phone. ooooppppssss....

I just recently discovered that there are these application things you can download to your phone. I am not even sure exactly what they are, but they seem pretty neat. Somehow I came across one called NoPeanuts. You can read about the NoPeanut Allergy Companion here.

"NoPeanut is an iPhone application that provided peanut allergy information. Peanut Allergies can cause a serious potentially fatal reaction. NoPeanut puts valuable information at your fingertips to help you communicate with food preparers/servers in multiple languages and help you make informed choices to avoid foods contaminated with Peanuts or processed on equipment that is shared with Peanuts. It is available on the app store here.
NoPeanut includes:
· Multi-language Digital Warning cards warn food servers/preparers about Peanut allergy and ask for safe choices instead (languages include English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Hindi)
· Provide a list of foods to avoid for over 50 major restaurant chains in USA and Canada
· Includes Multi-language Emergency Help digital cards – Ask to have an ambulance called to treat potentially fatal allergic reaction to Peanuts (languages include English, French, German, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Hindi). Great peace of mind if you are travelling in an area that doesn’t use standard 911.
· Provide links to allergen info and where possible phone numbers to make it easier to get real time info."

The web site also gives you a visual tour of the application to check out, and a place to send them your feedback about this cool new application. I think it costs $2.99 to download it to your i phone. It seems like a small price to pay for any help I can find in dealing with our fun food allergies.

Now I just need to figure out how the heck to download things to an iphone.....

Ignorance is Not Bliss for Those Dealing With Life Threatening Food Allergies

2008-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

I had not really had to deal with ignorance or stupidity over the past few weeks (at least not in regard to food allergies), but over the past two days it has flown forward from various different school personnel. The first was a kind and innocent ignorance, a lack of understanding of the true dangers and day to day realities of living with a life threatening food allergy. A few months ago, Natalie's kindergarten teacher had overheard me telling her she could not bring certain food home because of Conor's allergies. She asked, and I explained that, yes, he had a life threatening allergy to peanuts. She expressed her concern, and told me that at a previous school she had worked at, there had been a sign posted in one of the classrooms that no peanuts were allowed. She asked when Conor would be starting kindergarten, and I said, next year, but I did not know where yet because of his allergies. Today when I was dropping Natalie off at school, I had Conor with me and was speaking to Natalie's teacher. She asked if I had decided whether Conor would go to school there next year, and I said probably not, as I did not think the school could be made safe. The poor sweet little thing looked me in the eyes and said it would be ok, I could have him put in her class room, and she would make a really nice sign for the door that no nuts were allowed. It was a very sweet gesture, and I thanked her, but it made me sad to realize that she thought dealing with a life threatening food allergy was as simple as posting a sign on the door. After explaining to her all of the things that went into keeping a child with this medical condition safe - ie epi pen, supervision outside the classroom, etc - she agreed that he probably would not be safe there. I still do not think she understood the entire picture, but at least she realized that a picture on the door was not enough.

Then of course there is the Pre-School that Conor attends. I think the worst sort of ignorance is that where the individual (Dopey the school director and teacher)does not think they are actually ignorant about the situation. Apparently at the school holiday party Dopey has a tradition of making a stone bowl soup. The children and the teachers all make the soup together, and then share it among everyone. Due to my previous efforts the school is sort of "nut free". (foods, not people). I decided to ask Dopey what was in the soup to ascertain whether it was worth trying to make it safe for Conor to try. When I asked Dopey what was in the soup since I wanted to determine whether it would be safe, he looked at me as though I had two heads and was speaking Gaelic. He proclaimed there is no way there could be any nuts in the soup, as it was only made from broth, vegetables, rice, pasta, and some other spices and things. He then had the gall to say that sometimes things have those warning labels on them, but that does not matter. After informing him that it does matter to me, and I am one of those paranoid mother types, I made a mental note to myself to hang out at the school all day tomorrow, and make brownies to feed Conor so he would not notice he could not try the soup. (he does not even like soup - whew)

So, those are my two forays into the pool of educational ignorance.

Another Great Information Web Site

2008-12-15T17:40:00.000-08:00

Someone over at the Food Allergy Support Boards posted about this absolutely amazing site here. It is so wonderful that I thought I would also point it out here, in case anyone has not discovered it through different means. The site is put up by John Weisnagel, M.D

Really great Peanut Allergy Info.
This is a really detailed and intelligent overview on all sorts of different issues pertaining to peanut allergies. Here is an excerpt from his introduction to the article:

"This review of the complex issue of peanut allergy was started in Oct. 1998 following a great deal of attention given to the subject in the media at that particular time. This coincided with many publications in the medical literature as cited in the references seen below in the opening paragraphs, conclusions of the authors considered as "alarming, frightening", according to comments of some visitors scanning this article. There were articles in magazines, like Time, Newsweek, as well as in local papers on what seemed an increase in peanut allergy, on banning peanuts in schools or on commercial flights, etc.22,25. Some of the articles, and reactions to them, were posted and appear in the article, and may still be accessible (at times, they're removed without any warning). The effect of all this attention to peanut allergy resulted in a panic situation, both in the minds of the public as well as the medical community, an attitude that seems to persist. .....This ongoing article is updated regularly, as developments occur, hopefully not only to make everyone aware of this unpredictable allergy, but also to help ease the fear generated. All updates appear with the date of the posting and for a time (usually 3 months) preceded by this image. "

There is also a wonderful General Information Page here. This is one of the most complete list of resources related to all sorts of allergies, food allergies, asthma, and almost anything else allergy, atopic related.

Is It a Cough or Asthma - Both - Cough Varient Asthma

2008-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

I love to watch that show Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Health Channel. I don't like the show because I am all that interested in medicine, or science, I like the show because it reinforces an idea that I initially had a lot of trouble with - Doctors frequently have no idea what they are talking about. I think I grew up believing Doctors were authority figures who always knew about which they spoke, and should not be questioned. Many years later after an unfortunate foray into allergies and asthma, I discovered this was not true.

Since Conor has a cold, and we are again fighting the asthma, I thought I would share some info on the type of asthma he has - Cough Variant Asthma. Many doctors failed to diagnose what was wrong with him, and we had many claim it was simply yet another bout of bronchitis, croup, or just a really nasty cough. Even after having the diagnosis, I have had pediatricians, and ER doctors not believe me. (Pediatrician said just a bad cough. Ended up in the ER later that day because of terrible strider and trouble breathing - ER doc was convinced it HAD to be croup. Very cool allergist confirmed not croup, but asthma at follow up appointment.)

So, here is some general information on Cough Variant Asthma.

Medscape
"Cough-variant asthma is a clinical syndrome seen in children with persistent cough, absence of wheezing on examination, and reversible obstructive changes in lung function. The cough-variant phenotype is seen in approximately 25% of children with asthma, and it can be difficult to recognize and treat.

Children with cough-variant asthma are often symptomatic for a long period before an accurate diagnosis is made and can be misdiagnosed as having recurrent bronchitis or even psychogenic cough. Such children often receive multiple rounds of antibiotics before being referred to a specialist. Lung function testing is required to make an accurate diagnosis but can also be normal."

Pediatric Planet
"What is it?
Some children with a persistent cough have a condition called "cough variant asthma." This means that we believe that the child is coughing because his or her breathing tubes (bronchi) are reacting to irritation by squeezing in to a smaller size, just like in asthma. Children with cough variant asthma do not make the wheezing sound that we usually hear in children with ordinary asthma, though. This can make it difficult to diagnose the condition, and very often children with cough variant asthma have been through a number of other diagnoses or treatments. Parents of children with cough variant asthma usually find that regular cough and cold medicines don’t help their children, and of course antibiotics don’t help either. Cough variant asthma can be a very frustrating condition.
Once of the most important clues to learning that a child has cough variant asthma is that these children very often get a cough with every cold or upper respiratory infection (URI). The cough usually lasts for much longer than the original infection. Like children with regular asthma, children with cough variant asthma usually have other "triggers" that can set off a cough. These triggers can be things in the environment like smoke, dust, pollen, animal hair and dander, dust mites, roaches or many other things. Often weather changes can also be triggers. Children with cough variant asthma often cough more at night, which can be very disruptive for the child and the family."

A few more online resources.
About.Com

Web MD

And anytime you are annoyed at your Doctor, be sure to check out Mystery Diagnosis

More Cool Food Allergy Stuff

2008-12-11T18:32:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,

I love etsy. There are so many unique handmade gifts there, and I love just browsing around to see what sorts of cool things people have made. I have recently discovered Dawnberries, that makes cool food allergy stuff. Her stuff is really unique, and I really like to wood inscribed food allergy magnets. These would be great to put on the refrigerator for babysitters, grandparents, or anyone else who needs a bit of a food allergy reminder.

Other cool items are the wood allergy beads that can be attached to shoes.

There are also cool wood beads, that can be made into a necklace, bracelet, or zipper pull.

I think she has her own engraving machine, so she can customize anything to say what you want. It probably has to be something nice though.....

PeanutZilla

2008-12-08T19:45:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, I just find the coolest things online. I am so happy I am not the only one who enjoys doing funny things with photoshop. I found this photo while browsing around on line here.

Watch Out For The Peanut Ducks

2008-12-07T16:36:00.000-08:00

Just when I thought I had seen just about everything, I came across this unique peanut in the shape of a duck. And then, just in case you thought that was enough, I also discovered this blog called This Peanut Looks Like a Duck. Yes, a blog dedicated to peanuts and other things that happen to look like ducks. People send in images of things they have seen that they think look like ducks. There are pictures of scrambled eggs, MRI's and clouds. Apparently this all began because some duck lovers saw a peanut that looks like a duck, and whalllaaa a new blog was born. They even sell images of their logo of a peanut that looks like a duck on t-shirts.

But apparently all this quackiness (could not resist that pun) does not end here. Someone out there has written a New Biology of this new animal the Peanut Duck.

"#15235 - Peanut Duck! (amphicarpa anas plathyrhynchos)
Peanut ducks have the legs and bill of a duck and the body of a monkey nut. Peanut ducks were first discovered in 1671, when they were proclaimed 'a fear-some mishe-mashe of plante and fowle' by the Church. However, after two centuries of relentless persecution, it became clear that the creatures were far too clumsy on land to be any threat, and they were left to their own devices. The peanut duck is also a dance"

There is also information on their habitat, mating habits, relationship with man, and an interesting photo of their internal physiology.

And finally believe it or not, people are selling these creatures on ebay. The starting bid is .99 cents, and there do not appear to be any bids yet. I hope no one decides to give us this unique gift for the holidays.

Not So Nuts About Southwest Airlines

2008-12-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

While searching the Internet the other day, I discovered that Southwest Airlines has a corporate blog. When I clicked on the site to check it out I recoiled in horror. Apparently the blog is called Nuts About Southwest, and the pages are covered with images of peanuts. I guess that answers the ever important question I have "Does Southwest serve peanuts or nuts on their flights?" HHhhhhmmm, I think the answer is yes.

In addition to having peanuts cover their pages, they also have a little bag of peanuts open and spilling all over the pages. On this bag is the slogan Byte Sized Fares. Clever, cute, and to me, who is overly sensitized to peanut issues, offensive. I don't know if it is justified, but I feel angry that instead of trying to accommodate this disability, the airline is flaunting their lack of compassion for it.

In a Seattle Times Article from 1994 they spoke of how Southwest Airlines based its image on the peanut.

"Peanut fares. Peanut meals. Peanut jokes.

Not since South American Indians began cultivating the distinctive legumes a millennium ago have peanuts been the subject of such sustained attention.

Famed for its low fares and spartan service, Southwest Airlines bought 46.3 million bags of peanuts last year to distribute to its passengers.

They're emblazoned front and back with a Boeing 737 in Southwest's eye-catching mustard and orange colors.

Elevating the peanut to such status is all part of the nutty persona Chairman Herb Kelleher has created for the Dallas-based airline."

An issue of The Peanut Grower from 2007 discusses how Southwest Airlines gave up on peanut free snacks, and now run ad campaigns promoting peanuts.

"Southwest Airlines Promotes Peanuts
Honey-roasted and dry-roasted peanuts are once again on board Southwest Airlines. The company stopped distributing the free peanut snacks in 2005 in an effort to save money.

Kanan Enterprises, based in Solon, Ohio, provides nuts to Southwest Airlines under the King Nut name. King Nut peanuts are distributed to seven of the eight largest U.S. carriers, and Southwest Airlines is its biggest customer.

Southwest ran an ad campaign entitled, “Fly for Peanuts,” and the employee blog is named “Nuts About Southwest.”"

On their blog they also explain their Official Southwest Airlines Semi-Annual Peanut-Transition. I know you are asking....What is the Official Southwest Airlines Semi-Annual Peanut_Transition? Well, since you asked here is a quote from their blog. "Every six months or so we switch from dry roasted to honey roasted peanuts, giving us all the opportunity to debate the merits of each style of nut and rehash old peanut stories. "

I would like to rehash some old peanut stories for them, like the time my then 2 year old blew up like a basketball after eating only a tiny bit of peanut. Or how about the time little Joey almost died from eating a honey roasted peanut. Lets debate the merits of how his reaction would have differed if he ate a salted peanut instead.

I think my favorite old peanut story is the one where I decided I would not be flying Southwest Airlines again, especially not for Peanuts.

Super Epi Pen Fights Bad Guys

2008-12-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

Conor requested some bad guys for Super Epi pen to fight, so I tried to work my magic with photo shop elements again. I asked for his advice, and he wanted to have 8 bad guys sneaking up on the picnic table. He also enjoyed moving Super Epi Pen up and down to attack the bad guys with the mouse. Sometimes I wonder about what goes on in the minds of little boys.

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder - Peanut Jewelry

2008-12-01T09:32:00.000-08:00

I was surfing the web again this morning, and came across this web site that sells gifts that are lets just say not really to my liking. I think it all really speaks for itself. Check out these unique gifts here.

"The Peanut Jewelry Collection

I designed this peanut jewelry in hope of showing people how beautiful the peanut is.

The 14kt. gold has such a rich look and the new pieces with diamonds bring everything to life.

The red jasper stone that I hand carve is found in New Mexico and has the same natural color

as a real peanut. Each piece has great detail and there are many peanut sizes to choose from in gold or sterling silver. "

Here are some examples from the collection.

The peanut cluster necklace

The diamond encrusted peanut earrings

Then I found this other site where you can purchase a real peanut that has been hand dipped into 24k gold and made into a necklace charm.

The site is called Red Freckles, and you can also purchase a necklace with an real Advil encased in resin, a penicillin pill encased in resin, and a gold dipped dog bone.

Happy Shopping

When Food Kills Documentary Video

2008-12-01T06:02:00.000-08:00

As I was flipping through the channels the other night, I came across this very well made Australian video about food allergies and anaphylaxis. A bit surprised I looked at what channel I was on, and discovered that I was actually on the Documentary Channel. There is a Documentary Channel????? Who knew??? When did that appear on my TV?????

Anyways, I only caught the last half of it, but it was a powerful and well told investigation of why people died from anaphylaxis, and what sorts of measures can be put in place to prevent these tragic deaths. It was difficult for me to watch, but that is a good thing. It would be an excellent video to share with those disbelieving uneducated individuals we come in contact with.

Since I have not figured out how to put video in my blog yet, I will send you over to this link at Peanut Free!! a new blog I recently discovered. The video has been posted there for everyone to see. Go now and watch it!!!

When Food Kills Video

You can also purchase a copy of the video here, on the Documentary Channel's website. (The Documentary Channel has a web site???? They sell stuff??? Who knew???)

Are Turkeys Scary??

2008-11-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful thanksgiving dinner on Thursday with a 15 pound turkey and all the trimmings. However, I have a question. It is kind of a funny question, kind of an embarrassing question, but still a question.

You see, we started on Thursday morning, getting the turkey out of the refrigerator and preparing it to be put in the oven. The moment my 4 year old food allergic child saw the raw naked bird he ran over to me in a fear filled screaming flail. Confused, I asked him what was wrong. He pointed at the turkey sitting in the pan on the counter, and quietly told me he wanted me to get rid of it. Still confused, I asked "why", since if we got rid of the turkey there would be much less to eat at dinner. He was finally able to calm down enough to explain that he was deathly afraid of our turkey.

That's right, my 4 year old is afraid of a turkey. He was afraid of it raw, he was afraid of it cooked. He refused to sit at the table if the turkey was placed on the table at the same time. He would not go near 10 feet of it, and refused to have any part of it on his plate or near anything he ate. Yes, my son is not afraid of the boggy man, the dark, or a monster under his bed, he is afraid of a turkey.

So, I have a question to ask. Are turkeys scary?

2008-11-29T12:07:00.000-08:00

So, we have said our thanks, and now it is time to start shopping. Although the Christmas season started officially the week before Halloween in stores around here (yes, they had all the Christmas stuff out the second week in October. I thought of being Ms. Clause for Halloween.), I have only now started to think about my holiday shopping.

Just to get you off to a head start, here are a few of my great finds for holiday gifts.

1)Educate everyone on your list about food allergies and how to cook for the food allergic.

Linda Coss, one of my food allergy idols, is running a holiday special: Order by December 31, 2008 and get FREE Priority Mail shipping. There's no minimum order or coupons required, but you can also save up to 26% when you order the books in sets.

Just go to www.FoodAllergyBooks.com to place your order.

2)Make a Flip Book from your own video.

Check out the website here.

I was looking for a new and exciting personalized gift, and came across this totally cool idea. You can take 10, 15 or 30 seconds of your own video, and make it into one of those books that when you flip the pages makes your images move. I thought this was the greatest idea, especially for those grandparents who are a bit technologically challenged, and never even figured out how to use a VCR. I ordered two test ones for myself to check out, and will let you know how they turn out.

Happy Shopping!!

Super Epi Pen Goes to Paris

2008-11-27T19:35:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving. Our meal was very yummy, and we have tons of leftovers for the rest of the week. I had a little free time to play with the computer, so I made this picture at the request of fellow blogger Jennifer at the Food Allergy Buzz, who I am also very thankful for.

Yes, Super Epi Pen traveled to Paris over the holiday to save the day yet again.

I hope he is back to go shopping tomorrow.

The Undressed Dressed Turkey

2008-11-26T05:42:00.000-08:00

Are you stressed out because your family does not understand the dangers of food allergies, and insists on bringing over that nut laden dessert, even though you have told them millions of times that nuts are not allowed in your home??? Here is a way to take your mind of your stresses, and shock, scare amuse and amaze your guests all at the same time. Try the undressed, dressed turkey.

1. Cut out aluminum foil in desired shapes.

2. Arrange the turkey in the roasting pan, position the foil carefully.

3. Roast according to your own recipe and serve.

http://wholeenchilada.wordpress.com/2007/11/15/amusements-creative-turkey-recipe/

I guess that you could cut out the tin foil into any shapes, and make any sort of designs you wanted on your turkey. If the undressed, dressed turkey does not work for you, you could design your own work of turkey art to be shared at the dinner table. And even better, when everyone is staring at the turkey in shock, you can get rid of all those nut ridden dishes the annoying relatives insisted on bringing over.

A Thankful Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T08:33:00.000-08:00

I have been stressed these past few weeks (yes, I know, nothing unusual) so now that we are finally back from our road trip of fun, I started thinking about Thanksgiving. In addition to all the thinking I have been doing about what to cook, I have also been thinking about all the things I am thankful for. So here goes....

I am thankful for:

My three wonderful children

My wonderful husband

Chocolate

DVR - this is truly one of the greatest inventions ever. I remember the days of trying to program that stupid video tape player..... (yes, I am that old)

That despite having heart failure, and not doing so well at the moment my Mother has been able to be around to get to know her grandchildren and thus necessitate that we all stuff ourselves into the car and drive long periods of time, so we can visit. It is a bit scary not knowing how much longer she will be with us, but I am very thankful for the time there is.

That my husband cooks the turkey on Thanksgiving

That we are again friends with the egg, and have eggs back in our diet. I can now hopefully make a somewhat decent corn bread, and brownies. This is of course hopefully - if I have too many "helpers" I have been known to make mistakes.

Coffee

Everyone is healthy. Beyond our obvious health issues (Grandma, peanut allergy, asthma), everyone is doing well and is healthy and happy.

Super Epi Pen

The Internet. What did people do before the Internet??????? And of course broadband Internet connections. Remember dial up?????

Buster the pug is doing well after his cancer scare.

All you totally cool and awesome people who visit my blog. Yes, I know there are only like 5 of you, but you guys are great!!!!!

Is Your Olive Oil Like a Virgin - From Other Allergens That Is

2008-11-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a marathon weekend of driving to visit the Grandparents in a pre-thanksgiving road trip. It was thankfully quite uneventful, despite stuffing 7 people into two rooms the size of a closet.

Anyways, I found this very disturbing article about olive oil. Apparently there is a disturbing olive oil conspiracy, where olive oil is cut with other oils including peanut, and soy, to lower its cost. Some states are just enacting legislation now to protect consumers, and especially the food allergic from harm. Just in case you did not have enough to worry about, check out the stories below.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/21/ap/national/main4626089.shtml

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008422210_oliveoil22.html

http://www.greenwichtime.com/ci_11048114?source=most_emailed

I just also discovered that I am completely behind the boat on this issue. The totally awesome food allergy blogger Jennifer at Food Allergy Buzz wrote about this here. Also Kids With Food Allergies has this really great thread about it here.

More School Fun

2008-11-19T07:18:00.000-08:00

We are heading off this morning to have a "shadow" day for Conor at the local nut free school that he may attend next year for kindergarten. I went to visit the school myself last week and spoke to the director and two of the teachers. This is a very small school (only 3 multi-age classrooms for all grades) and only has about 80 kids total. All staff is trained in epipens, and food allergies every year (of course it is a small staff, but still a good thing) There are epipens hanging on the wall in the classroom, in the office and on the playground. They also have a nut free food service provider for lunches, and absolutely no nuts are allowed on the premises. It seems like a perfect fit for us, but I am a little unsure about the size, having Conor go to a different school then his brother and sister, and of course the price.

Since I think I have a pretty solid alternative, I thought now that the pressure was off, just for fun, I would see how my favorite underfunded, chaotic, nurse-less local public school would address some food allergy questions. I emailed our not so fearless Principal and asked about the schools food allergy policy. The principal is they type of guy who tells you what you want to hear, and then never does anything he says he will do, even if you have proof of it in writing. His first response to me was that the school district web site laid out the policies of the school district in regards to food allergies. Of course I had already checked the web site, and there is not even so much as the word allergy on it, much less a district policy on food allergies. I politely emailed back Mr. Principal, and told him I am sure I missed it, but could he please send me the link of this fabulous food allergy policy he was talking about. In a few days my inbox was blazing with an email message stating that ooohhh gadddsss, I was right, and there was no such policy there. He gave me the name and address of someone over at the district office who was in charge of the Food Programs and said they should know the answer.

OK, first of all, why should my medical question be handled by the person in charge of food programs????? Would you send a diabetic to Food Programs to deal with their medical condition?? How about someone with a seizure disorder, or asthma, or cancer???? I know there is no school nurse for the district, but I did not realize that the Food Programs was the medical replacement. It is kind of like going to a Dr. appointment at the local hospital complex, and being sent to talk to the head of the cafateria instead.

So, just for jollies, I have emailed Ms. Food Programs to determine in writing that the district officially has no food allergy policies. I think I will stand by my inbox now waiting for a response......

Always Take Your Epi Pen - Super Epi Pen Flies Around the Country

2008-11-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

Since the creation of Super Epi Pen, everyone in the house has been very excited to figure out what sort of exciting things he can do. Although they were impressed with him posing and flying, they wanted to know how Super Epi Pen would travel around anywhere he was needed. What if we were up in San Francisco for the day???? What if we traveled to New York on vacation??? Would Super Epi Pen be able to get to these places to save the day. I tried to explain that it is very important that we always take an epi pen with us wherever we go, but Conor wanted to imagine that us carrying the epi pen with us always was like Super Epi Pen flying anywhere he was needed. So, I decided to play with photoshop yet again, and try to show Super Epi Pen flying all around the country. Upon seeing this Conor said "Yea Super Epi Pen is flying, that is what it is like if we take him everywhere."

Super Epi Pen is flying over near the bay bridge in San Francisco.

Super Epi Pen is flying by the Golden Gate Bridge

Super Epi Pen flies by the Statue of Liberty

Please let me know if there is anywhere else you would like to see Super Epi Pen fly. If you take your epi pen with you, it too will be a Super Epi Pen.

Oh No!!! He Has Asthma Too!!! Links to Get Started With

2008-11-15T06:45:00.000-08:00

As I was bribing my sweet little boy to use his nebulizer this morning by allowing him to play the PlayStation (which I HATE) while he sat there, and was thinking back to what it was like when we discovered Conor also had asthma. It wasn't as overwhelming as the food allergy discovery, and I knew it was a possibility since he is as atopic as they come, but it was still scary, confusing and a new world of medicines, instructions and funny devices.

So, I went back, and tried to find what sites I had saved on my computer, that I looked at to try and help calm me down. Below is some of the ones I located on what was left of my bookmarks bar since the old computer died. Hopefully you don't need them now, and won't need them in the future, but just in case......

http://www.aanma.org/headquarters/

This is the Allergy and Asthma Network's Mother's of Asthmatics website. This is a great website filled with tons and tons of information. There is so much information that I have come nowhere near looking through all of it, but it is a great resource to start searching for what ails you. (or your child)

http://www.aaaai.org/patients/resources/inforequest.stm

(click on Tips Brochures to read them first)

This is the really really great American Academy of Allergies, Asthma and Immunology, and there is so much good stuff on here not only for food allergies, but for asthma. There are great general overviews on what asthma is, what the medications are, and how to use them.

http://www.aafa.org/display.cfm?id=8⊂=14

This is the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America's website, and is also filled with great info on everything generally dealing with asthma. Check out the asthma overview.

Also look at the glossary of asthma terms here.

National Jewish: About Asthma

This is a great overview of what asthma is, and how it effects the lungs and breathing. There is a ton of great general information here and a great place to start reading.

Checklist of early warning signs

This is a great checklist from the Jewish National site about early warning signs of an asthma attack.

Asthma Action Plan

This explains how to create as asthma action plan with your doctor, so you have a clear picture of what you need to do and when. It also gives you helpful tips about what to ask your doctor in developing your plan.

Why Super Epi Pen is my Super Hero

2008-11-12T19:30:00.000-08:00

I am sure you have all been wondering recently what my obsession is with super heros, and why I feel the need to dress up all sorts of things around me as super heros. My husband saw me dressing up the epi pen as Super Epi Pen, and thought all the recent stress had gotten to me, and I had finally, officially lost my mind. But no, there is some sort of bizarre logic behind all I do, even if it only makes sense to me.

True, I dressed up Buster the Pug long ago, but the new desire to dress up epi pens as super heros is a new phenomena for me. I think it really started when Conor recently discovered that the epi pen is actually a shot he would have to receive if he got sick from eating a peanut, or getting too close to a cat. His new modus operendi is to run screaming in the other direction if anyone even mentions a shot. (this was loads of fun when he was getting his flu shot). He did not want to see the epi pen, was upset if he saw me take the epi pen out with us, and said he would never, ever, ever let it be used on him.

To try and explain why the epi pen was really a good thing, I started trying to describe it to him in terms he would understand. Conor loves Superman and super heros in general (the fruit does not fall far from the tree). I explained to him that the epi pen was kind of like a Superman, who would fly in to save him in an emergency. It was not a bad guy who was there to hurt him, but a good guy who was there to save the day. Conor really liked this idea, and asked what Super Epi Pen would look like.........

Taking inspiration from one of the greatest artists of the 21st Century, Terry over at Bent Objects, and helping Natalie pry those annoying Barbie clothes on and off of dolls countless times, it occurred to me that I could make a Super Epi Pen that Conor could actually see in person. Then when the computer died, I got a new version of Photoshop Elements on the new computer that I have been trying to figure out, and lo and behold Super Epi Pen was created.

I made an initial prototype with a trainer epi pen, and everyone (children that is - the adults still think I have lost it) in the house thought it was just the best thing ever. They liked to try and make it fly, and practice how to use it to save the day if someone was suffering from anaphylaxis. I played with photoshop for a bit, and everyone loved watching Super Epi Pen pose for the camera and fly through the air. Everyone started making up stories of what Super Epi Pen could do, and all the different ways he would save the day. He would fight dangerous allergies, he could fly anywhere all over the world to help anyone in need, and he could save lives. Our new super hero was born.

The best part of it all though was that when Conor saw Super Epi Pen he said he would be OK getting the shot from the epi pen if the shot came from Super Epi Pen. He said he wanted Super Epi Pen to come with us everywhere we went, and felt safer knowing our super hero was with us. To me the epi pen is my super hero, because it can help to save Conor if he suffers from anaphalyxis. Super Epi Pen is also a hero to not only Conor, but to me, because it helps a little boy who has been stuck with too many needles, and lives with too many restrictions to understand things he should never have to understand.

More Great School Resources

2008-11-09T20:21:00.000-08:00

So School is going in full session, and I hope everyone is doing well with their school environments. I had previously posted about resources for 504 plans here. In that post I told everyone about the truly awesome Food Allergy Support Message boards, and their amazing resources for dealing with schools and 504 plans. http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?page=Schools_MAIN

Since writing my previous post, it appears that these totally awesome people over at the Food Allergy Support Message boards have added even more great information to their School resources section. The main page for resources is here.

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_board&board_id=27

Here are some of my recommendations to check out.

Dept. of Education, Office Civil Rights: State-by-state contact info

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=2739

This is an absolutely wonderful resource. As the school year goes on, and you discover that your lovely school is not doing quite what they promised, here is how to go about contacting your local Office of Civil Rights to get their input on the situation.

Recent 504 impartial hearing ruling

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=1672

This is the results of an impartial 504 hearing as to whether a Student was entitled to protection of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 in a Connecticut School District. In the end it was decided that a student who had a know allergy to tree nuts, peanuts, enviormental allergies and asthma was sufficiently impaired that this impairment did rise to the level that substantially impacts his major life abilities.

The above link has the entire decision, and it really is a must read for anyone embarking on a 504.

USDA FNS Civil Rights Organization (CRO): state by state contact information

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=3020

The USDA Food and Nutrition Services administers the National School Lunch Program--a federally funded program. The have their own civil rights offices as well and those cool people over at the Food Allergy Support Message Boards have put it all out on the link above.

Links to School Districts' Food Allergy Policies

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=4541

This link contains food allergy guidelines and policies already set up in schools throughout the country. It is a great resource, but made me very mad to discover how few policies (none) our school district has. This is a great resource to show your own school district though.

2008 ADA Amendment Now Law

http://allergy.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=6767

This link has the 2008 ADA Amendment act and the changes that have been put in place that are beneficial for those with life threatening food allergies. The primary changes have to do with the definition of disability, under the ADA, and the entire changes are printed at the link above.

Thanks again to all you really great people over at the Food Allergy Support Boards. In addition to having a great section on Schools, they have tons of other really useful message boards covering almost everything you can think of related to food allergies.

Super Epi Pen Flies

2008-11-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

Life After a Successful Egg Challenge - Answers and Questions

2008-11-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

Eggs have re-entered our home and there is rejoicing all around. We have made brownies, pancakes and scrambled eggs. I am sorry for those of you still egg less ones, but eggs really do make things easier for the cooking impaired such as myself. The brownies actually taste ok, and don't double as a stepping stone for the garden. The pancakes can be removed from the pan without a chisel, and actually resemble a pancake.

However I am still uncertain about this whole egg thing. Previously Conor had never really reacted to cooked egg. He ate lots of things with egg cooked in it and I never noticed anything before.(not that I was a little bit slow on noticing these things before). He seemed to really react to raw egg, or things like meringue powder that I put into icings. How do I know if he will react to these things now, and what if he does??? And if he gets some eczema, how do I know if it is exacerbated by the eggs???

Now here is my other really stupid thought. He used to be allergic to eggs, and now he ate one. How do I know he is still allergic to peanuts. Sure I remember a few years ago when he ate on and his head blew up to the size of a basketball, but how do I know he still is. I am thrilled that he has not had a peanut reaction since, and it means we are doing a good job keeping him safe, but the part of me thinks denial is a river in Egypt wonders if I am just being paranoid in my anti-peanut crusade.

Don't worry, I know he is still allergic to peanuts. We will navigate the waters of our own journey with eggs one egg and one day at a time. We got some new answers I really like, but why do I still have so many new questions.

My Own Super Pug, Super Buster

2008-11-05T09:28:00.000-08:00

After the other computer died, I found some long forgotten photos on a CD, and discovered that my obsession with super hero's started long before children, food allergies and epi pens.

Here are some photos of our pug Buster. (read about his cancer scare here), dressed up as Super Buster many years ago. I attended film school at USC and was required to make movies as a part of our courses. Somewhere in my archives is the great movie of Super Buster the cute pug who saves the day.

But here are some photos of him in action, in his days as a movie star.

It's Eggcellent!!! - A Successful Food Challenge

2008-11-04T19:33:00.000-08:00

Things are calming down a bit here. We are much poorer, but have a new computer, and a spiffy new rental car while the minivan is in the shop. The second car has had its breaks replaced, and life is returning somewhat back to normal.

On Monday we made our way to the Allergist for our Egg Challenge. This was a long time coming, and our third attempt at actually making it to the Dr. to do the challenge. The first time Conor got sick, and we spent all sorts of time at the Dr and the emergency room, but not for an egg challenge. The second time the Dr. had an emergency and her not so wonderful office staff failed to inform me and this unfortunate discovery was made when I arrived at the Dr. office, eggs in hand to a locked door and a note.

But Monday was the third time, and the third time was the charm. We arrived at the Dr. bright and early. Conor was not hacking and the door was open, so we figured so far so good. We had never done a food challenge before, and although I had read about it, I was not sure what to expect.

We got taken back to a room which was to be our home for the next few hours. I had brought all sorts of entertainment to keep Conor out of trouble, and I have to say, he really behaved quite well. They started off with a skin test of just a histamine and egg, and of course Conor failed it miserably. Although he failed, they said they pretty much just like to poke little children for fun, and would go ahead with the challenge anyways. HHHMMM just how accurate are those tests anyways???

Then they started with a hard boiled egg, and just rubbed Conor's finger on it. The nurse set a timer for 10 minutes, and when all was well, they proceeded to rub it on his lips. He found this highly amusing, and kept saying he had on egg lipstick. He still tells everyone how the nurse at the Dr. office gave him some egg lipstick and now he is not allergic to eggs. Ten minutes later they had him lick the egg. Ten minutes after that, he took a small bite, another ten minutes, another bite, and finally a big chunk of egg. After each ten minute period the nurse came in, took all his vital signs and looked him over. I of course just sat there staring at him, waiting anxiously to see if hives would pop up, or his face would start to swell. In order to get him to eat the egg I had to bribe him with some left over Halloween candy, and I had one small scare, when I thought lollipop leftovers were hives covering his chin.

There was a lot of waiting and looking, but in the end, Conor passed without a hive or swell in sight. We ended up spending almost 5 hours in the office by the time it was all over, and even got a flu shot to boot.

When it Rains it Pours

2008-11-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

So, Halloween went great. Things since then have gone a bit down hill. First our computer dies. I am presently writing this from the local library at one of their little public computers. It is really a great service by the way, and I am happy to have discovered it. Unfortunately the library will be closing soon, and I think I will be kicked off the computer in just a matter of minutes. Great, more pressure....

Anyways, so Saturday morning we discovered the computer was dead. Wouldn't boot up, wouldn't boot down, just would not boot at all. My wonderful husband, after working on it for many hours (in our house working on it for him includes doing all sorts of really great helpful fix it stuff punctuated with angry words, and occasional keyboard banging). After many hours of this, he finally gave up and decided that the computer needed to go back to the retail store we had purchased the computer from less then a year ago, to see what they could do about the situation. Grampoo was in town visiting, and they packed all the children and the computer up into the minivan, and headed out into the pouring rain to take the computer to the computer hospital (as it was explained to the young folk). I stayed home to try and clean up the mess that was left over from our Halloween sugar fest. (yes, an egg and peanut free fest)

With the rain pouring down I was able to stay in and get the place in order. A few hours later they arrived back, and Michael ran into the house excitedly telling me that Daddy had crashed the car. I asked if Grandpoo somehow caused the accident (it seem as though any time Grampoo gets in the car with Mick something happens. Last time was a ticket for breaking a red light. Mick blamed Grampoo for refusing to stop talking and talking and talking.)

Surprisingly enough this time Grampoo seemed blameless for our misfortune. In the pouring rain the car had slid at about 5 miles an hour into the car in front causing large amounts of damage to the front right side of our car. Thankfully it could still go, but had no front light or blinker and the front door would not open. No one was hurt, and Conor was actually asleep, and never even woke up during the incident. They were able to continue on, take the computer in and somehow make it home safely. However later in the day Mick went to drive his own car only to discover the brakes were on their last legs and it was barely drivable also.

So, I am about to be kicked out of the library as it is going to close. In one day we are down two cars and a computer. On Monday I need to figure out a way to get Conor to the Dr. for his long put off egg challenge.

Sorry there are no exciting pictures to punctuate this fascinating tale of woe.

Wish us luck with eggs......

I Found A New Superhero - Super Epi Pen

2008-10-31T19:11:00.000-07:00

In an uncertain world, we all need something to believe in, and I think I have found my new Super Hero.....

SUPER EPI PEN

Keep an eye up on the skies above. More on this new Super Hero coming soon........

Halloween with Food Allergies

2008-10-30T06:34:00.001-07:00

During those long times I spent watching Michael in time out, I realized that I promised great wisdom on what I do for our family for Halloween here, along with other really great links about how to handle Halloween for your family.

This year I think will be easier then most. Conor just turned 4, and is at that age that he is horribly afraid of everything including the dark, Chuck E Cheese (I am scared of him too though), Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny, spiders and those fake plastic fingers. Last year where we used to live everyone went trick or treating at the local mall, (yes, I know this is sad and completely against anything I believe in, but I went ahead and sucked it up I for my children) and Conor was not so scared since of course we were in a mall.

This year we have moved, and it looks as though the local neighborhood is really into creating a fun trick or treating experience. Houses all around us have already put up fake graveyards with bones sticking out of the ground, ghosts, witches, mummys and who knows what else. I figure Conor will make it to maybe our next door neighbor and then insist that he must go home in a terrified screaming horrified fashion that befits Halloween. Michael and Natalie can then continue on with Daddy as necessary.

Now, how I deal with this is really not very exciting, and I have built it up so much I am sure everyone will be terribly disappointed and go......"so..", but here goes. I go out and shop for safe candy, small toys, and one other surprise maybe a toy car, or lip gloss, etc. The children go trick or treating to try and collect enough stuff to trade it all in for their secret pumpkin booty. They have to trade in everything they get, and I keep the new stuff in separate bags, etc. (I always worry that something peanut will leak out onto other stuff.) I also bring a separate bag to remove any obvious peanut stuff from the mix (especially Conor's) so I can keep it as separated out as possible, and tons of wipes just in case. This may have been much easier at a mall then outside in the dark, but it has worked in the past. Then we put aside all the unsafe candy, and Daddy takes it to work in the morning, or we pass it out after the little people have gone to bed.

It is supposed to rain here on Halloween, so who knows what will happen, but that is my plan.

I hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween!!!!

BBBBOOOOOOOOO!!!!

More Peanut and Egg Free Cookie and Treat Options

2008-10-29T12:33:00.000-07:00

With a changing of the guards in the Au Pair front, my life has been filled with sweet young children trying to express their feelings about adjusting to the change. Our new Au Pair Natalia seems fine, but everyone still misses Jan, and likes to find interesting and not so amusing ways to show it. I feel as though I have spent the week putting someone in time out (again, and again and again), getting cute little people to help clean up the mess they made in a fit of anger, and just trying to keep myself sane. Michael decided it would be loads of fun to give his new shoes a mud coating, Natalie refused to go to bed unless she could style my hair for half an hour, and Conor wrote every one's initials on the couch in permanent marker.

In an effort to keep myself out of time out, I took a little foray to one of my favorite stores, Cost Plus World Market.

One great thing about the local Cost Plus World Market. is that in addition to having some interesting furniture, housewares, and toys, they also have quite a good selection of foods, some of which are even in our comfort zone.

Some of our favorite treats (the egg free, nut free variety) come from our local cost plus by way of England and the McVities Company.

Here is the McVities allergy information. http://www.unitedbiscuits.com/consumer-care.php?rnd=MltV2LJUVzPsmwhW2DVFhxewxEVIvyxw8j1%2FL49t1ZA%3D

McVities Digestives are really yummy cookies, and some of Conor's favorites. They come in milk chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel. Hob Nob Cookies are also safe for us, and kind of crunchy.

Another favorite of Conors are Penguin Bars. These are chocolate wafer bars that are a little like kit kats, but not really. Each little bar also has a cool little joke on it that everyone loves to read before devouring their favorite treat.

After a few hours of shopping, I felt a bit better, and headed home with a bounty full of safe treats for everyone. If only there was some place I could go and buy a little sanity for myself. :)

Tell the FDA What You Think

2008-10-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Remember the time you got off the phone with a company and determined that their cheese was no longer safe since they were now making their new product - peanut butter cheese on shared lines. Then when you got to the store you checked the label of this cheese only to discover that they had not put any warnings on their labeling to tell people about this danger.

Or what about the time you got home excited about a new safe bread you thought you had thoroughly checked out at the store only to discover a tiny allergy warning on the inside bottom of the package nowhere near the ingredient label in tiny tiny letters.

Then what about the time one company just put a warning label on every product they made even though you are pretty darn sure they don't even make peanut products.

So, now is your chance to tell the FDA what you really think of the food allergy labeling practices. (I would recommend nice words only. If I told them uncensored what I really think, I would be using an awful lot of obscenities)

The FDA is accepting comments from the public on how manufacturers should be labeling foods and how the public perceives those guidelines. Whether or not you are new to food allergies, I think it will be important to share the difficulties or issues you face in reading food labels.Please visit: http://www.regulations.gov/, type "docket number FDA-2008-N-0429" in the search box and click on "go". You can submit comments by clicking on the dialogue balloon next to "Send a comment or Submission"

Brian Hom - Please Read the Transcript from the FAAN Fundraiser

2008-10-25T19:54:00.000-07:00

Brian Hom II

I previously wrote about the Hon Family's tragedy in losing their son to anaphalyxis here. Brian Hom spoke at a local FAAn fundraiser and his words are heartbreaking and beautifully spoken.

The Peanut Free Mama has posted the entire transcript of his talk here.

It is a bit long, but I really recommend that you read through it. It is difficult for me to read, as it makes the terrible abstraction of what could happen to any of our children, into a horrific reality.

I again want to thank the Hom Family for sharing their story, and my thoughts and prayers are with them.

Peanuts for pumpkins

2008-10-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Since things have been kind of serious around here here lately, I thought it was time for some humor even if it was not directly related to peanuts. (I am sure it is somehow related to peanuts, after all everything is. At least it is in my obsessed little mind :) )

So in honor of Halloween, I have found some pumpkins that have made me ohhh, made me awww, and made me chuckle eeeewwwwww!!!! So here they are - pumpkin fun.

The Star Wars Death Star Pumpkin

A Hamburger Pumpkin

A Sick Pumpkin (Must have eaten the pumpkin hamburger)

Another Sick Pumpkin. (Just say no to a pumpkin hamburger)

The Hom Family - Another Reminder of Heroism

2008-10-22T14:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday our local FAAN group held a "Strike out Food Allergies" Bowling fundraising event. I unfortunately was not able to attend, since I was chasing the shinning Tiffany Necklace at the Nike Women's Marathon, and learning a life lesson about true heroism. It was apparently a day about all sorts of heroes, as the fundraiser had a guest speaker, Brian Hom Sr. who spoke about losing his son to an anaphalytic reaction to peanuts.

An article about Brian Hom's death is here.

http://www.foodallergyangel.com/documents/FoodAllergy/Brian%20Hom%20An%20untimely%20tragedy.pdf

I was not present, and did not hear Brian Hom Sr. speak in person, but his family's story touched me deeper then any other I have come upon to date. Perhaps it is because it is a family that is local to my area, or perhaps it is because friends of mine met him, spoke to him, and heard him speak.

Somehow, this makes real to me, what in some ways had previously been an abstraction. Sure Conor had a serious reaction a few years ago, and I know he could die from eating a peanut, but I think part of me likes to live in denial of what really could happen. If a real person in a local town was struck by this sort of tragedy, it could happen to anyone including us.

I want to say thank you to the Hom family for sharing their story. Their message, while devastating to deliver, will help save countless lives.

The past weekend has been a time where I have been surrounded by people who have reminded me that sometimes, life is frustrating, unfair, and unthinkably painful. But it has also been a time that has reminded me about the people who have faced these horrors, and moved forwards anyways, fighting an enemy bigger then they knew they could. Their strength and courage is what makes me understand what true heroes are.

Help Linda Coss Get on TV

2008-10-22T05:36:00.001-07:00

One of my food allergy idols Linda Coss is now a great television personality. Check out my review of her really great television premier here. Now that she has taken the local airways by storm with witty insight such as my new mantra "It is not cool to eat it if it causes you to die" she is ready to take on the national scene.

Linda is asking everyone to help her meet Oprah, Rachel, and Martha, and anyone else who might benefit from an education of food allergy awareness to spread the word. I figure since she is an idol, I would pass along her request in her own words.

"Greater public awareness of the realities of life-threatening food allergies helps all of our children – and one of the best ways to reach the masses is through the most popular TV talk shows.

I’m writing today to ask for your help. I’d like to start a grass roots campaign to get a few of the big shows to invite me to come on as a guest to discuss life-threatening food allergies. As the author of 3 books on food allergies, including a cookbook that is still considered to be “brand new” (an important consideration in the publicity world), I believe I am just the sort of “expert” that TV shows like to have as a guest. Plus, now that I’ve had a successful appearance on local TV (you can view the video at http://www.foodallergybooks.com/), I’ve gotten over my fear of the camera!

I’m asking you, your readers, and anyone else you can get to participate to go online to the shows’ “suggest a topic” pages and recommend that the program does a segment on life-threatening food allergies, with Food Allergy Author Linda Coss as the guest expert. You can say something from your heart about why they should cover this topic, and then say something about why you’re recommending Linda Coss as the guest expert. Possibilities here include the facts that I’m the articulate author of 3 food allergy books, a former support group leader with over 13 years of experience, the parent of a college-age child with multiple life-threatening allergies, and one of the “pioneers” in the food allergy world.

Here are links to the first 3 shows I’m targeting:

§ Oprah: https://www.oprah.com/ord/plugform.jsp?plugId=216
§ Rachael Ray: http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/show-info/be-on-the-show/
o Scroll down to the bottom to the “Anything Goes” section and then click on “Hey you…what’s on your mind?”
o Be sure to click on the “pass it on” button and give them my email, Linda@FoodAllergyBooks.com
§ Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/affiliateinfo
o Click on “Email Martha” on the left-hand side of the page

Of course, I’m open to suggestions for other shows that would be likely to present food allergies in a sympathetic light.

Thank you in advance for your help and support!

Best wishes,

Linda Coss
949-699-2749
Plumtree Press
Books to Help Your Family Live with Food Allergies
http://www.foodallergybooks.com/ "

Maybe We Should Give Them a Tiffany Necklace

2008-10-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

So, the evil illness has taken me down. We finally got Conor better, and I have been stricken by the monster bug. I have spent the last week hacking, blowing sniffling and aching, and of course complaining.

Despite my suffering, I felt the need to run in a race I had signed up for many months ago -

The Nike Women's Marathon.

I was only signed up to run the half marathon, but the sneezing, hacking, coughing and aching made me question (only momentarily) the intelligence of such an endeavor. There was no choice in the matter. I must do the race, and I must finish - at all costs. Why the steadfast determination you ask. Is it the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat? Is it my iron clad will and never give up spirit? No, of course not, it is that all the finishers receive a Tiffany necklace.

I must get my Tiffany necklace!!!! I must!!! The race must go on at all costs.

My unrelenting need to do this race at all costs for a Tiffany necklace jeopardizing health and comfort made me think. Maybe if I had offered our former pre-school director Cruella a Tiffany necklace if she was able to keep my son safe for the school year, she would have made more of an effort to take some necessary precautions. Perhaps if we offered all the parents who feel their children must have peanut butter for lunch a special Tiffany necklace at the end of the school year if they could find a way to send in something other then peanut products with little Johnny they would figure out a way. Maybe handing out Tiffany necklaces would motivate all those ignorant people to learn about ways to help keep our children safe. Maybe....

I made my way up to San Francisco yesterday, and made my way through the race. The race is a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society, and many of the runners were there to raise money and honor those with these cancers. Lots of runners had stories on the back of their shirts about those close to them who had battled or where battling the diseases. One woman who I was behind for much of the race had a picture of her 5 year old son on her back and I asked her about her son. Apparently he had passed away last year from Leukemia, and although she had never run before, she was doing the entire 26.2 miles in his honor and to raise money to help cure Leukemia. Another woman was running in honor of her 3 year old son who was battling cancer now. There were people paying homage to parents, brothers, children and friends. There were survivors, running to give hope to others who where not sure they were going to survive.

So, in the end, this race was not really about the Tiffany necklace after all. Instead it was a reminder to me that heroes come in all different shapes and sizes, and rarely do they actually wear a cape. (although one woman did :)) I made it to the end, and am proudly wearing my Tiffany necklace. But now, it means much more to me then just a cool necklace - it commemorates all the heroes out there yesterday running a marathon of more then just miles.

The Epi-Card

2008-10-18T15:00:00.000-07:00

It's a credit card........ It's a compact mirror...............it's a box of mints......

NO, its the newest technology in portable ephedrine delivery - It's

THE EPI-CARD

Epi-Card will inject a dose of epinephrine through an easy-to-use, credit-card-sized device that is small enough to fit in a purse, wallet or pocket. He hopes his smaller design will alleviate the dangerous tendency seen in many people -- especially teenagers concerned about fitting in -- who "forget" Epi-Pen at home or leave it out of reach in a vehicle. The Epi-Card also will contain a spring device to retract the needle after use, a safety precaution no other injection system offers.

What is almost as cool as this new invention, is that it was invented by identical twins Evan and Eric Edwards who themselves suffer from life threatening food allergies. As a result of their personal experiences, they built their education around developing solutions for patients and their loved-ones facing the same challenges. Thus the Epi-Card and their company Intelliject were created.

This product is currently on the last stages of development. It is not yet approved by FDA, but they expect to get approval for the product in 2009.

If you want to read more about this really cool story an invention check out these links.

This is Allergic Girl's really great interview with the inventors Evan and Eric Edwards

http://www.healthcentral.com/allergy/c/3900/42426/edwards-intelliject

The Company Web site

http://www.intelliject.com/

A news article.

http://www.virginia.edu/topnews/releases2002/inventor-april-4-2002.html

Playing with Peanuts

2008-10-14T19:22:00.000-07:00

I have to say I feel supremely honored. My fellow amazing blogger Jennifer B. at the Food Allergy Buzz did a post mentioning my strange fascination with odd uses of peanuts and how I find them both fascinating and disturbing at the same time. She had thought of me because she saw a board game called the Count Your Peanuts Math Game.

So, for Jennifer (great name by the way), and because the Holidays are on the way, I have tried to find other unique peanut games.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Game

Description: The "Make Your Own Sandwich Game" now comes packaged in an adorable tin lunch box! What better way to transport all those yummy PB&J's you just made? Like the classic children's board game, this card game has you build peanut butter and jelly sandwiches using playing cards that depict all the ingredients. Only this time, a giant rubber fly might land right in your sandwich, or an ant might come and carry some of it away! If you can be the first to build 3 complete sandwiches, you'll win the game - and have yourself quite a feast! Game comes with 54 cards, a plastic fly, and game instructions. For 2 - 4 players, Ages 4 and Up.

http://www.areyougame.com/interact/item.asp?itemno=FX4264

The Nutty Elephant Game

Nutty Elephant is a spinning, talking, musical elephant with flopping ears and a trunk that moves up and down. Nutty is always hungry for peanuts. See if he will take one from your hand. As Nutty lifts his trunk up, up goes your peanut. Be the first to get all of your peanuts in Nutty's mouth and you win.
http://www.toysit.com/nutty-elephant-board-game/

The Comments From the Peanut Gallery Game

Description - The card game where your opinion counts. A fast-moving, fast-talking, really nutty game!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FJ2HFC?smid=A16VR4D4EUR82B&tag=priceg9-20&linkCode=asnProduct

Of course the last is my favorite of the group. But if you ever feel like playing with peanuts, here are some options.

Halloween with Food Allergies - Useful Resources

2008-10-14T09:01:00.000-07:00

I have started trying to prepare for Halloween, and decided I should consolidate all my Halloween resources into one place. Here you go. There is some great information on trick or treating safety, candy alternatives, and safe candy information. I will tell everyone how we deal with Halloween here, that has worked so far. I know, you are holding your breath waiting.

Sure Foods Living

Allison at Sure Foods Living has made the most amazing list of information on almost every possible Halloween candy you can think of. It is completely awesome!!! Allison Rocks!!!!

The quick and easy candy information list.

http://surefoodsliving.com/2008/10/07/gluten-free-and-allergen-free-candy-quick-list/

The full and complete candy information list

http://surefoodsliving.com/2008/10/07/halloween-candy-for-kids-with-food-allergies/

Avoiding Milk Protein's great list of information on all sorts of candy

http://www.avoidingmilkprotein.com/candy.htm

Kids with Food Allergies Halloween info

Recipes

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=119&title=allergy_free_Halloween_recipes

Safety tips

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=42&title=Safely_celebrating_Halloween_when_your_child_has_food_allergies

Safe trick or treating

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/resourcespre.php?id=56&title=How_to_take_the_tricks_out_of_treats_when_your_child_has_food_allergies

From the AAAAI

a trick or treat checklist to give you ideas to make trick or treating safer

http://www.aaaai.org/patients/elements/1008/08halloween_checklist.stm

A nice article about the dangers of Halloween for allergic kids

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/124766.php

FAAN's tips on how to have a safe Halloween

http://www.foodallergy.org/Support/Halloween/SafetyTips.html

8 Tips published by Enjoy Life Foods

(of course one of them is buy lots of enjoy life foods to have on hand, but they are really good tips.)

http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/img/media/Allergy-aware%20Halloween%20tips%20from%20Enjoy%20Life%20and%20Allergy%20Moms.pdf

Allergy Moms at About.Com

A great list of ideas and alternatives for making Halloween fun for the little ones no matter what.

http://specialchildren.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=specialchildren&cdn=parenting&tm=27&gps=67_964_1579_816&f=21&tt=13&bt=1&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.allergymoms.com/uploads/newsletters/halloweentipstreats.html

Politics in America - The Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue

2008-10-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

I unfortunately have caught the nasty virus that is going around, so I am not my usual witty self. However, in honor of the upcoming presidential election, I thought I would share another interesting peanut find -

The Jimmy Carter Peanut Statue

http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/roadside-statues5.htm

"Jimmy Carter Peanut Sculpture: Plains, Georgia
Publications International, Ltd.The Jimmy Carter Peanut Sculpture in Plains, Georgia, commemorates the former president's peanut-farming days.
Created by Democrats in Indiana for a Jimmy Carter visit during his presidential campaign in 1976, this roadside statue -- a 13-foot peanut -- pays homage to the former president's peanut-farming background and toothy grin.
Its creators subsequently gave it to the president, and it now sits only a stone's throw from his old campaign headquarters in Georgia."

Allergy and Asthma Saga -What I Learned - Breathing is Really Important

2008-10-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

So, this exciting saga is turning out to be way to long. My first three part blog post!! What will be next??

Things have calmed down around here. Conor can breath again, and has developed an intense and frequent relationship with his new nebulizer aka fishy face, or dragon fish (because the fish blows steam). Conor is only experiencing minor roid rage from the oral steroids, and has not yet damaged himself or anyone else when overcome by his steroidal impulses. Michael is obsessed with the fishy face nebulizer, and stares at frozen like a deer in headlights, and Nataie could care less about the whole smoking buzzing object. All she cares about is making sure her roid raging brother does not destroy anything that belongs to her.

I said in my last post that I had some deep moral to share - so here it goes - Breathing is really important! That is deep isn't it. What I really mean, is I was so excited dreaming about the possibility of getting eggs back into our diet, I forgot how important breathing really is. Right now I am so happy Conor is not hacking, wheezing, coughing and barking that I could care less if an egg can ever set foot in our house. I think what I am trying to say is that I discovered how important it is to appreciate what we do have, and not what we don't. My mother has heart failure, and has been sick in and out of the hospital for the last few weeks, thus necessitating a flurried weekend road trip. Now also being reminded of Conor's other health issues, I really appreciate how good things are when they aren't so bad. It really all is relative......but breathing is really important.

We do have an appointment in two weeks to do an egg trial before getting Conor's flu shot. So you just never know........Breathing is important, but eggs are kind of nice.

The Allergy and Asthma Saga Part 2 - When an Emergency Room Really is Just a Room

2008-10-11T17:41:00.000-07:00

OK, when we last visited our story, we had just returned from our allergist, and were awaiting the arrival of a nebulizer, and looking into a larger medicine cabinet to store all our new pharmaceuticals.

The nebulizer arrived at 5:30. Unfortunately Conor started going down hill at about 5:00. We gave it a test run before determining there was no way we were going to make it through the night without some sort of intervention, so we might as well use this as an opportunity to check out our local little neighborhood hospital.

Although we live close to San Francisco, we really do live in a small rural town. I had heard about the tiny local little hospital before, and decided to trek up the road and give it a whirl. Needless to say, that was an interesting experience. When we got to the "hospital", I entered in search of the emergency room. I had a barking, hacking heaving child who was screaming and crying, but could not find anyone at all in the hospital. It was deserted. The only place I could find that was open was the hospital chapel, and I figured this was not a good sign. Finally some janitor, security guard sort of person heard us, and walked us over to the emergency room. Here the emergency room really is just a room with three beds, and not much else. Off to one side was a machine, covered in a cloth, with a binder attached that said "Code Blue Manuel"on the cover. I guess if something were to happen to Conor I could read the manual and try and use the machine. Maybe there would be a test. The nice janitor man left us, alone in the "emergency room" and in a few minutes a women entered who was apparently the check in person, the triage room, and the emergency room nurse. She also appeared to be the receptionist and answered all the phone calls. Thankfully the receptionist desk was in the same room with the 3 beds and the code blue manual.

After asking if I had taken Conor outside into the cold air to treat his croup - (lady!! it is not croup, it is asthma, I have been to the allergist we know what it is, and don't you think we walked through the cold air to get into here in the first place). Unfortunately Conor's asthma is a bit unusual, in that he has cough variant asthma, but when it gets bad his small airways get inflamed and make it difficult to breath. Most of the time if you listen to his chest, it is pretty clear, and only the specialists can hear the problems in his lungs. I did not really feel like getting into all this with multi purpose emergency room nurse receptionist women, and assured her we had tried all the croup treatments at home first.

Finally she found the ER doctor. I think he had to go off and call him in from home or something, as it took a while for him to show up, and it was not like there were any other patients around. Anyways, I told him the whole story again, and he said he would recommend an oral steroid, but only if we were not planning on doing the skin test on Monday. Uh no... we decided that breathing was more important then testing whether Conor is allergic to eggs.

So Conor got a dose of oral steroids there, and a prescription for yet another medication to add to our collection. ER doctor then recommended we do an x-ray of Conor's lungs and chest, but informed us it would be over an hour since he would have to call in the x-ray technician, and that might take a while.

Since Conor was stabilized, and doing a bit better, I declined that exciting offer, and we headed home hoping to have a quieter night, and happy to have avoided testing out that code blue binder for ourselves.

There is probably one more part to this fascinating and exciting saga, that will even include what morals I have learned from this story.

(And just as a side note, for more interesting fodder later, this night was also the night our new Au Pair was arriving at our home. Mick was picking her up at the airport at the very moment I was wandering around our local little "hospital" - Good Times)