Blood is Thicker Than Peanut Butter

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!!!!

I Have a Confession to Make

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

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

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

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

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.....