Allergic Living Spreads Awareness with Six Steps Poster

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This week is Food Allergy Awareness Week (FAAW) and Allergic Living magazine is one of the organizations leading the awareness charge. Today I spotted a neat new poster from the magazine that gives some easy-to-remember advice for spotting a reaction, treating it with epinephrine, and getting the patient safely to a hospital.

Six Steps That Save Lives Poster

Allergic Living’s new Six Steps That Save Lives Poster. Image Credit: Allergic Living

One of the things that struck me about the poster is that it notes that feeling faint and having a drop in blood pressure could be the only symptom of anaphylaxis. Charlie had a reaction like that once: he had some minor redness on his face and watery eyes, but because he gets redness anyway (and I’d never seen him get watery eyes), I wasn’t sure it was anaphylaxis until he started to look like he was feeling faint.

Anyway, this is great information. I’ve seen people posting online with the same question that I’ve grappled with: what is a black-and-white rule for identifying anaphylaxis? The answer is that there is no black and white rule, but knowing the symptoms will help you make the judgement call. I like that the poster reminds you to use the epinephrine injector (EpiPen or Auvi-Q, these days) even if you’re not 100% sure it’s a reaction. The word I’ve heard from multiple doctors is that getting an epi injection won’t kill (or even injure) most people, even if they’re not having an allergic reaction after all.

Food Allergy Challenge: Strawberries

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Charlie is not allergic to strawberries anymore

Fruit salads are about to get even better.

Charlie is no longer allergic to strawberries! His allergy doc suggested we test him at home for strawberries, so we went to a park and the kids played between small bites of some fresh strawberries. Charlie LOVED them, and didn’t have any symptoms.

So, we’re down to four: dairy, egg, peanut, and tree nut. And possibly something we don’t know about – remember that reaction he had in the back yard a couple weeks ago? We sure do. And the ensuing tree pollen test turned up nothing. That’s good news for our birch tree. I was ready to yank that thing out myself if it was the problem.

It’s tempting to think, “If he’s outgrown bananas, strawberries, and legumes, maybe he’s outgrown the rest, too.” But the bloodwork numbers are still high on dairy and egg for Charlie. The only one that the doctor has suggested putting to a food challenge is peanut. We’ll have that challenge this summer, when it’s safe for Charlie to go off antihistamines.

The EpiPen Saves The Day

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epipen

The orange tip is extended to prevent anyone from getting an unexpected poke from the used EpiPen.

Charlie had an anaphylactic reaction on Sunday afternoon. He was playing in the back yard for more than an hour (with no food), when he suddenly developed a super-runny nose and hives on his face. By the time we reached the house to give him Benadryl, his face looked much worse, so we all piled in the car.

And then he started to cough.

Charlie coughing when he’s having a reaction is a miserable thing to hear. It’s the most futile, thick cough ever. Add that to the massive hives that popped up on his arms and wrists, and we knew the 10-minute drive to the hospital was going to be too long. We stopped the car, MK administered the EpiPen to Charlie, and we got going again. And then, as he always does after getting epi, Charlie started to look better. Within minutes, the cough disappeared entirely. His face started to look like his face again. And although the hives remained for quite a while, they were dramatically reduced in size just minutes after the shot. The ER kept us for  a couple hours, and then we were back to our house.

And now Charlie wakes up crying multiple times every night.

And Max is acting out and clearly stressed.

And we’re trying to figure what the hell caused Charlie to go ana in the middle of the yard. No food. So pollen? It was a very high pollen day, and it was windy. The doctor drew Charlie’s blood and is testing for pollen now. He also recommended that Charlie avoid the birch we planted in our yard a couple years ago. The beautiful river birch that Charlie, more than the rest of us, really loves. It will go to a new home.

So, now we’re trying to figure out this new, major wrinkle. Charlie’s upcoming peanut challenge for May has been pushed until after the summer.

* Interesting note: We had nine injectors (eight EpiPens and one Auvi-Q) on hand. Some in MK’s purse, three in a pack I carry on my belt, and some in a fanny pack we refer to as the “epi kit.” It’s always with us.

Food Allergy Cookbook: “Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals”

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Pasta & Turkey Meatballs.

Pasta & Turkey Meatballs.

Since quitting my job and becoming a stay-at-home-dad (SAHD) last June, I’ve been cooking dinners for the family five days out of the week. I had to learn to cook – and do to it without dairy, eggs, and Charlie’s other allergy triggers. Over time, I became a decent enough cook: my meals got us through the week, and they were safe for Charlie and healthy for all of us. The meals were bland, though (tonight: baked chicken with seasoning – tomorrow, broiled chicken without seasoning!) we all looked forward to Mary Kate creating tasty dishes for us on the weekend. But thanks to a cookbook designed for food-allergy families, I’m rocking dinner every night.

Chicken Salad.

Chicken Salad.

I’m not kidding about rocking dinner. Max has told me “This is the best dinner ever, dad!” three times. Charlie routinely asks for seconds. After all the stress and frustration I’ve experienced in the kitchen for nearly a year, I’m winning. The reason: The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals.

So what makes this cookbook amazing? The recipes taste great. Really, really great. Every time I try a new recipe, it’s a hit. I’ve even talked Max – who is generally skeptical of new recipes (and just about everything else) – into tasting new dishes by saying “Remember how good dinner was last night? Now try this.”

Best Stir Fry ever.

Best Stir Fry ever.

I’ve tried a lot (tons) of recipes that are allergy-friendly, but taste bud-hostile, or just bland. The recipes in FAM, as we’ve started calling it, are healthy and they use ingredients that are easy to come by. And, they’re so, so easy. Thank you, Kelly Rudnicki!

One of my favorite recipes is the Weeknight Double Roast Chicken, which provides a great dinner and enough leftovers to make a few more dinners. That chicken becomes an ingredient in the Chicken Salad recipe, for example, which goes in a pita for a great lunch. The Pasta & Turkey Meatball recipe

Calzones. MK put an M on this one for Max. You have to love a personalized calzone!

Calzones. MK put an M on this one for Max. You have to love a personalized calzone!

showed me how to make a pasta sauce that is so healthy and good – it has the kids eating zucchini.

Rigatoni. It was delicious and we had it for lunch again the next day.

Rigatoni. It was delicious and we had it for lunch again the next day.

Anyway, for families like mine, The Food Allergy Mama’s Easy, Fast Family Meals is a huge deal. I’m diligent about planning the menu each week (I have to be – I can’t run out for fast food or take the family out to a restaurant if I don’t have a dinner ready one night), but it’s always been a chore. Mostly, it revolved around finding meals that we hadn’t eaten recently. Now, I look forward to picking out the week’s dishes.

And it sent me to the local Barnes & Noble in search of more allergy-friendly cookbooks. I found Cybele Pascal’s Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking, which is also great. We had some amazing “Out-N-In” Burgers tonight because of it. I’ll talk more about that book in another post, once I’ve tried more recipes from it.

Make your own pizza night. The boys picked their veggies and sprinkled them on.

Make your own pizza night. The boys picked their veggies and sprinkled them on.

FARE’s Updated Walk For Food Allergy Website

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newfaresite

The new FARE Walk for Food Allergy site is polished and easy to use.


 My family really enjoyed the FAAN walk here in Lincoln, Neb. last year. It was a great chance to raise money for an important food allergy organization and it was also an opportunity to raise awareness of food allergies in Lincoln. And, it was nice to see that we are not alone – there are many, many families in our city going through the same thing. Now, there’s exciting news about this year’s walks, which will take place across the country. FARE, (formerly FAAN & FAI), now has a new website. I’ve checked it out, and I love it.

Food Allergy T-shirts

Charlie and Max at last year’s walk, sporting their T-shirts.

Lincoln’s walk isn’t up on the site yet, but FARE’s midwest regional development coordinator just sent out an email pegging the date as October 19th, at Holmes Lake Park. That’s where it was held last year, and it’s a great, scenic spot with plenty of parking.

Everyone meets up at a big tent and checks out the latest from Mylan, (maker of EpiPen and EpiPen Jr) and there are plenty of activities for the kids (balloon animals, face-painting, etc.). The activities are followed by the walk itself. If you’re thinking of going, I recommend raising money via the FARE walk site. If you’re not planning to go, I’d like to point out that last year Darth Vader showed up.

Food Allergy Challenge: Banana

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We have officially knocked banana off the list of foods that Charlie is allergic to. As we did with the beans/peas challenge, we drove to Children’s Medical in Omaha and Charlie took the challenge in his allergist’s office. An hour later, Charlie’s face was looking fine and bananas were back on the menu.

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The test was pretty straightforward. Charlie and Max each ate one tiny little piece of banana every fifteen minutes. The banana pieces got progressively larger over the course of the hour, and we watched his face for signs of trouble. Charlie was fine and happy, and Max enjoyed taking the test with him. Each time I gave banana to Charlie he said “Nom, nom, I want more!”

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We’ll do strawberries next weekend and then, believe it or not, we are going to do a peanut food challenge in early April. That’s a big day. We’ll use peanut butter. The doctor thinks Charlie’s numbers are low enough.  Hope, hope, hope.

Food Allergy Fiasco: The Valentine’s Day Party

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When you have food allergies, you are surrounded by poison. Everywhere you look, there are treats and meals that will, should you eat even a crumb of them, kill you over the space of maybe twenty minutes. It makes Valentine’s Day tricky, to say the least.

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Charlie isn’t old enough for pre-school, but I got a preview of what’s ahead when his four-year-old brother showed me the bag of Valentines he’d collected at preschool yesterday. I sent Max off to preschool with some paper Valentines, not realizing that nearly every other kid was headed there with candy. It’s no problem for Max, as he has no food allergies, but I was caught off-guard when I showed up at the end of school (with Charlie) and he asked to bring the candy home. I explained that he could only save the non-food treats, and he understood. He was disappointed, of course, but Max takes a lot of responsibility for Charlie’s allergies. He tells people we meet about them and watches what Charlie eats, commenting on whether he thinks its safe.

vday2I was relieved to see that a few parents sent their kids with non-food treats. Now that I know what Valentine’s Day looks like at school, I’ll send some better non-food treats next time.

What will it be like for Charlie when he starts going to school? I don’t know. I wouldn’t want him around these temptations. It’s one thing to avoid milk or peanut butter. It’s another to not reach into your own Valentine bag and pull out the chocolate kiss – to not touch any of the candy because any of it could have been cross-contaminated. That’s a tough spot to be in when you’re a kid.

While I’m on the topic of temptation, I always get a kick out of the people who post comments online (often under news stories about how schools handle food allergies) about how candy bars with peanuts should be allowed in schools, and that FAKs (food allergy kids) should just consider those lethal snacks to be learning experiences. Really?  That’s a very high-stakes way to teach the kid self control that he’s not old enough to possess yet. Resist the temptation to taste the candy that everyone around you is eating, that other kids are encouraging you to eat and telling you that it’s perfectly safe. Sure! I’ll bet that most of the people who make those comments aren’t nearly so disciplined, themselves. I’d LOVE to know the BMI of some of those…people.