When Oldest was around 4 years old he came home from "feeding therapy" (for those that are new to my world, he has a early complicated medical history and needed a feeding tube for many years).
Feeding therapy that day consisted of scrambled eggs.
A "new food".
30 minutes after coming home he vomited up said scrambled eggs.
This was not unusual for us so I really didn't think too much of it.
It happened a few times (again, not unusual) and then he passed out on the couch (from what I thought was just pure exhaustion)
What I know now is he was having a anaphylactic reaction to eggs.
(Yes. The guilt, even now 11 years later, is impalpable)
I am incredibly lucky that it was not worse than cleaning up a mess.
Two years later youngest awoke from his nap with his eye swollen shut after eating peanut butter.
This time I was a bit more aware of the seriousness of food allergies.
In spite of DH and I being able to eat whatever we want, our two boys were now living with extremely serious food allergies.
"Levels" in both of them, so high, that they didn't even register in a "level" on blood tests.
So here's the point of my post.
When you go off to your restaurants with your non allergy children and they can order off a menu without you needing to worry that it may kill them- you are living the life of Riley.
You are fortunate that your child can eat off of your plate, try a new food, eat cake from the local bakery , and not need to call ahead to a birthday party to make sure that what they are serving will be safe for your child to eat.
Yes, I have two picky eaters.
I'm not sure if they are picky because of their fear of allergies or from early food issues or what but whatever the reason, they are picky.
They are also teenagers who are supposed to be picky.
I'm pretty sure it's written in stone somewhere.
So when we travel
or go out to dinner
or run out for ice cream
it's not so simple.
We have to ask.
We have to investigate.
We have to always be on our A game.
We travel with two epi pens, benadryl and two inhalers at all times.
Oldest recently passed a baked egg challenge.
Which basically means he can eat anything with egg that has been baked for over 30 minutes.
This opens up a big new street for us but still not out of the woods (you would be correct if you thought that having an egg allergy really sucks. Do you know how much cross contamination there is with eggs?)
I don't apologize for my rant.
I do not feel embarassed or apologetic that I had to call ahead to friends homes or restaurants to ask about their menu.
I don't care that you look at me funny when I wipe down the trays on the airplanes in fear that someone before them ate a peanut butter sandwich.
I do not feel badly that I ask and re-ask at restaurants (especially after oldest was served a sandwich recently and the waitress "forgot" to check if the bread contained egg or not)
On behalf of my family, and so many others...
Thank you to those who do not have allergy kids but have always made my kids feel not only welcome but SAFE in your homes.
Thank you to those of you who are teaching your children the importance and seriousness of food allergies.
Thank you to those of you who do not feel inconvenienced when asked not to eat peanuts on a plane!
And thank you for realizing my kids are more than just picky eaters.
Feeding therapy that day consisted of scrambled eggs.
A "new food".
30 minutes after coming home he vomited up said scrambled eggs.
This was not unusual for us so I really didn't think too much of it.
It happened a few times (again, not unusual) and then he passed out on the couch (from what I thought was just pure exhaustion)
What I know now is he was having a anaphylactic reaction to eggs.
(Yes. The guilt, even now 11 years later, is impalpable)
I am incredibly lucky that it was not worse than cleaning up a mess.
Two years later youngest awoke from his nap with his eye swollen shut after eating peanut butter.
This time I was a bit more aware of the seriousness of food allergies.
In spite of DH and I being able to eat whatever we want, our two boys were now living with extremely serious food allergies.
"Levels" in both of them, so high, that they didn't even register in a "level" on blood tests.
So here's the point of my post.
When you go off to your restaurants with your non allergy children and they can order off a menu without you needing to worry that it may kill them- you are living the life of Riley.
You are fortunate that your child can eat off of your plate, try a new food, eat cake from the local bakery , and not need to call ahead to a birthday party to make sure that what they are serving will be safe for your child to eat.
Yes, I have two picky eaters.
I'm not sure if they are picky because of their fear of allergies or from early food issues or what but whatever the reason, they are picky.
They are also teenagers who are supposed to be picky.
I'm pretty sure it's written in stone somewhere.
So when we travel
or go out to dinner
or run out for ice cream
it's not so simple.
We have to ask.
We have to investigate.
We have to always be on our A game.
We travel with two epi pens, benadryl and two inhalers at all times.
Oldest recently passed a baked egg challenge.
Which basically means he can eat anything with egg that has been baked for over 30 minutes.
This opens up a big new street for us but still not out of the woods (you would be correct if you thought that having an egg allergy really sucks. Do you know how much cross contamination there is with eggs?)
I don't apologize for my rant.
I do not feel embarassed or apologetic that I had to call ahead to friends homes or restaurants to ask about their menu.
I don't care that you look at me funny when I wipe down the trays on the airplanes in fear that someone before them ate a peanut butter sandwich.
I do not feel badly that I ask and re-ask at restaurants (especially after oldest was served a sandwich recently and the waitress "forgot" to check if the bread contained egg or not)
On behalf of my family, and so many others...
Thank you to those who do not have allergy kids but have always made my kids feel not only welcome but SAFE in your homes.
Thank you to those of you who are teaching your children the importance and seriousness of food allergies.
Thank you to those of you who do not feel inconvenienced when asked not to eat peanuts on a plane!
And thank you for realizing my kids are more than just picky eaters.
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