Food Allergies - Journal Entry

I will soon be posting some "new home" pics for those interested. But, in the meantime, I read an article from one of the food allergy websites that I frequent and I want to share it with all of you.

A 13-yr old girl in Chicago died a few weeks ago from an allergic reaction to food served at a school party. Now, I have a lot to say on this topic and I don't know where to begin... but I somehow feel like this blog is also an outlet for me and my thoughts! :)

You can read the article here. The reader's digest version is this: A teacher was throwing a Thanksgiving party for her class and was ordering Chinese food. She called the restaurant ahead of time to tell them specifically to make their food with no peanuts. After ingesting some of the food a 13-yr old girl (with a peanut allergy) went into anaphylaxis (severe allergic reaction where you stop breathing). She was rushed to the loacl hospital but did not survive.

Some people, and maybe even some of you, may think that I am a little nuts about what Jonah eats. People at the supermarket look at me funny when I pick up a package of tortillas or hot dogs to read the ingredients label. Even then, most food labels that contain products or byproducts of allergens are not always listed. (i.e. caramel color and caramel flavoring are both potentially derived from milk products... however, when a food contains either of these ingredients it does not say that it contains milk on their allergens list.)

I am very uneasy about giving my adorable son any new foods and even if I have read the label a million times in the store, I still look it over another 3-5 times before actually giving him the food to eat. Once it's on his plate I watch him like a hawk for any signs of a reaction. People think I am nuts, and I am sure that even my husband looks at me strange sometimes... but I would much rather be overly cautious than to let anything slip by.

I feel so sad for the family of this little girl and also for the teacher who thought she had done everything she could to prevent any food allergens from being in her classroom. I am petrified at the thought of Jonah attending public school (eventhough he is still more than 3 years away from it). People who don't know just don't take food allergies seriously. Hopefully this article - if you choose to take the time to read it - will help everyone we know to realize what a serious issue this is!

I absolutely love, appreciate, and thank all of you who have been such a BIG help in planning meals or parts of meals that are "Jonah friendly" so that I can feel a little more at ease. I still feel like I am a nervous wreck anytime we go anywhere to eat. Holidays, birthday parties, and ward parties are so stressful for me. I don't like to let Jonah more than an arms reach away from me ... just in case he decides to reach for something. As those of you who have followed our blog know, all it takes is for him to touch something he is allergic to for him to break out in hives and be completely miserable. If he ingests any of it I run immediately for the epi-pen and rush him to the bathtub.

I dread babysitters, and every Sunday in Nursery I start to panic around snack time. I love this little boy sooo much that it breaks my heart to think of him and to see him reacting to foods he can't eat/touch. When I look at the few pics we have of him during a reaction my eyes tear up and I feel the same helplessness that I experience while going through that experience.

So, please, if you invite us to your home, don't be offended if I bring him his own food. Please don't be offended if I don't eat some of your foods - for fear of getting it on me and then on him. (I always try and eat with one hand so the other is allergen free - no matter what I am eating - just in case I need to help him with anything).

Jonah is allergic to milk, eggs, and peanuts. He cannot eat anything processed in a facility that also processed any of those items, nor can he eat any food processed on equipment that also processes any of those items. Thankfully, product packaging is fairly good about notating those things which makes it a little easier for me... but it also severely limits the ready-made products we can purchase for consumption.

This post was entirely brought on by this article and in no way reflects feelings about any recent activities. Again, I am so thankful to all of you who share some of my stress in helping this cute, loveable little boy to lead a normal life!

Yesterday's Happenings

Well... it has been one of those weeks. Haven't been able to go out and do laundry or grocery shopping due to the lovely rain (which I really do love the rain). So, we have been staying home curling up watching movies, and trying to scrounge up something for meals!

Yesterday I made some bread, stuffed it with cheese, and fried it (sounds real healthy huh?) JM's was made with goat cheese -- which we discovered he is totally fine with. RL's and mine were made using real cheese (because I don't like the goat cheese).

Well, I think JM got a hold of something that RL had touched and he rubbed it all over his face. After a bath and some bendryl, this is what his cute little face looked like. (BTW it's really hard to take a good picture of an almost 2 yr-old boy on the move!)

Lately RL has been discovering the joy of coloring. She will grab pencils, markers, crayons, and her coloring books and sit at the table for hours just coloring. Yesterday she wanted me to find her a picture of a butterfly and a bee to color. I found some on the internet and printed them for her. Here is what she did:

How beautiful is that butterfly? She colored them both while I did dishes... I gave her no help nor color suggestions. Somehow she managed to color her butterfly symetrically! She is one smart cookie!!!

Today she is at school, and JM and I are home enjoying our hrs with no water. Why you ask? Well, we have had an ongoing leak in our water heater that the plumber took his sweet time coming out to repair. He is here today and had to shut the water off to the building to make the repair. Fun times!!!

I just need to write....

For those of you who choose to read this... I am not expecting any sympathy nor comments....  I just need to write...

My sweet husband has been out of town a-l-l week! I have had full parental and household duties a-l-l week. I have probably talked to my husband for a full 2-1/2 hrs all week because he has been so busy working.

Yesterday afternoon RL and JM both had a milk snack. RL chocolate milk, JM soy milk. When RL was done with her milk, she threw her cup on the floor. I wasn't in the room, but heard JM coughing. I went in to find that her cup was on the floor. I FREAKED OUT! I watched him for a minute or two, and RL said he got her cup. I grabbed my epipen, made JM another soy milk bottle to drink, headed for the bathtub with JM, and told RL to find my phone.

I stripped my poor little guy -- who was shaking his head because of the irritation, and was sneezing and coughing -- and stuck him in the tub, all the while trying to get him to drink some soy milk to help flush whatever milk he had drunk out of his system. I am watching my little boy heave, shake, turn red, and gasp for air. Then... he throws up the entire contents of his tummy... and then some! Once done, he continued gasping for air and I picked him up, took the cap off the epipen and gave it to him. I had to hold it in his thigh while holding him down for the longest 10 seconds of my life - while listening to him scream in pain! I wrapped him in a towel and held him tight while bawling myself! [my mascara just streaming down my cheeks]

I call one of my best friends because she is a nurse and I knew she was home and would help me feel better about having to give him  the epipen. She is awesome! Then I tried calling the Dr. but I was shaking too badly that I couldn't even enter his Medical Record # into the phone. So, I call my mom.... no answer. I call my dad.. he answered. I was holding back tears and shaking so hard that I could hardly talk on the phone. JM was continuing to sneeze and shake because he was in shock too, but the epipen works! He was better almost instantly!

My dad leaves work to go home so that he could watch RL while I take JM to the Dr. to be checked out. I call me husband who says he is too busy to talk and tell him, that I wasn't going to let him call me back. I didn't care if he was in a mtg, I was going to talk to him NOW! I proceed to briefly tell him what had happened amidst streaming tears - so bad that I could hardly talk. It felt good just to talk to him. He had to go, so I got off the phone. Then he texted me telling me that I had done the right thing.

I put a diaper on JM, who is still coughing and sneezing, and get him dressed. Then realize that I can't leave yet because I have to go get laundry out of the dryer at the end of the building! I dry my tears, wipe away my mascara lines, load the kids in the stroller, and trek down to get laundry. We come back home, pack the diaper bag and drive over to my parents house.

When we get there my mom has just gotten home and my dad shows up before we get out of the car. My dad (thankfully) comes with me and JM to Urgent Care while my mom stays home with RL. JM is doing much better by now, but I want to have him seen anyways!

It takes us probably 45 minutes to be seen by the Dr.. We are in the Dr.'s office for at least 20 minutes before the Dr. comes in. My little guy is running around, hiding in a teeny tiny coat closet, playing with the sink, moving the Dr. stool across the floor, tripping over the computer wires, and opening every drawer in that tiny room. (Did I mention how small the room was??? - I don't know who thought it would be a good idea to NOT baby proof a room you put a toddler in for 20 minutes!) I was, and am, so thankful for my dad. He did the majority of JM-watching while I just sat. After a terrible week with no help, then the epipen thing, I was so wiped out!

The Dr. came in, listened to JM's heart and lungs, poked, prodded, and squished his tummy and said that he was totally fine. We ordered a new epipen and were on our way!


--I am so thankful for loving family members who dropped whatever their plans were to help me last night! I don't know what I would have done without them!

But... I am so beyond frustrated with JM's allergies! I can't completely get rid of the milk, egg, and peanut products in our house. RL loves chocolate milk, I can't really deny her of something she loves! JM has bowel issues because he isn't eating enough of the right foods to help regulate everything... but he can only eat so many foods. The specialized foods he CAN eat are really expensive! I stress out over every meal because I want my kids to eat healthy and get the nutrients that they need, but I have to be careful what I give them. Most nights I make JM his own dinner... which is so much work to plan and execute! Most of the foods we (I) love we can't make anymore. Using egg substitutes for baking is OK, but just isn't the same. I love my son more than anything in the world and I am willing to give up all those good things if it means I never have to go through this again!

It wasn't until we were on the way to my parents that I even had a second to relax and thank my Heavenly Father for my blessings. I had another good l-o-n-g cry on that drive. When the ordeal started I hadn't really had a second to do anything and praying hadn't crossed my mind. BUT, I am thankful for a Heavenly Father who loves me and my family and blesses us even when we don't have the ability to ask for blessings. JM is doing great today and slept well last night. My sweet mom made everyone dinner while my dad, JM, and I were at the Dr. JM at some of his dinner and threw the rest on the floor!


Thanks for listening (reading). It always makes me feel a little better when I can put my thoughts down in writing.

A Great Find!

So, by now you all know about poor Jonah's food allergies. Well... last week while grocery shopping at Ralphs, I came across these:

Much to my surprise.... they just happen to be milk-free, egg-free, and peanut-free... they aren't even processed in a place that handles those things! So, for breakfast the other morning, we toasted some mini bagels!!! Rebekah and I used a little of real butter on ours.... my little Jonah-bug had Nucoa (a dairy free margarine) on his. He ate almost the entire little bagel. RL on the other hand had almost 3!!!

Everything I can find that Jonah can eat is like a little milestone to tackling these allergies. Yesterday I discovered that these are DF, EF, PF (dairy free, egg free, peanut free) also.