Something Good

My biggest dread is G having an allergic reaction.  All sorts of bad scenarios run through my head.  None of them good.  When I think too much about what could happen, my reality does a little slip to the side and my heart thuds in my chest.  But what if reality really wasn’t all bad.  Can something positive come out of such a dreadful situation?  I think so.  I’ll tell you what happened.

It was Saturday lunchtime and G was eating leftovers from a restaurant he had been at the night before.  After eating some he started sneezing and his nose started running.  He said “I think something’s wrong”.  We asked him if he thought he was having a reaction and he said he wasn’t sure.

The last time G had a reaction, he was a preschooler and in the hospital.  They had given him the wrong food on his food tray.  His first symptoms were a very runny nose.  He was too young to now remember this event, but his dad and I remember it very clearly.

So on Saturday when his nose started to run for no reason and he said his throat was beginning to itch we knew the signs were all there that he was having a reaction to the food.

I read very recently a discussion on the AllergicLiving web site about the importance of not waiting to give an Epipen or other epinephrine injection.  The progression of a reaction is so unpredictable that a person can seem fine one minute and be going into shock the next.  There are too many tragedies that may have been prevented with quicker use of an Epipen.  Antihistamines like Benedryl are good but they are not a substitute for epinephrine.

All this was swimming around in my head as G said he was feeling weird.  I told him that I thought he should have his Epipen and he agreed without hesitation.  I asked him if he would like to do it himself or if he would like me to do it.  He asked that I do it.  I sat him down in a chair, he was very scared, not knowing what to expect from the injection.

The fear of injecting or using the Epipen can cause people to be reluctant to use it.  If you’ve never experienced the injection there is a huge fear of the unknown.  How much will it hurt?  The needle is huge! It must be excruciating.

With G sitting in the chair I put the Epipen against his thigh and gave it a firm shove (no I didn’t take a swinging stab like most people think!) and G’s reaction was “Oh”.  He was totally surprised that it didn’t really hurt.  He said it was like someone giving you a friendly shove in the arm.

So what happened next?  G’s symptoms cleared very quickly.  We went to the hospital so he could be monitored for a while.  He hated the affect of the epinephrine which made him fidgety and as he said “wanting to run but not being able to figure out how”!  The bad side effect is that when he came down from the adrenaline rush he started to feel the spot on his thigh where I had injected him.  That’s when it started to hurt a bit like a bruise.  As he would tell you, it was totally worth it!

Obviously the best part of this story is the outcome, but here’s where more good comes in, I don’t just mean G’s reversal of symptoms. The ‘something positive’ I mentioned before, coming from what happened is more than that.  G is no longer scared of using an Epipen.  He can now recognize his allergic reaction symptoms and he knows that hesitating is a waste of valuable time.  First hand experience of using an Epipen is not a lesson plan I would ever recommend if you don’t actually need to use it, but for G the experience was a lesson he will never forget and will probably save his life in the future.

 

Hand Washing?

hand washing

Who invented hand washing?  Not the ‘was playing in the mud’ hand washing, but the hand washing that happens when your hands look clean but apparently are not.  I’m all for this hand washing, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t around when I was young.  Some things were better ‘back in my day’, but not this.  I think we only washed our hands when they appeared grimy.  In the 1912 home I first lived in, the room with the toilet didn’t even have a wash basin and I’m pretty sure I didn’t make the trek to the next room to wash my hands. I know you’re thinking “Ew, gross!”, but that’s how it was.  Wipe your hands on your Wranglers and you’re good to go!

I’m fastidious now.  I have to be.  Having a child with food allergies means I wash my hands so often throughout the day that a casual observer might think I have OCD.  When cooking dinner it’s not uncommon for me to wash my hands 10-20 times.  I wash them between every task.  With all this hand washing you’d think that I never get colds, well at least I think I should never get a cold, yet I seem to pick up the same number as everyone else.  No justice.

Hand washing is also really important for the food allergic child at school; not just their own hands, but their class mates as well.  That is, it’s helpful if their class mates wash their own hands too.  In primary grades this really helps accidental exposure to an allergen.  In case it’s been a while since your squeaky clean children were young I just want to remind everyone that kids are messy when eating, really messy.  Yogurt splotches on the table, dropped cheese stepped on, crusts left in desks, jam on cheeks, butter on fingers.

In most kindergarten classes students wash their hands before snack.  At our request, the students in G’s class also washed their hands when snack was finished.  This might sound like a huge rigmarole, but since the kindies finished their snacks at different times, there wasn’t a line up at the sink and it was a routine that was established on the first day so for the class it was normal.  As part of this they also learned about being considerate of others and helping keep G safe.

This dual hand washing was established in each of G’s classes throughout his primary grades and by the time he was in grade 4, so many of the children had been in his class before that most of them continued this washing after eating all the way through elementary school.

If you have a young food allergic child, I recommend talking to your child’s teacher about the possibility of including this routine.  It’s not as big a hassle as it might seem (if the classroom has a sink) and kid’s hands can be sticky after eating so it helps keep the classroom and the supplies clean as an added bonus!

Hand washing is such a simple thing that has so many benefits for your own health and the health of others.  It helps stop the spread of all sorts of things.  Who ever came up with the idea of frequent hand washing was on to something.  We all know now that a good hand wipe on our jeans just isn’t good enough.

 

Classroom Letter Home

Adults do not like being told what to do yet we constantly boss our children: put your shoes on, brush your teeth, no chips before dinner, no more screen time.  Imagine sitting watching TV and your spouse/partner comes in, shuts off the set and says “That’s enough TV! Go outside and get some fresh air!”.  HA! No, we do not like being told what to do!

As a parent of a child with food allergies, I think this is particularly important to keep in mind at this time of year.

With back to school comes the plethora of notices home from the school and classroom.  There is the student information forms, the media/internet permission forms, the insurance forms (does anyone buy this insurance? Just in case your child loses “dominant arm below the elbow and left leg above the knee, parent receives $6000”).  Lost in all of these papers may be the letter which tells the classroom families about a food allergic child in the class.

Often times this is written by the classroom teacher, but I have always appreciated having input with the wording of the form that goes home.  I believe it more beneficial to be positive with the letter rather than negative.  Like I said, adults do not like being given directives.  It can get people’s backs up and a first reaction can be to push back.  Things like saying “Don’t bring nuts to school” are negative and are often read in a negative frame of mind.  I have found it more helpful to explain my son’s allergy situation and ask the families for their help with keeping the classroom a safe place.

Which sounds better:
– Keep off the grass
Or
– Help keep our park beautiful, please avoid the grass.

Either way, it’s inevitable that some clod will traipse across the grass, but we can not control the actions of others no matter how much we want to.

It’s the same with the allergy letter home to classroom families.  Be negative and you risk a negative reaction.  Be positive and you are more likely to get people on your side.

Here’s an excerpt from the letter we sent home to families when G was in grade two:

A boy in our class, G, has severe allergies and cannot be exposed to dairy, egg or peanut.  Please be sensitive when sending lunches and snacks containing these foods. G has his own desk and we are very careful to wash hands before and after eating.
    Some alternative foods to consider might include fruit, fruit-leather, fruit cups, crackers, cookies (without peanuts), rice cakes, veggie sticks, sesame snacks and sandwiches (without peanut butter or dairy products like cheese, mayonnaise etc.).   We are not banning any foods from our classroom, but we would like everyone to be aware of the risks to G when foods may be spilled or left around the classroom or hands left unwashed after eating.
    Please feel free to talk to me for more input on this, or if you wish, you can also speak with his Mum, ________, before school, or by phone at ###-####, for ideas of food that would work well.  I certainly appreciate the kindness and consideration that I know you will show G to ensure that he can attend school safely.
    Thanks so much for your support on this,

It was signed by the teacher.  A letter similar to this was sent home every September to the classroom families G was with in elementary school.  We were happy with they way it worked for us.  I know that classes ban peanuts and that works for some people.  We chose to rely on the kindness and understanding of other parents.  Happily, over the years very few clods chose to walk across the grass.  Most went out of their way to accommodate G and we avoided the unpleasant push back that can come from trying to tell adults what they can and can not do.  Now, leave my TV alone.

How to Wear an Allerject

Allerject

Yay!  Got an Allerject for G.  It’s the new epinephrine auto-injector (mentioned before) produced in Canada by Sanofi.  Not sure if this product won any sort of design award, but it should.  Best redesign of a product … ever!  No, really, wouldn’t you rather carry around something in your trouser’s front pocket that looked like a small phone rather than a … banana.  I know I would and I’m not a teenaged boy.

A well promoted feature of the Allerject is that it talks to you helping you use it like the defibrillators that have been installed in rec. centers and other public buildings.  A voice gives you very clear prompts every step of the way.  This really is useful, especially for the first time user, but it was the unobtrusive shape of it that sold us.

How to wear the Allerject – limitless options for the progressive dresser.  I’m not using ‘Hipster’ to describe G’s style because the term is a bit limiting ; )

 

Allerject in pocketCasual : iPhone in one pocket, Allerject in the other.

 

Allerject in pocketPreppy : Spot the Allerject … nope, that’s the iPhone; it’s the other pocket.  These pants even have a small secondary pocket inside the main one.  People think it’s for small change, but it’s actually for the Allerject so everyone can discretely carry one.  No, really… betcha didn’t know JoeFresh was so allergy friendly!

 

Allerject in sleeveJames Dean, but a bit healthier.

 

Allerject fits in pocketOut for Dinner : Slips easily into a breast pocket.

Love, love love this new product.  Even if you don’t carry an auto-injector, spread the word and, you never know, a teenage boy may thank you.

 

 

How to carry an Epipen

Epipen

Is that an epipen in your pocket or are you just glad to see me.  Seriously, what fourteen year old kid wants to walk around with this in his pocket!?  Since he started kindergarten G has worn a specially designed belt from Medic Alert that carries his epipen.

Medic Alert Epibelt

It’s a great belt and he has never minded carrying it.  I highly recommend it and it’s worth the expense.  The problem is now he wants to wear belts for fashion not just function.  So how to carry the epipen?

I searched on line for epipen carriers and found many really nice ones – for women.  In other words small feminine purses.  G is a progressive dresser, but the only ‘purse’ he likes to carry is his sporran.  Actually his epipen fits nicely into his sporran but that’s not always a practical option.

I was so happy when I came across KozyEpi.  A perfect option for G’s needs.   He can clip it onto his belt loop and forget about it.  It comes in many colors and patterns and some styles fit asthma inhalers as well.

KozyEpi

The REAL solution would be to have an auto-injector that didn’t look like a… well  that wasn’t so bulky.  I’m sure many people have thought this, but now two brothers have taken the idea and run with it.  Their brilliant new product is the Allerject (Auvi-Q in the US).  Check it out through the link.  It’s fantastic.  Not only is this auto-injector smaller than an iPhone, but it TALKS to you!  It gives voice prompts to the user.   What a great idea.  Not everyone knows how to use an auto-injector.  For a limited time you can order a free trainer from the Allerject web site.

Allerject trainer

I’m going out to see if I can find an Allerject.  So easy to discreetly slip into a pocket.  No excuse for not having one at all times. No more need for fashion to take a backseat. No more need for bawdy Mae West quotes…. Which one will make G most happy?

G’s Withdrawal

Rice MilkPoor G.  I don’t say this very often and he’s not a ‘woe is me ‘ kind of guy, but this time I really mean poor G.   With all his food restrictions and times when he could not have the mouth watering treats others were having he does not complain.  He accepts it and doesn’t dwell on what he can not have.  I really admire this about him and now I am pushing his good nature to the limit.  I have taken away the one food product he loves and consumes in mass quantities.  He went through withdrawal and I had to watch him go trough the DTs (depressed teenager).  I have taken away his soy milk.

Here’s why… Soy is very rich in phytoestrogens which may or may not alter the testosterone and estrogen levels in men and may cause ED (when I started to mention this to G he ran away covering his ears and yelling LA LA LA LA LA as I laughed at his discomfort because I am a sensitive mother).  I have not read the studies but I have asked a lot of questions.  I have asked dieticians, doctors and nurses about G’s consumption of soy milk and the possible effect of the phytoestrogens.  None had an answer for me, none knew what effect soy may or may not have on hormone dependent development.  So over the years I have always wondered, if menopausal women drink soy for the phytoestrogens then what could the possible effects be on a growing boy. G is thirteen and growing so fast I swear if he stands still you can see his bones stretching.  Along with this concern is the fact that G was drinking about 2L of soy milk in a day and a half.  That’s a lot of soy!

What alternatives are left?  There’s rice milk – tastes like drinking a watery bowl of rice.  There’s Tao – a potato based milk alternative but we can’t find it anymore.  There’s hemp milk – but it’s not fortified (not even with THC) so what’s the point of drinking it?  New to the market is coconut milk but you have to really like coconut to drink it.  So that leaves almond milk.  Of all the nuts G is allergic to, almond is not one of them.  Almond milk is vitamin fortified and a good source of calcium.

Almonds milk it is.  G is not too happy about it.  He’s drinking more water, which is a good thing and cheaper.  To ease the sting of having his favourite drink (actually favourite consumable period) taken away, I have been buying chocolate and vanilla almond milk as well as the regular (the regular is really bland but better to cook with).

So it’s water, almond milk and the occasional glass of juice for now and I really mean it when I say ‘poor G’.  I know he’s not happy about it, but until I get some answers about phytoestrogens and development I think it’s best to avoid massive consumption of soy.  He’ll probably thank me when he’s 25 and doesn’t have to buy a bra.

 

 

Chocolate Brownies – Dairy-free, Egg-free

Chocolate Brownie

A warm chocolatey brownie on a chilly Fall day sounds about right.  These are vegan and easy to make.  The original recipe calls for a 9×9 inch pan, which I don’t have, baked for 25 minutes.  If you use a larger pan then you get more brownies!  I think I should buy a bigger pan…

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 Cups flour
1/2 Cup cocoa
1 1/2 Cups brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup strong coffee **
1 Cup soy milk
1/3 Cup vegetable oil
1 Cup chocolate chips (dairy free)
**if using espresso, make sure total liquid added (including soy milk) equals 1 1/2 Cups

DIRECTIONS

Line an 8×8 pan with parchment.  If you grease the bottom of the pan first, the parchment will stay in place.
Sift together dry ingredients.

Bownie ingredients

Mix together wet ingredients.

Cup of nespresso

Add wet to dry and mix well.    Stir in chocolate chips.  Pour into pan and bake at 325F for 45 minutes. If using a larger pan, decrease bake time.

Chocolate BrownieEnjoy!

My first time

Epipen photo

The first time, my first time, was unplanned, awkward and ended with a trip to the emergency room.  I realize most Epipen uses ARE unplanned, that’s the whole point of always having it with you, but I really didn’t see it coming and when it came to the moment, I didn’t feel ready and I didn’t think G would be so young when I had to use it.  It wasn’t how I imagined my first time to be.  I thought I would be calm and in control.  I knew what to do, I had seen the demo, I had tried the trainer, heck I OWN a trainer.  Should be straight forward when the time comes…

We were at a friend’s house for a play date, kids in the living room playing and mums in the kitchen sipping a much needed coffee.  My eldest son came in to the kitchen very concerned and said that G had spilled his ‘soy juice’.  Ummmm… G didn’t have any ‘soy juice’.  We raced into the living room and found G holding a sippy cup with milk in it.  Had he drunk any?  Apparently he had as his lips began to swell slightly and his nose began to run.  I was still so unsure.  I was looking at him and thinking ‘does he normally look like this? was he wheezing like this before? does he have a cold?’  Seems weird, but these thoughts were racing through my mind.  I had never actually used a real Epipen and I was so full of uncertainty.  I picked up G and held the Epipen.  I looked at my friend and said ‘I think I have to use this’.  She nodded ‘Ya me too’.  Having her confirmation was enough and I pushed the pen into G’s thigh.  He let out a huge scream, but immediately the medicine began to work. Now I was annoyed with myself for hesitating.  Why was I questioning whether or not to use it?  I vowed never to do THAT again.  When in doubt, use the Epipen!  Like I said, I had never done this before and I didn’t realize how long the needle is.  G was never a chubby baby and I wouldn’t be surprised if the point of the needle went all the way to his bone.  As I had been stabbing, my friend had called 911 and the hunky first responder firemen arrived very quickly.  A short trip via ambulance to the hospital for observation and all was back to normal by the end of the day.

G has no recollection of this day.  Good because being jabbed by your mother with a giant needle is probably not a pleasant childhood memory, but bad because the reality of his allergies is something he should not forget (especially as he enters the teenage invincibility stage!).  Me, I’ll never forget that day.  I’ve done it again since, but like with most things, I’ll never forget my first time.

Chocolate Cupcakes – dairy free, egg free

 

Chocolate Cupcake

I have been making these for years.  They are so fast and easy that they are great for last minute treats when an allergy friendly alternative is needed.  We always have a stash in the freezer, ready to grab one to take to a party or to dinner out or just whenever.   The ones in the freezer are un-iced and G’s favourite way of having them is to nuke the frozen cupcake, add a marshmallow and smother it in chocolate syrup.  Not exactly gourmet, but after all, he is thirteen.

This recipe goes by many names: wackycake, oil and vinegar cake, salad dressing cake (yuck), but is the only cake I’ve seen that actually gets eaten by kids at Birthday parties.  Normally the icing gets licked off Birthday cake and the cake left, but I have often served kids seconds of this one.  If you are baking a cake rather than cupcakes, use an 8×8 pan and increase time to 30-35 minutes (test with a tooth pick – it should come out clean unless you accidentally stab a chocolate chip).

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil (canola or similar)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl; I use a whisk.

Chocolate Cupcake dry ingredients

Combine all wet ingredients, I use a liquid measuring cup and fill water up to 1 cup level and add oil up to the 1 1/3 mark and then add the vanilla and vinegar to this.  Mix well.

Chocolate Cupcake wet ingredients

Add wet to dry and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips.

Pour into cupcake pan using paper cupcake cups.  Bake at 350F for 25 minutes.  Makes about 10 cupcakes.

Chocolate Cupcakes baked

Enjoy!

Chocolate cupcake iced

Avocado Chocolate Pudding

 

Avocado chocolate puddingWait!  Don’t turn away!  It’s delicious, honest.  My friend Jen gave me this recipe because it is egg and dairy free.  It is rich and chocolaty and very creamy.  Super simple to make and fits in with many alternative dietary needs.  It is vegan, wheat free, nut free, raw and you can get your serving of veggies in your dessert!  Worth a try for that last one alone.  Warning: It’s very sweet.

INGREDIENTS

2 avocados, pitted and peeled
1 cup soy milk (coconut milk or rice milk would work)
1/2 cup agave nectar (maple syrup, or honey would work)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt
Avocado

agave nectar

DIRECTIONS

Blend ingredients in a blender really well until smooth.  (My Vita-Mix did nicely)

Avocado chocolate pudding mixed

Enjoy!

Avocado chocolate pudding