Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Nervous Tummy

Right now Matt and Harper are at a local minor league baseball game. We used to go to games fairly often, but, as you can imagine, baseball parks are huge danger zones for people with peanut allergies. I even get nervous when Matt goes to the ball game because I worry about the peanut dust that might enter our cars or the house after he's been to a game. The only reason she went with him is that he had access to a suite through work. When they watch the game from a suite we can have pretty decent control over what food does or does not enter the room. Still, I will feel anxious the entire time they are gone. After I finish this post I will head to the kitchen to clean up dinner and do some laundry and write some thank you notes and whatever else I can do to stop myself from sitting by the phone holding my breath.

Before Michael went to bed I was distracted by trying to take a picture of the two of us:


This seems as good a time as any to let you know that next week, May 10-16, is the 12th annual Food Allergy Awareness Week.

I don't talk peanut allergies too often here, but I have discussed it some and I am occasionally surprised at the way that discussion has helped people who read what I have to say.

I received a couple of allergy questions back in November when I was looking for things to post about every day for a month. So my plan is to address some of those next week as well as any additional questions you might have for me. If there is anything you've wanted to ask about Harper's peanut allergy and how we deal with it, now is the time to speak up! If enough questions/comments arise, I may try to address a different aspect or set of questions each day.

Okay - I'm off to keep busy!

6 comments:

Jana said...

I have a peanut allergy question. How did you find out that she was allergic to peanuts? My older two kids don't have an allergy to them, but I gave my youngest (1 year old) a bit of peanut butter today and he got a rash around his mouth. He didn't have trouble breathing or get hives, just a rash around the mouth that I've never seen on him before.

Thanks,
Jana (long time reader, terrible commenter)

Swistle said...

Ooo, ooo, call on me! I'm interested in medications. My main question is about the Epipen. What does the Epipen DO, and how much of the reaction does that help with? And then does the ER have to give further medications?

Giselle said...

My question is about public venues...I went to the children's museum this week and I packed PB&J. As my sloppy kids were eating it, I wondered if it was a terrible transgression to bring peanut butter into a children's museum. Do you avoid places like that because of ignorant dummies like me? If so, I apologize. And if so, how do you deal with future field trips, play dates, etc? It makes me nervous just thinking about it...I can't imagine how you feel...

Anne said...

My question is... There are no nuts or nut products allowed on Kit and Jack's school grounds because there are a few kids there with known peanut allergies. I respect the rule and abide by it, no problem.

But my kids eat peanut butter nearly every morning for breakfast. We always wash their hands and faces afterwards, before we get them dressed for the day, but do they have residual on them and then can that hurt the kids with the allergies?

The Mom said...

#1.My son just turned 1 and I want to start PB&J for him but was wondering how I should go about introducing it to him. I never thought about it when I started my daughter 4 years ago. #2.Is a peanut allergy something to worry about when nursing a baby? If I ate it, could he react to it in breastmilk? Thanks... Love to read your blog!

jill lil mouse said...

yeah i wondered about introducing peanuts too. if i already have eaten peanut butter and also had it on my hands with the baby, like butterfingers, and umm other forbidden stuff that i havent eaten. and then touched her, is she in the clear>