For 3 years we have lived a peanut free life. From infancy, B had eczema all over his body which lead to an allergy referral. After testing positive for peanuts, we left that day with an Epipen in hand and clueless of the changes that were about to happen.
I came home and researched, joined online groups and chats that really helped. I never knew how scary it could be until that day. True he had never had any to have a reaction but there were so many types of reactions that were possible and one was anaphylaxis. So we were careful, very careful. G was taught to wash her hands and mouth after eating anything and as she was older learned to read labels with me. She would always ask when getting a snack, even when she was at her school away from B. We introduced our allergy action plan and signed in the Epipen for his childcare center and were on our way.
After a couple months a blood test was recommended as well. That was an nightmare itself because they didn't get enough blood the first 2 times and on the 3rd time, they had to stick 3 places in order to get it done. G had to go with us and she was so mad because they were hurting him. She even said that was all, to stop hurting him. Results came back negative. Awesome right? Nope. It was explained that both test could've given a false positive or false negative so I should try giving him (barely a year old) some peanut butter and have the Epipen in hand. Um right, I'm gong to give my baby, who cannot yet say I'm itching or I can't breathe, something that could make him stop breathing. I asked our regular pediatrician what she would do and she said if it were her child she would have retested at 3 which is what we did.
While waiting for him to turn 3 we watched him very closely at church functions, birthday parties, other houses, etc. I have almost all of the bakeries numbers in my phone to be safe. I would contact the hosts of the birthday parties prior to the party and always had safe food for him with me.
Was I overreacting? Maybe. Did it take time? Yes. Did others question me? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely, B's safety was more important than others making fun or questioning why I went through the trouble.
Yesterday was a very special day. Although it took me and his daddy to hold him and I had as many tears as he did, we had him retested. Peanuts were negative and the doctor said we could try giving him a Reese's cup and monitor him for 48 hours but he should be okay. And if he had no reactions, they gave me a note to remove his allergy action plan and Epipen from school.
I thoroughly enjoyed watching K give B his first Reese's cup. He grinned from ear to ear and said "mmmmmmm good mommy." I cried tears of joy.
The past 3 years have made me understand what it's like to have a food allergy child. It's not fun because others, even adults and family members just dismiss it as if it's no big deal. But it absolutely is a big deal when it is life or death for some children.
No comments:
Post a Comment