We went to our first Christmas party tonight. We were one of the first ones there and Elizabeth stood in front of a big bowl of candy staring at it. Next to it was a bowl of mixed nuts. I told her it was ok , and that we could get some candy before other people arrived and it probably would be safe. She still would not eat any out of fear of a reaction. We are so thankful she is this cautious.
Her allergy, as many nut allergies, is such that if someone grabbed a handful of nuts and then touched the candy and she ate some candy they touched she could have a reaction. We never know what the reaction will be; we just know it will be worse than the last. It could be a life threatening reaction.
Just last week a friend of hers with an allergy got in his car at home and his mom drove him to school. By the time they arived at school his eyes were swollen shut. They do not know why, but they think another child ate a peanut product, got in their car, had nut residue on his hands and touched something in the car. Elizabeth's friend then touched the residue and rubed his eyes and volia-allergic reaction. So glad he did not put his hands in his mouth.
The most difficult thing for us has been the fact she acquired this allergy as an older child. This is very rare and absolutely sucks. Most of her allergy friends do not like the forbidden foods and do not know what they are missing. Elizabeth has had five years of eating cake at birthday parties, going our for ice cream, eating out at any restaurant, and not thinking twice about what she eats. This is our first Christmas with this and we try to stuff her before we go to parties hoping she will not notice the table and plates of goodies that she could eat this time last year. We cannot get ice cream at an ice cream store because if they scoop the pistachio or almond type ice cream then scoop the vanilla she is in trouble. Anything from a bakery is out because they use nuts on the same equipment they make cookies, cakes, etc. We are becoming pros at calling restaurants and grilling them on their station set up and nut usage. It is unbelieveable how many things are processed in facilities that also process nuts. Grocery shopping takes close to two hours because of reading labels, and we have to read them every time because plants and processing can change. We are adjusting. The hardest part is watching our five year old adjust.
We are very thankful as well. We have wonderful friends and doctors who are helping us navigate this world. We are thankful for modern medicine and that we know about her allergy. We are thankful that we were home on a Saturday afternoon when she had her reaction and the hospital was empty when we arrived. We were not in Korea, we were not at a restaurant and we had nothing planned. We are hopeful research will shed more light on the bizare food allergies kiddos have these days and maybe they will become more managable.
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