Monday, December 21, 2009

Sometimes you feel like a nut, SOMETIMES YOU DON'T

To shake things up this holiday, we discovered quite by accident that our little one is highly allergic to nuts.

You can imagine how much fun we had in the ER with him and what a huge scare that was.

Come to find out that nuts are pretty much everywhere. So now what? Learning about how to find food that doesn't contain nuts, nut products, or food produced on equipment also used to process nuts.

Good times. Never a dull moment.

Ah, but so much to be thankful for this holiday season.

Having some time off work with my family is my #1 thing to be thankful this year, but having the kind of friends that will meet you in the emergency room, rescue your 4 yr old from having to hang out with the crazy folks in there so both you and your husband can stay there with the sick baby, and having those same friends bring you dinner later makes me realize how good we have it.

In other news, my friend Sharon gave me this totally insane and beautiful yarn ball for Christmas. I'm feeling a scarf coming on in the new year.

8 comments:

Vicki W said...

I am so sorry to hear about your son. But you will find some great resources on the web for support. I have multiple food allergies (wheat, dairy, eggs, onions, etc) and there are some wonderful blogs where people share lots of recipes for food allergic people.

Some of my favorites is http://allergicgirl.blogspot.com/
Check her right side sidebar for tons of links.

ray said...

oh no! we've been paranoid about the possible food allergens so far and are still avoiding nuts and shellfish. people think we're crazy and the chances he's allergic are pretty small, but the affects if he is allergic are bad enough to make us be careful. from what i've seen there are lots of products out there that are free from nuts, nut products and nut by-products, you just have to be more careful. good luck, hope the little one is feeling better and happy holidays to the both of you.

Miriam said...

We found you have to be really careful about reading labels with children with allergies. Luckily these days labelling is much better than it used to be.

Good luck with your son. I hope you don't have any more rushed trips to the ER with him.

Freeblady said...

We found out when my daughter was about 6 months old that she had food allergies, nuts being one them. There are many great resources out there, Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) is one of my favorites. Nuts are very sneaky. It is a difficult thing to adjust to. My daughter is now 4 and I still struggle with not being able to have nuts during the holidays, but her life is more precious to me than any old silly nut.

Good luck!

B Mills said...

In London we have a desensitization programme for nut allergy sufferers that was pioneered at "The Whittington Hospital " it has been sucessful in eliminatinig severe reations - its nothing too invasive.Good luck & Merry Christmas.

antique quilter said...

a lot of people/children are allergic to nuts
here in our school district no nut products are allowed to be sold or students bringing any lunch to school with nuts...
my kids ate PB sandwiches every day for lunch well once this was implemented we had to get creative with the lunches and both my girls were compassionate to the kids with these allergies as the years have gone by there are many more kids with these allergies right here in our district.
my oldest worked in a day care this past summer and they also had this rule.
good luck
Kathie

The Calico Cat said...

In theory, you will all bea eating more healthily now (fresh from scratch) - so many processed foods have a nut disclaimer.

Sorry to hear about the scare.

We figure that when our son turns 2 that we will give him a PB sandwich while sitting in the ER parking lot...

Unknown said...

Whoa, peanut allergies??? NOooooooooooooo! So sorry to hear that. I'm suprised it hadn't come up before now at the rate that little one eats. Best of luck in managing this alergy, it looks like your firends have a lot of good resources to point you to though. Hang in there - what a rocky end of 2009. Phew - bring on the new year :)