Running in circles

I was chatting with the hubby this morning about how much there is to do between now and the end of the year. Then we talked about how busy June will be. July and August shouldn't be too bad. Then we talked about how school will start again and then we have this and this and that and this and all of a sudden it is next summer! How does this happen? I don't even consider us busy people. Does it ever slow down?

Well, we tried

My little one had to be off of her twice daily allergy medication for three days to have the skin test. The day of the skin test she had benadryl because of the reaction. Since she was off of the medicine we tried an experiment. We kept her off of it to see how she does. She's been doing shots for 3 1/2 years so we thought that we could take her off of the medicine. That worked great until last night. She sounded slightly congested and she started to cough. She got up this morning and still sounded slightly congested and was still coughing a little. I could hear it in her chest. Back on the medicine! The slightest cough from that child sends us in a tailspin of worry, fear, and bad memories. During her first anaphylactic reaction she coughed. A horrible sounding cough. As a toddler she was constantly on breathing treatments. Every cold and environmental allergy attack ended up in her chest. I must sound like an over protective crazy person but I also know what a cough for her means. She has gone 4 years without a breathing treatment and we are not going back to that. So, a little allergy medicine will be used. Maybe we can try going without the medicine another time, just not now.

Speechless.........again

I am speechless. Another senseless death of a child that could have been avoided. I can not begin to imagine the pain that this family is in.
I'm going to ask a favor today. Do something to raise awareness about food allergies today. 1 out of every 13 kids has a food allergy, to me, that is an epidemic. Tell your friends, your family, your school about food allergies. Raise awareness. Food allergy awareness week is coming on May 12. Do something at your school, your work, your neighborhood. We need to educate everyone about this condition before another life is lost. Food must be checked, epi must be carried.
Please throw any questions my way.
Thanks.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56217364-78/allergy-tanner-henstra-allergies.html.csp

Trying apple pie

I went to the grocery store yesterday and picked out a frozen apple pie. I was not even going to try and make one from scratch to find out that the kids don't even like it. I popped that pie in oven and we tried it last night. It smelled amazing. We served it up, they tried it, said they liked it, and then they barely ate it. I think they were just humoring me.

Picky kids.......

It was good. I think it tasted even better to me because I haven't had it in years.

Looking for apples

So, I hit the grocery store today. As you know, it is not my favorite thing to do. Anyway, I went looking for products with cooked apples so that my daughter could try them. I found apple pie, that is in the oven right now. I had it in my mind that I would make apple muffins too. Well, the mix is not safe for tree nut allergies. I literally almost threw the box across the aisle. Grrr.....
Does anyone know of an apple muffin mix that is safe for tree nut allergies? Do you have any recipes with cooked apples in it that you would like to share?
Thanks!

Image courtesy of-freedigitalphotos.net Keerati

Returning to our normal

Trust me when I say I am thrilled that we can add apples back into her diet. It is great news. However, I am struggling today. I was told by moms that know that an unpassed skin test would lead to this. They were right. It starts the grieving process all over again. I don't think it's strange to use the word grieve in this case. No, it is not a death. But, life threatening food allergies do change the course of our lives. It changes the course of the life we had planned but if there is one thing that I have learned, it's that we can plan all we want but life will continually throw us curveballs. I was under no delusion that the tree nut allergy was gone but it was nice to day dream. To not have to worry when she's not with me, to be spontaneous, to not have to bring food to every event, to not have to worry....about everything. Well, that would have been nice. And, four years later, we do have a handle on her allergies. It just would have been really nice......
Maybe next year.

Since I am a wanna be writer and not a real writer, I will share the following with you. It's one of my favorites.


c1987 by Emily Perl Kingsley. All rights reserved
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......
When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."
But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.
It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Skin test results

Well, today was the day. We woke up and had a nice breakfast, sent her older sister off to school and we headed to the Dr. We chatted about her medical history etc. Then it was time for her to get poked. They wrote on her skin (that cracked her up). They tested her for apple, applesauce, walnut, birch pollen, the control and the histamine. She said it hurt but she barely flinched and no tears. Much easier than the blood test. They test for birch because that cross pollinates with apples. We waited the 15 minutes and saw hives at the control, the histamine, and the walnut. We were right. Still no eating of tree nuts here. The control is not supposed to react so she has been diagnosed with dermatographism. That's very sensitive skin. To confirm the diagnosis the Dr. ran a wood stick (the medical kind not one from outside) along her arm and she turned red from that. Unreal........
She did not react to the apple, applesauce, or the birch. The Dr. said that we could food challenge the apple and sauce today. Little one did not want to eat the apple today so we will push that off to summer. She did eat applesauce today and she passed. She's a very happy camper.
She has had a nice dose of benadryl. Her arms look so much better already. She's now relaxing on the couch watching Brave.
She picked where we will eat out tonight, Moe's. Yummy! Strangely enough it's right next door to Sweet Frog. I see frozen yogurt in our future.

Have a good weekend

Not much for me to say. I am pleased that this week went by fast. I'm counting the minutes until Monday. I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend. My thoughts continue to be with Boston. I had to walk away from the tv, I can't imagine the stress that everyone up there is feeling. Also thinking of everyone in Texas too. Been a rough week.......

Test results

Well, two weeks to the day we got the test results. It's taken me a few days to get my head straight. So, here we go. The results are good. Her numbers are low enough that the Dr. wants to skin test. That is the next step in the process. If she breaks out in hives from the test then we are done and we carry on as we have been for the past four years. If she does not break out then we will schedule food challenges. This means going back into the office for every tree nut and apples too. She will eat increasing amounts. The amounts increasing about every 20 minutes or so unless there is a reaction, in that case the food challenge is over. I can't let myself look too far ahead. I need to just keep my eye on Monday. One test at a time. I can't let myself think ahead to watching her eat walnuts. They almost killed her four years ago. How do I let her eat them? What if all her allergies are gone? We go back to a normal life. What is a normal life? I don't even remember what it's like.
Oops...just got ahead of myself.
Lets get through Monday first. Fingers crossed.

I am not a runner....my thoughts on Boston

Boston. A city, in a series of cities, stuck now in our minds forever. Another city marred by extreme violence. Another national tragedy that I have to explain to my children.
I am not a runner. Never have been never will be. It is just not my thing. I am in awe however by anyone that runs for any distance. 26.2 miles? That's amazing in my book. I am sure that this horrible event has rocked the running community to its core. I do hope that those of you that are runners continue to run. Don't let it stop you from training and meeting your goals. Don't let whomever did this win. We will win, good will win, love will win, peace will win. One day.

fundraising

Do you have any experience in fundraising? My background is teaching. I taught pre-school and kindergarten age children before I decided to stay home. After my little one was diagnosed with life threatening food allergies I felt as if I couldn't sit home and do nothing about it. I was motivated to get involved. I feel like I have to do something to raise awareness. Also, a cure will not be found without researchers and those researchers need money. So, I because involved with FARE. Food allergy research and education. Formerly FAAN, the food allergy and anaphylaxis network. Anyway, we hold a walk every year and the money raised goes to research.
Fundraising isn't easy and it makes me uncomfortable to ask people/companies for money. Here is a link for the types of fundraisers that can be done with FARE. Do you have any other ideas? Have you been to a charity event that you thought was great? Share the details.
http://www.foodallergy.org/fundraising-events

Great video

Here is a wonderful video for your Sunday viewing. It's all about super nanny Jo Frost, her food allergies and the Food allergy research and education walk program.
Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPaleIQONPU

Too many ideas

I did not have a planned post today not because I didn't have any ideas but because I have too many ideas. I have so many ideas on what I want to do with the blog, more books to write, etc. etc. I am a very organized person but I'm having a hard time keeping track of all my thoughts. I have been reading a book about blogging called Blog Inc. which is very interesting and it is sparking lots of ideas.
http://www.amazon.com/Blog-Inc-Blogging-Passion-Community/dp/1452107203/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1365781525&sr=1-1&keywords=blog+inc

Does your brain ever get over run with ideas? What do you do about it, how do you organize everything?

I have found that Pinterest is full of great ideas! I can spend hours at that site.

Do you have a home office, is that where you blog from if you blog? How do you keep it all organized?

I hope everyone has a great weekend. It is going to be beautiful here. My oldest will be camping this weekend and my youngest has her first golf lesson, they are both super excited!

The waiting......food allergy testing

The waiting is the hardest part......
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMyCa35_mOg

Enjoy the music!

I would love to know why blood test results take so long. Why does it have to take two weeks. I am very impatient about stuff like this. I have been staying very busy but my mind wanders often. What if her levels are worse? Well, that means that nothing changes. We carry on as we have been for the last four years. What if her numbers went down? That would lead us to the skin test. The scratch test. That won't be fun for her but I don't think it will be as bad as the blood draw. Once they do the test we will have to wait for about twenty minutes to see if she reacts. Hives, redness, welts etc. If she does react, then we are done and we carry on as we have been. If she doesn't react...if she doesn't react....I'm afraid I will faint, cry, do an embarrassing happy dance in the allergists office. That will lead us to many food challenges, "the gold standard" as they are known in the allergy world. We did a coconut food challenge a few years ago just to make sure that she could have it. It took forever. I was so stressed and this was a test to a food that I knew she was not allergic to. They checked her vital signs and skin first. Circling some eczema spots on her skin in pen (she thought that was awesome). Then she ate a tiny amount of coconut and we waited. The Dr. came back, checked her vitals, and then gave her some more. This went on for a few hours. I can't even begin to imagine how many food challenges that she will have to endure for tree nuts. OK, I just looked through her past test results and there are ten nuts that she would have to food challenge for. 10! I also can't imagine letting her eat nuts. How can I watch her eat walnuts when that is what almost took her from us?
I am so getting ahead of myself. I hope I haven't set myself up for major disappointment.

In today's news.....

I have a mish mash of a post today for you-

Rejection number two came yesterday. While waiting in the car pool line I checked email. There it was a lovely form letter, no book published yet.

The NC epi law has four senators that have signed on.....
http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2013&BillID=sb+700&submitButton=Go

If you have not written your Senators, please do so. If you have written your Senators, please write the other ones, share this with friends and family. We need your help to get this passed!
Thank you!
Here is all of the information-
Senate Bill 700 (Non-Specific Epinephrine in Schools) was referred to the Health Care Committee today and the Committee needs to approve it, so the whole Senate can vote on it. Please find the members that represent you and email them AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. FORWARD THIS, FACEBOOK THIS, SHARE WITH ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILY! If you can't find your county listed, just email the three chairmen of the committee, Sen. Hise, Sen. Pate, Sen. Tarte. A sample email is at the bottom of the page. Thank you all so much for your help getting this very important legislation made into law, PAK Coordinators!

Co Chairman: Sen. Ralph Hise (Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Yancey) ralph.hise@ncleg.net
Co Chairman: Sen. Louis Pate (Lenoir, Pitt, Wayne) louis.pate@ncleg.net
Vice Chairman: Sen. Jeff Tarte (Mecklenburg) jeff.tarte@ncleg.net

Members:
Sen. Austin M. Allran(Alexander, Catawba) austin.allran@ncleg.net
Sen. Chad Barefoot (Franklin, Wake) chad.barefoot@ncleg.net
Sen. Stan Bingham( Davidson, Montgomery), Stan.Bingham@ncleg.net
Sen. David L. Curtis (Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln) David.Curtis@ncleg.net
Sen. Don Davis,( Greene, Lenoir, Pitt, Wayne) Don.Davis@ncleg.net 
Sen. Jim Davis, (Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain ) Jim.Davis@ncleg.net
Sen. Fletcher L. Hartsell, Jr., (Cabarrus, Union) Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net 
Sen. Neal Hunt,( Wake) Neal.Hunt@ncleg.net 
Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird, (Chatham, Orange ) Eleanor.Kinnaird@ncleg.net
Sen. Floyd B. McKissick, Jr., (Durham, Granville) Floyd.Mckissick@ncleg.net
Sen. Earline W. Parmon, (Forsyth) Earline.Parmon@ncleg.net 
Sen. Ronald J. Rabin, (Harnett, Johnston, Lee ) Ronald.Rabin@ncleg.net
Sen. Shirley B. Randleman, (Stokes, Surry, Wilkes) Shirley.Randleman@ncleg.net 
Sen. Gladys A. Robinson, (Guilford) Glads.Robinson@ncleg.net
Sen. Bob Rucho, (Mecklenburg) Bob.Rucho@ncleg.net
Sen. Josh Stein, (Wake) Josh.Stein@ncleg.net
Sen. Tommy Tucker, (Union) Tommy.Tucker@ncleg.net
Sen. Trudy Wade,(Guilford) Trudy.Wade@ncleg.net 
Sen. Mike Woodard, (Caswell, Durham, Person) Mike.Woodard@ncleg.net

Dear Senator:

I am a resident of ________ County. As my representative, I am urging you to fully support and help sponsor Senate Bill 700. My child/My grandchild/My dear friend's child has severe food allergies/bee allergies and this could save his/her life at NO COST to the state. 13 states have already passed similar legislation. 

You may recall, an elementary school girl 100 miles from Raleigh, died from anaphylactic shock at her public school. Her school did not have an Epi Pen and deadly reactions happen so quickly, paramedics didn't get there in time. The death was completely preventable! 

Please help the children of our community. If you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance, please contact me. 

Sincerely,

XXXX YYYYY





Last topic for today-We went to a new restaurant! Well, it is new to us. Buffalo Wild wings. They have an allergen menu online and the manager and wait staff were very helpful. We had a great time and the food was good too!
Here's the information on the allergen menu in case you need it.
http://www.buffalowildwings.com/Global/bww_allergen_list.pdf


I hope everyone has a great day! The weather is amazing, it went from winter to summer again. Will we ever get a spring?

Food allergies, shots, and eczema

3 1/2 years ago we made the decision to start our daughter on allergy shots. It was pretty evident from birth that she had serious environmental allergies. She was born with a small patch of eczema (also a possible pre cursor of food allergies). By the time she was a toddler she had more signs of environmental allergies. Her nose was constantly running. Her eyes were always watery and she had those dark allergy circles under her eyes. We put off shots for as long as we could. We could not watch her suffer any more and the antihistamines that she was on were not doing enough on their own. So, we started allergy shots. Her first day of shots broke my heart. Oh did she cry. I surprised her when we got home with a shot treasure box. I told her that every time she got a shot that she could come home and pick a prize. This seemed to make the day a little better for her. At first she had to get shots in both arms twice a week for 6 weeks. Then it was once a week and now we are at once a month. She only cried that very first day and that first day was the first and last time she used that treasure box. She never asked for a treasure after the first one so I did not push it. She really is a tough kid. When we started shots the Dr. said that the shots may help with the eczema. Her eczema was horrible at the time. It could be found on her wrists, elbows, the backs of her knees, the front of her knees, I never knew where it would turn up. Sometimes, I felt like it was consuming her. Well, knock wood, her eczema has been nearly 100% gone since she started shots. It is truly miraculous.

News in the world of allergies

Spring break is over for us, the kids went back to school today. I am grateful for a little bit of quiet time,  but I am now back to the "please don't let the phone ring during school hours" mode. Hate that. It was so relaxing while they were home, we did nothing and it was great.

This week is World allergy week. Here is more information in case you are interested.
http://www.worldallergy.org/worldallergyweek/

In other news. Another sweet child was lost this week to food allergies. This one has hit too close to home. The child was in the area that I grew up in and he passed in the hospital where my oldest was born. Something has to be done. We have to raise more awareness, we have to educate those in the allergic and nonallergic community on how to take care of those that have life threatening food allergies, we have to find the cause and the cure. This has to end.
http://projects.registerguard.com/apf/health/nj-boy-allergy-death/

The non allergic sibling

I have two daughters. My oldest has no allergies. None. It is remarkable to me that she has no allergies. Trust me, I am grateful, just surprised since her sister seems to be allergic to the world.
She is an amazing kid. Yes, of course I think that, I am her mom. She is generous, kind, and good. She cares about others before herself, including her sister (when they are not fighting).  They have a big age gap between them (4 years). They were in elementary school together for a few years but now, because of the age difference, they will never be in the same school at the same time again. While they were in the same school my oldest said to me "If something ever happens to her, I want to be there. You have to get me from my classroom."
She does care!
I often wonder how all of the stress and so on affects her. She seems to take it in stride. We do our best to get her out here and there for a forbidden treat when her sister is not around. That's the important stuff for an 11 year old.

The kids go back to school on Monday after a week off for spring break. It has been a great week of doing nothing but being together. I dread getting up on Monday morning......

Passing a bill

We are so close to getting this passed. Please help by writing your Senators and sharing this with everyone that you know that lives in North Carolina. 25% of all first time reactions happen in school. This bill will save lives.

Senate Bill 700 (Non-Specific Epinephrine in Schools) was referred to the Health Care Committee today and the Committee needs to approve it, so the whole Senate can vote on it.  Please find the members that represent you and email them AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. FORWARD THIS, FACEBOOK THIS, SHARE WITH ALL FRIENDS AND FAMILY!  If you can't find your county listed, just email the three chairmen of the committee, Sen. Hise, Sen. Pate, Sen. Tarte.  A sample email is at the bottom of the page. Thank you all so much for your help getting this very important legislation made into law, PAK Coordinators

Co Chairman:  Sen. Ralph Hise ( Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Yancey) ralph.hise@ncleg.net
Co Chairman:  Sen. Louis Pate (Lenoir, Pitt, Wayne) louis.pate@ncleg.net
Vice Chairman:  Sen. Jeff Tarte (Mecklenburg)   jeff.tarte@ncleg.net

Members:
Sen. Austin M. Allran(Alexander, Catawba) austin.allran@ncleg.net
Sen. Chad Barefoot (Franklin, Wake) chad.barefoot@ncleg.net
Sen. Stan Bingham( Davidson, Montgomery),  Stan.Bingham@ncleg.net
Sen. David L. Curtis (Gaston, Iredell, Lincoln) David.Curtis@ncleg.netSen. Don Davis,( Greene, Lenoir, Pitt, Wayne) Don.Davis@ncleg.net Sen. Jim Davis, (Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain ) Jim.Davis@ncleg.net
Sen. Fletcher L. Hartsell, Jr., (Cabarrus, Union) Fletcher.Hartsell@ncleg.net 
Sen. Neal Hunt,( Wake) Neal.Hunt@ncleg.net 
Sen. Eleanor Kinnaird, (Chatham, Orange ) Eleanor.Kinnaird@ncleg.net
Sen. Floyd B. McKissick, Jr., (Durham, Granville) Floyd.Mckissick@ncleg.net
Sen. Earline W. Parmon, (Forsyth) Earline.Parmon@ncleg.net 
Sen. Ronald J. Rabin, (Harnett, Johnston, Lee ) Ronald.Rabin@ncleg.net
Sen. Shirley B. Randleman, (Stokes, Surry, Wilkes) Shirley.Randleman@ncleg.net 
Sen. Gladys A. Robinson, (Guilford) Glads.Robinson@ncleg.net
Sen. Bob Rucho, (Mecklenburg) Bob.Rucho@ncleg.net
Sen. Josh Stein, (Wake) Josh.Stein@ncleg.net
Sen. Tommy Tucker,  (Union) Tommy.Tucker@ncleg.netSen. Trudy Wade,(Guilford) Trudy.Wade@ncleg.net Sen. Mike Woodard, (Caswell, Durham, Person) Mike.Woodard@ncleg.net

Dear Senator:

I am a resident of ________  County.  As my representative, I am urging you to fully support and help sponsor Senate Bill 700.  My child/My grandchild/My dear friend's child has severe food allergies/bee allergies and this could save his/her life at NO COST to the state.  13 states have already passed similar legislation. 

You may recall, an elementary school girl 100 miles from Raleigh, died from anaphylactic shock at her public school.  Her school did not have an Epi Pen and deadly reactions happen so quickly, paramedics didn't get there in time.  The death was completely preventable! 

Please help the children of our community.  If you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance, please contact me. 

Sincerely,

XXXX YYYYY