Thank you Governor!

A huge thank you to the Governor for issuing a proclamation that recognizes food allergy awareness week! It starts next week!

http://www.governor.state.nc.us/newsroom/proclamation/20130512/food-allergy-awareness-week

Share the good news and help raise awareness!

A horrible coverup

This story makes me sick. I was a teacher, I have friends and family that are teachers. These two are not teachers. True teachers wouldn't do this.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130507/NEWS/705079937/1685#peanut-butter-cover-up-costs-teachers-their-jobs

Apple muffins, shirts, and rashes, oh my!

I found a safe (nut free) brand of apple muffins. I made them and held my breath when they tried them because we all know how well the apple pie went over. Success! The muffins were a hit!

All of the children get a shirt to wear this Friday at field day. Usually I have her wear it over a shirt because they don't get washed first but it might be warm so I brought it home to wash it. She can't wear new clothes that have not been washed first. We learned this the hard way as we do most things around here. Two days before her first anaphylactic reaction she had a reaction to a pair of pants. It was the one and only time I let her wear something before it was washed. She broke out in a horrible rash right where the inside of the pockets touched her thighs. It started out small and got worse and worse. It took a while for it to go away and then she went anaphylactic on us from the walnuts two days later.

I will always wonder why the pants made her break out so severely. What was on those pants? Or, now that we know that she has dermatographism, was it that? Has anyone else ever broken out from an article of clothing?

Craziness

I have nothing to report from the food allergy world. I will however say that this time of year is crazy! I actually think it's worse than Hanukkah/Christmas time. So busy. Running around like crazy trying to get a million things done. Is school over yet? June 10th can't get here fast enough.
In other news, there is this bright yellow thing in the sky. I believe it is called the sun! I haven't seen it in so long I have forgotten what it is. Of course, I'm so busy trying to get stuff done that I can't get out and enjoy it......

TGIF

Hello Friday! It is nice to see you!
I don't know how the weather has been where you are but it has been awful here. Cold, cloudy and rainy on and off and it's not going to end anytime soon according to the weather man. I need some sun!
Anyway, all this lousy weather makes me lazy. When I'm lazy I sit around and think. All this thinking let me to the great idea that I should start another blog. What? Yes, another blog. About something that I love, Montessori education. Am I crazy ?

Dermatographism

At our last appointment we received a new diagnosis of dermatographism. Say what? It is a big fancy word for really sensitive skin. She has probably always had it but now it has been given a name. There is nothing that we can do about it unfortunately. I have looked it up on the internet. Does anyone else do that? Do you look up conditions on the internet? Dangerous, isn't it? I looked around for a minute and then closed it down because I was freaking myself out. I have got to stop doing that! Anyway, some people break out into hives for no reason. Others, like my daughter, have the "skin writing" aspect of dermatographism. The doctor could literally write on her with a stick and the area turned red and raised.
Who knew this existed? Not me that's for sure.

Classification and labels

How do food allergies get classified? Do they even need to be classified? Should they be classified as an illness? She isn't sick in the traditional definition. Under law life threatening food allergies are a disability. But is she disabled? No. She can do whatever everyone else can do (besides eating certain foods). Should food allergies be classified as a disease? That doesn't sit well with me either.
It's strange not being able to put a label on your child's condition. Maybe that's it. Maybe the word condition covers it.