{"id":30147,"date":"2012-09-02T09:54:21","date_gmt":"2012-09-02T13:54:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30147"},"modified":"2015-12-29T06:43:19","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T11:43:19","slug":"back-to-school-with-a-nut-allergy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=30147","title":{"rendered":"Enormous Changes: Back to School with a Nut Allergy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fifteen days ago my sons ate cookies on the way home from their grandmother\u2019s apartment.\u00a0 My 3-year-old son, Adam, arrived at the door spitting, begging for a drink, and repeatedly saying the cookie was salty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid the cookies taste bad?\u201d I asked my older sons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cNo,\u201d they both said.\u00a0 \u201cThey were really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few minutes later Adam was pale and drowsy.\u00a0 Then he vomited and vomited.\u00a0\u00a0 I had never seen a child become so violently ill so quickly.\u00a0 There were no warning signs.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have a fever. \u201cI\u2019m scared he\u2019s been poisoned,\u201d I said to Mike.\u00a0 \u201cI think he needs to see a doctor right now.\u201d But before doing anything else, I called Poison Control. Poison Control told me nothing, except to go to urgent care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I hurried into a cab with Adam.\u00a0 He could not stay awake during the ride.\u00a0 I carried him into the clinic, cradled, like a newborn.\u00a0 In the clinic the doctor told me there is no such thing as a poisoned cookie, and that I should stop having delusional fantasies.\u00a0 I held my ground.\u00a0 \u201cAdam was not sick before the cookie,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I know it\u2019s not a virus.\u00a0 I just know this is connected to the cookie.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat kind of cookie was it?\u201d the doctor asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told it was a butter cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cButter cookies can spoil if left out of the refrigerator,\u201d the doctor explained.\u00a0 He was irritated and patronizing.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cThis is something else.\u00a0 I really think Adam ate some kind of poison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>After examining Adam, the doctor changed his tone and admitted him to the treatment room. \u00a0We walked in and Adam vomited again.\u00a0 He got an IV, cried, and then fell asleep.\u00a0 But every few minutes he woke up to cough.\u00a0 He coughed until he gagged. Then, behind his ears, on his neck, and scalp, Adam turned bright red.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter red spots appeared on his arms and legs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around the same time I received the news that my mother-in-law had tracked down the cookie baker and learned the cookies contained four ingredients: butter, flour, sugar, and pistachios (and not sleeping pills, rat poison, or bleach). But\u2026 pistachios.\u00a0 I had heard of a pistachio allergy.\u00a0 I called the doctor over to Adam\u2019s bed and asked if Adam could be having an allergic reaction to pistachios.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

After being treated with steroids and antihistamine, Adam improved.\u00a0 He stopped coughing.\u00a0 The red went away.\u00a0 By evening we were home.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This week we spent two long afternoons at the allergist\u2019s office.\u00a0 We have confirmed that Adam is highly allergic to pistachios and cashews.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s dangerous,\u201d the allergist said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

No fucking kidding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I slept very little this last week. I\u2019ve been reading a lot about having a child with a nut allergy.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been crying here and there.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been angry – nothing particularly cathartic about voicing anger at a pistachio, yet I do it anyway. \u00a0I wished for a nut-free earth until I thought of the mother squirrels who need to feed their babies. \u00a0Then I took back my wish. \u00a0I felt the emotions of a D-parent a few times when people told me to just \u201cmake sure he\u2019s not exposed to nuts and he\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\u00a0 Like, \u201cjust manage your kid\u2019s blood sugar and he\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s really easy, right?\u00a0 Am I going to be next to my son every second?\u00a0 What if another 3-year-old kid at a birthday party hands Adam a cookie just as I\u2019ve looked away to get my phone out of my bag?\u00a0 And what if I forgot the Epipen?\u00a0 What if a million other things? \u00a0<\/p>\n

I’ve been writing this blog post in my head for days, but I haven’t wanted to write it. \u00a0I still don’t and I’m having a hard time doing more than just getting down some facts. \u00a0I feel flat, dry, trampled. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The first day of nursery school was this morning.\u00a0 I sent Adam and along with his diapers and change of clothes, I packed the Epipen. \u00a0 It made me sad. \u00a0But the picture below makes me happy, and I’m working on a plan. \u00a0I want to train Adam’s feline guardians to become nut-sniffers, though I’m not sure how they’ll feel about going to nursery school every day. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":30151,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1501],"tags":[1565],"yoast_head":"\nEnormous Changes: Back to School with a Nut Allergy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I\u2019ve been reading a lot about having a child with a nut allergy. 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