Why use play pots and pans when you can use the real thing? Also, how ironic is it that Nathan's play food includes pizza and a donut, neither of which he can actually eat?
We were in the grocery store the other day and Nathan pointed to the cookies on the shelf and said, "I no eat this, I allergic". It made me super sad for him. He is getting to the age where he is understanding more and with it comes the reality of his food limitations. He sees that friend of his munching on goldfish, and he cant have them, and he knows that its not fair but he doesn't understand why. Food allergies are so hard. And they are only getting harder for us, not easier. And I sometimes just want to cry along with Nathan while he throws his tantrum because, no, he cannot have the cupcake his brother is eating.
I fully admit that perhaps I'm being a bit melodramatic about the whole thing. First off, the kid isn't going to suffer from not having goldfish, cookies, cake, pretzels, chips, in fact he is going to be that much healthier for it. Also, I know there are children who don't know where their next meal is coming from, and I should be grateful for our life that affords us putting food on the table for our children. And I am, very, very grateful. But, it doesn't make things any less hard.
Living with food allergies means so much more to our family than just avoid certain foods. Its living in fear of going places that have nuts. I have been wanting to join a gym recently but cannot find a gym in our area that doesn't allow children to bring food in. Let alone a place where the staff at the gym daycare is epi pen trained. There is not precious minutes for them to find me in the gym and for me to administer Benedryl or an epi pen if Nathan were having an allergic reaction. It also means difficulty and worry over finding a sitter for Nathan. Its beyond stressful for someone else to be left in charge of a child with allergies. Handing over a double set of needles that they might need to jab into your child's leg in an emergency isnt quite the babysitting most people have in mind. Food allergies also means not being able to eat out at restaurants at all with Nathan. Its saying "no", lots and lots of times to Nathan when he sees other kids with foods (and if you don't already know it - 2 year olds don't like being told "no") . Nathan can almost never eat the same foods that the boys or we eat for dinner. Which means lots and lots of extra cooking, baking, food preparation. Every single meal I make is made in twos, one for our family, and one for Nathan. Having food allergies means never, ever leaving the house without Benedryl and an epi pen. Ever. Did you know that epi pens cant be left in the car overnight because of heat and cold extremes making the medicine go bad? I cant tell you how many times Ive had to run out to the car before bed to grab the bag with them in it.
Beyond food, Nathan's allergies affect the medicines he takes too. Take this past week for example. Nathan had croup and was running a pretty high fever. No ibuprofen for him, because he is allergic, and even Tylenol we have to be so careful because most contain corn syrup. We accidentally gave him the Tylenol with corn syrup in it, which lead to more problems than just the croup. He was prescribed a steroid for the croup which when I picked it up I discovered contained corn syrup as well. We had to have the steroid compounded at a pharmacy a couple towns over, and it was a long wait and insurance didnt cover the compounding. The medicine wound up costing us nearly 10 times as much as it would have if we could just get it with the corn syrup in it.
Also beyond food are the other allergies. Every one we know owns a dog. Nathan is allergic to dogs. It causes such stress for me. And Spring is now upon us and that means suntan lotion and bug sprays. Both Nathan has had problems with in the past.
Nathan is constantly sick. His nose never stops running. Its messy, he wipes it everywhere, disgusting to look at, and annoying for him to deal with, he has been sniffing constantly lately. This is completely allergy related, so we have been told. And because its food allergies and not environmental allergens, we have found that the Claratin and other antihistamines do not work. Im optimistic for some additional allergy testing we have planned for Nathan in the late Spring. We want to do full panels of all the foods they have. We then want to sit down with the allergist and discuss what our plan for the future is going to be. Fingers crossed we get to the bottom of all this...
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