After spending a pleasant morning with Lizzy at playgroup, I come home and notice that I have a message on my answering machine.
"We have Isaac in our health room. We believe he is having a reaction to peanuts. We have called 911..."
Have you ever seen a mother in panic mode? Well that was me. (And Ben tells me that he drove to the school in record time, so I don't think I was the only one!)
When I arrived, Ben was already there and Isaac was doing well. He was quite happy because three firemen had been to see HIM but was still feeling a bit uncomfortable.
We now have an epi-pen which we are to carry with us at all time, and an anxious son.
Today, I asked Isaac if he wanted to have something from the bakery. He didn't. He wanted to go home and eat something at home. My jaw drops. My kids never refuse a treat from the bakery.
"Isaac - are you scared to eat something from the bakery?"
"Yes. It might have nuts in it."
"Maybe we could ask them if they have nuts in them?"
"No - I want to go home and eat."
I start feeling concerned. I don't want him to fear having an allergy and want to teach him that he can have the freedom to eat what he wants, all he has to do is ask first.
"Isaac, will you be brave with mummy and we can ask the bakery which foods have nuts in them. I'll need you to hold my hand."
"OK Mummy"
So we go in, and we ask. She pulls out a nutrition book with allergy information. And Isaac is grinning from ear to ear when we find out that plain bagels with cream cheese do not contain nuts.
"Thank you for holding my hand Isaac. We were brave together and now we know we can eat here."
2 comments:
Oh Werona, What a great mum you are and how lucky your kids are to have such a caring empathetic mother.
Well done to you all. I thank God daily that you are a part of our family. Love and hugs to you all, Grandma jan
wow a bakery with a book saying what allergens are in their products. All we get is "well there are not nuts in it but we can't guarantee it hasn't touched something else with nuts in it" ie we can't guarantee anything (just in case you try to sue us later!!!) Poor old Em between the gluten and nut allergy she doesn't get many bakery treats!! - in a way it is good that Isaac is a little anxious about it - that means he is very aware and hopefully on the way to being able to dodge pressure to eat what his friends are eating later on - you should be very proud that he is grown up enough to take some responsibility for his own eating already. That is very important when a bad allergy is involved. They are all growing up so nicely aren't they!! - Mel
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