Too Good to be True

Yep. Some things are just too good to be true. After A's last visit with his allergist I was absolutely sure he had outgrown his allergy to tree nuts. His skin test came up negative and all we needed to do was a simple oral challenge, that I was certain he would pass with ease, and that was it; we would finally be "normal".

Ha! That will teach me to get my hopes up! Apparently my motherly instinct was on vacation.

I am sad to say that A never even made it past his skin test. When we went in for the oral cashew challenge I was in it for the long hall; sure we would be there all day. I packed his video game, they had movies and LEGO'S ..... this was gonna be a cake walk.

Okay, so I would be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit nervous. Thank god! I have never had to use the epi-pen so the thought of this day possibly being that day, did send me into occasional moments of utter fear. However, my insticts (you know, the ones that forgot to tell me they would be on spring break!) wouldnt let those thoughts take over for long.

The nurse came in, scratched his arms and boom! Our visit was over as quickly as it started. The hives appeared almost immediatley and my heart sunk. Seriously?! I was shocked, heartbroken, and angry all at once. It was not suppose to go like that. He was gonna start elementary school next year like all the other kids. He was gonna go to every birthday party, share snacks with his friends, go out for ice cream, and never have to say the words again, "does that have nuts in it?" Labels would be a thing of the past.

And here we are. Reality kicked me in the ass ..... Hard!

Could Santa be a threat to those with peanut allergy?

We took the kiddos last night to see Santa Clause at the mall and of course have their pictures taken. Seems harmless right? Every year millions of little ones climb up on the big guys lap, but how many of those millions of children have a peanut allergy? Statistics would suggest close to 3 million which is why I was alarmed when I overheard Santa saying he was getting hungry.... the peanut butter and jelly sandwich he ate earlier wasn't cutting it. Did he really just eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Luckily we have no issues with peanuts, but my immediate thought was what if we did? I can almost guarantee Santa didn't brush after eating that sandwich and I can only hope he washed his hands.

Personally, I would have never have thought twice about Santa and any risk of cross contamination. That is until last night. Am I overreacting? What do you think? For those who have a child with peanut allergy, would this concern you? Do you let your child sit on Santa's lap? If so, do you inform Santa of your childs allergy?

Merry Christmas!

Tax Breaks for Restricted Diets?

We all know avoiding certain foods can be very expensive. Most allergen free brands tend to be specialty brands and can cost significantly more then big brand or store brand products. There can also be shipping fee's included for items that require online orders. Now, I had no idea, but apparently you can claim gluten free foods on your tax returns. Check out this post from Gluten Free Society, How To Get a Tax Break With Gluten Free Foods. This leaves me to wonder if this works for other allergy safe foods? This could be very helpful to a lot of families dealing with food allergies. It would be nice to catch a break somewhere. After all, allergen free foods are just a small portion of the high cost of food allergies. I would love to know if any of you have tried this before or have any further information on this.