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-30 minutes. I'm arriving at a business lunch. You see, it isn't really possible or feasible for us to be shut-ins.
-25 minutes. I am ordering lunch, being very careful after decades of experience to steer clear of anything with nuts in it. I inform the waiter to tell the kitchen to make sure they watch out for cross contamination. I show him my MedicAlert bracelet so he will hopefully take me seriously and not cop an attitude like so many posters in this thread. I look him right in the eye and say very clearly that it really is a serious situation. If the waiter doesn't seem to be aware, I talk to the manager.
Yes, I have to do this every damn time I go out.
-15 minutes. Bubba is sprinkling pine nuts on the nut-free salad I ordered, or cutting meat on the same cutting board he used to chop cashews, or otherwise not taking the situation seriously.
-10 minutes. Waiter notices (or I do) that the nut-free salad has pine nuts on it. Bubba carefully picks out the pine nuts, but fragments and oils are already all over the food. Bubba sends it out anyway.
0 minutes. I eat a small but of lettuce tainted with a 0.5mm cubic particle of pine nut. That's smaller than the head of a pin, and completely invisible in a meal.
+5 seconds Reaction begins with a peculiar and unmistakeable sensation in my mouth, even before I have swallowed the particle. I spit everything out and rush to the bathroom./
+30 seconds. Reaction spreads to throat almost instantly. I begin to turn red.
+1 minute I am frantically rinsing, brushing, flossing and doing everything to get the allergen out of my mouth/teeth. Throat starts to burn and itch. Blood pressure begins to drop. I take an Alavert dissolving tablet and get out the TWO Epipens it's going to take to give me a fighting chance to get to the ER.
+3 minutes Leaving restaurant to got to hospital, cannot drive myself and an ambulance will take too long. Slam two spring-loaded needles into side of each legs for epinephrine dose that will hopefully get me to the hospital.
+5 minutes Uncontrollable and extremely painful esophageal spasms begin. Vomiting spreads the allergen around even more. I continue to turn red.
+10 minutes Cramps are unbearable, like a giant hand reaching up under your ribcage and squeezing all your organs. Everything locks up. Can still talk between spasms, but they are getting more frequent. All food vomited, but still heaving uncontrollably. Hives appear. Skin and scalp feel as if covered with biting fire ants.
+15 minutes In shock, having some difficulty breathing. Completely turned fire-engine red. Getting faint, blood pressure drops dramatically.
+20 minutes Temporarily blind from loss of blood pressure, if not unconsious already. Trachea is nearly closed off completely. Cannot breathe, and will die within minutes without massive dose of epinephrine, steroids and Benadryl. Convulsions from the massive epinephrine does make medical treatment difficult.
+25 minutes Possibly getting a tracheostomy from a very worried ER doc. Almost certainly unconcious at this point. Blood pressure dangerously low, tachycardia and irregular heartbeat. Not long now.
+30 minutes I'm dead, unless I've made it in time.
+8-12 hours Assuming I didn't die, I am treated to the pleasure of wracking cramps for the next day, on top being bedridden due to massive Benadryl overdose, making you dead tired but unable to sleep do to massive steroid dose.
+1 week Become Cushingoid due to steroids, suffer nightly insomnia and other steroid-related nasty side effects.
This is more or less exactly what has happened to me on more than one occassion, except obviously I didn't die. Yet. The doctors tell me it is the most likely cause of death that I will experience.
It can and does happen that fast. Now imagine that this is your child, and the school calls you to tell you your child is dead, because some other parents were "outraged" because the school had an allergy policy.
I'm really trying to understand your point of view Strel. What do you suggest then?? Because peanuts can kill you in 30 minutes...peanuts should be banned throughout the world?
Of course not. But we make reasonable accomodations for people with disabilites, no? Nobody here knows better than I do what a pain it is to have this condition. There is always the chance of accidental exposure. I have to be constantly on guard, and I accept that this is primarily my responsiblity.
But look at the posts in this thread. These people put lives at risk because they callously and ignorantly believe that these things are just exaggerated. They are not (see my timeline above). The chances of something tragic happening can be GREATLY reduced just by people being aware of the problem and knowing something about it. I'll take care of the rest. But I am a grown adult sporting two Epipens at all times. Imagine now a 4 or five year old kid who is offered a cookie...innocently, but a cookie that is more dangerous to him than a dose of poison.
This thread proves that most people really do not understand the seriousness of food allergies. Even worse, they go around spouting off about how we are making "too big a deal" about not dying.
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If a total stranger is walking down the street eating a bag of peanuts and he sneezes in your direction and you die from it....is he some kind of monster?
Of course not, and the chances of that happening are very slim - but not slim enough that it hasn't happened to me!
But we are talking about kids here. Kids hear that someone is allergic and they think it would be fun to harass, but because perhaps their parents are as ignorant as some of the posters on this thread, they end up killing their classmate.
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Should peanuts not be sold wherever you choose to travel or be {movies,mall,grocery store??} Where does YOUR personal responsibility come in to play for your condition? You seem to want to make everyone one else responsible for your allergy.
You seem to misunderstand what I wrote. It has to be taken seriously, that doesn't mean any of us sufferers expect to be protected. But there is only so much that I can do - short of becoming an unemployed shut-in - to prevent exposure. If people do not take it seriously, they put me and others at mortal risk.
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And dont even go to the "you dont understand anaphylactic shock" accusation. I worked in an emergency room for 35 years and I've dealt with every drug,food or otherwise induced anaphylactic shock there is; including seeing many people die from it. You are responsible for your allergy or otherwise...not the rest of the world.
Have you ever experienced yourself? If you haven't, you don't know. You might have worked in an ER for 35 years, but I've directly experienced anaphylactic shock for over 40. The last time I woke up just in time to stop the doc from putting a hole in my neck.
And how responsible am I for the dangerous, potentially deadly attitudes of others?
"Of course not. But we make reasonable accomodations for people with disabilites, no?"
You seem to contradict yourself somewhat with this question.
You say that of course not peanuts should not be banned and at the same time you say "reasonable accomodations" should be made.
Is the banning of peanuts from the school for all children a "reasonable accomodation" for the allergies of the one child?
I am sympathetic to your plight..believe me...I'm just trying to understand what is really REASONABLE when the lives of many are affected by the plight of one.
I have never experienced anaphylactic shock but I have intubated, ventilated, started A lines and, with a team, saved the lives of many hundreds of people in shock from infants to geriatrics: I am more than aware of the seriousness of your allergy and the life threatening consequences of you being exposed. I think reasonable is the question here and I'm not so sure that banning all children in a school from having peanuts is the answer to one childs issue. I'm not saying its not, but I'm not convinced that the many should be burdened by the plight of the few.
"Of course not. But we make reasonable accomodations for people with disabilites, no?"
You seem to contradict yourself somewhat with this question.
You say that of course not peanuts should not be banned and at the same time you say "reasonable accomodations" should be made.
First of all, it's not just peanuts. There are all sorts of anaphylactic food allergies out there.
I eat peanuts by the bushel. But one pinpoint-sized speck of cashew can kill me in 30 minutes.
I would consider an all-out ban unreasonable, but it would depend on the circumstances: how many students have allergies, how severe are the allergies, etc.
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Is the banning of peanuts from the school for all children a "reasonable accomodation" for the allergies of the one child?
I am sympathetic to your plight..believe me...I'm just trying to understand what is really REASONABLE when the lives of many are affected by the plight of one.
It's not just a "plight." It's death for some. That does tend to make the situation a bit more serious.
The mandatory hand washing and mouth rinsing is a bit much I think. The Clorox is just stupid. Allergens are not bacteria, bleach isn't going to help. The school is correct to take this situation very seriously - this innocent little girl's life could be in serious danger without SOME regulation, but I will agree that the school seems to not really understand how to effectively deal with the problem.
But hey, at least they are taking it seriously. It is very disheartening to see the other parents "outraged" over the effort in general. Like some of the posters in this thread, they probably think the girl or her parents are exaggerating. People without direct experience with this problem often are not willing to believe how serious it can be, obviously.
As much as I think the school is overreacting a bit, I'd rather see that happening than a kid's funeral.
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I have never experienced anaphylactic shock but I have intubated, ventilated, started A lines and, with a team, saved the lives of many hundreds of people in shock from infants to geriatrics: I am more than aware of the seriousness of your allergy and the life threatening consequences of you being exposed.
Then help me get some of these posters here to understand it, because I am just appalled and disgusted by some of the comments in this thread. Sorry to take it out on you.
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I think reasonable is the question here and I'm not so sure that banning all children in a school from having peanuts is the answer to one childs issue. I'm not saying its not, but I'm not convinced that the many should be burdened by the plight of the few.
Like I said, it's not just a "plight." Because her disability isn't visible and is situational, people tend to not take it as seriously -- until someone like 13 year old Katelyn Carlson dies.
Then I hope you, at least, understand the issue here.
Don't do what my parents initially did and fail to understand how serious it can be until it is almost too late.
You have definitely misunderstood all my posts so far.
By having these rigid regulations in place the parents and the child are assuming that this environment is 100% safe. Is it 100% safe? It cannot possibly be, not with the numbers of people involved in a public school. It is a wonderful idea to provide this one child with a safe environment, but my fear is by doing these types of things people let their guard down. It's potentially lethal.
In each instance of my son's anaphylaxis we let our guard down. We made assumptions, and were lucky the consequences were not more dire. I will give you an example.
He went to a party at Chuck e Cheese. Their birthday cakes are guaranteed nut-free. I know this, they have all the ingredients listed on the web site, we have asked there before. We have been to many parties there, and he has eaten the cake with no problems. On this particular day we did not ask, we made assumptions. He had the cake, and went into anaphylactic shock. They had changed the cake vendor that very day. If we had asked as we do the vast majority of the time, they would have checked the label, and we would have seen as big as day "contains walnuts". We screwed up. Were they responsible? Yes, they were responsible too. The bottom line is you are your only major protection against exposure.
You have definitely misunderstood all my posts so far.
I probably did. I was still livid with rage over the posts on the first page...
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By having these rigid regulations in place the parents and the child are assuming that this environment is 100% safe. Is it 100% safe? It cannot possibly be, not with the numbers of people involved in a public school.
I can't speak for anyone else, but *I* would not assume any such thing. I've been to the ER too many times after someone was "100% sure" to assume any level of safety.
Look how flippant some of the posters here are. How could anyone make such an assumption?
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It is a wonderful idea to provide this one child with a safe environment, but my fear is by doing these types of things people let their guard down. It's potentially lethal.
I don't think that's going to be an issue for anyone that has actually had a severe reaction, but I could see how it could lead the ignorant into believing they are being safe.
The Clorox thing in particular supports your argument. What do they think Clorox is going to do to an allergen?
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In each instance of my son's anaphylaxis we let our guard down. We made assumptions, and were lucky the consequences were not more dire. I will give you an example.
I've been remiss once or twice. What happens to me MORE often is I am hospitalized because I trusted someone to be competent and honest, and found out too late that they were not.
I'm looking at YOU, Atlanta Bread Company!! Manager swore up and down there were no sunflower seeds. What do I find in my first bite? A whole sunflower seed. Thankfully I didn't eat it and only had a mild reaction from the cross-contaminated bread.
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He went to a party at Chuck e Cheese. Their birthday cakes are guaranteed nut-free. I know this, they have all the ingredients listed on the web site, we have asked there before. We have been to many parties there, and he has eaten the cake with no problems. On this particular day we did not ask, we made assumptions.
He had the cake, and went into anaphylactic shock. They had changed the cake vendor that very day. If we had asked as we do the vast majority of the time, they would have checked the label, and we would have seen as big as day "contains walnuts". We screwed up. Were they responsible? Yes, they were responsible too. The bottom line is you are your only major protection against exposure.
And I'm not arguing with that, but as I have said - many times I have done everything I could do to avoid exposure, only to be exposed and nearly killed by someone else's arrogance and incompetence.
I will give praise to Disney, however. After experience a woman die at Epcot after eating a "nut-free" cookie off of a plate that had held peanut cookies the day before (she just got the oil or a crumb or two - and that's enough be fatal), she died.
She was one of my allergist' patients, BTW. He had three of us he ranked as the worst-affected patients - now there are only two of us, me and the other guy. It's a contest to see which one of us lives the longest.
Anyway, I recently went to Epcot and was very impressed at how seriously they took it, how knowledgeable they were about it, and how well they handled it. So it can be done, and should be. It took a fatality for Disney to start taking it seriously, but at least someone is.
My kids go to school with a celebrity's child who has a severe peanut allergy. The celebrity is the spokeperson for the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network. Our school has received commendations from FAAN for being a leader in accomodating children with food allergies. Our school does NOT band peanut products.
They have peanut free tables- usually one for each class so the allergic child can still sit with friends. They wash their hands when they get to school and after lunch. If you are in the same class as a peanut allergy kid, or in the connecting class (a classroom that shares the cubby room), you can't have peanut products in the classroom. I'm the room mom for a connecting classroom this year, so we have to be careful with our party foods.
Birthday treats can only be purchased for the school cafeteria.
And that's it. No mouth rinsing or 30 minutes per day of cloroxing all surfaces. The school in the story has gone way past the FAAN guidelines, and in the end may be harming the child more than helping her by causing resentments or giving the false impression that it is 100% safe.
I have gone into anaphylatic shock twice, so I do know how scary it is. And how unfun those ER visits are. But this school has gone too far.
Here is something to consider. I resent that many of your children are dumb. They are ruining my childs school experience. I mean, come on, must my kid sit there and wait for your little moron to grasp the lesson?
So the world is supposed to revolve around your little ignorant imp? Just homeschool the little dunce.
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