Well, crap!

There have been a few events in the last month that have made us take Ethan's allergy to nuts a little more seriously. One, there is a new food allergy program here at Carle, with a food allergy nurse/patient educator who is wonderful. We went to a community program they had in May, and it was really informative. We learned that:

1. The reason that peanuts are getting so much attention as the allergy poster child is that of all of the eight most common food allergens, anaphylactic reactions to peanuts can lead to death. (We knew that, but still...)
2. No one knows what is causing the rise in food allergies. I asked if my peanut consumption during pregnancy/nursing ruined Ethan for all Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. No, thank goodness. Apparently research was done where pregnant mothers were asked to avoid some of the top food allergens, and all that happened was that babies were born at a lower birth weight. There was no decrease in the rate of food allergies. Cross that guilt-producer off the list. :)
3. Only about 15-20% of kids with peanut allergies grow out of them. The higher their blood test levels, the less likely they are to grow out of their allergy.

So because we are good parents (who want to eat peanut butter) and love our child (and want to eat peanut butter), we decided to check in with an actual allergist so that we could discuss our Ethan's future with the goober. Maybe he would be the 1 kid in 5 who was growing out of the allergy! We were a little disappointed.
Ethan has not in fact grown out of his peanut allergy, he has actually "scored" even a bit higher than on his first blood test. So, no PB, no almond butter, no cashew butter, no walnuts, pecans...and coconuts??? I really never saw the connection, but the guy has an MD in allergy and immunology, so who am I to question it?

One nice thing he was able to confirm for us was that Ethan's egg "allergy" is in fact not an allergy. Just because his first blood test recorded IGE levels to egg, he has never had a reaction to any foods containing eggs. So he's not allergic. The peanut allergy, however, is real - I guess we have to accept two blood tests and a full-body set of hives. Sigh.

Ironically, the day I pulled Ethan out of school early to go see this doctor, a boy in his class had a birthday and the mom brought in the cutest little train cakes for the class. The wheels - Nutter Butter Bites. Now, come on, this is a nut-free daycare. And you bring in peanut butter wheels? There were a few cakes that had mini Oreo wheels, and that was what she offered up when she finally remembered that some kids couldn't have nuts. But they were right up against the others, and who knows what the heck those snack cakes were made out of or where they were processed. I am guessing that she never thought about that, so we did not give Ethan any cake. He was NOT happy about this, and of course neither was I! I spent all night trying to figure out who to talk to, in person or in writing, and finally settled on a really carefully worded email to the daycare. Not accusing anyone of anything, but mostly offering to provide some information, talk to the Board (which I'm on - it's not as fancy or important as it sounds), make a flyer for parents, get the food allergy educator to come to a staff meeting, etc. So far we haven't gone beyond a strongly worded reminder in the newsletter, but it's progress.

My worry, and as Ethan gets older this worry gets worse, is that people think that food allergies (especially allergies to peanuts) are trendy as opposed to serious. Everyone who is anyone has an Epipen, right? Isn't it fashionable to say your kid is allergic to x, y, or z? Um, no. We don't know if he'll react with hives the next time he comes across a nut OR if it will be more serious, so we're careful!