tried epi-pen

We have never been in the situation where we needed to administer an epi-pen for Declan (which we are VERY thankful for) although we always have to carry 2 pens with him at all times..just in case.
It makes me feel sick just thinking about jabbing an epi-pen into my son but I hope that if and when it is needed I will be able to do it without hesitation and not even have to think.

Epi-pen's have used by dates and when they expire the usual routine is to hand it back to the chemist so that they can dispose properly of the sharps even if it has not been used.

So when we noticed that one of Declan's epi-pen's had expired we thought, if it's just going to be chucked out by chemist staff anyway why don't we practice on an orange or mandarin to see how hard you really have to push down on it, if we can feel the click when the needle is correctly inserted etc.

Tonight Andy tried the expired epi-pen on a orange, we were both very shocked and surprised to see the needle after coming back out of the orange...the whole whopping 2cm of needle!!!!! :O

Andy said that he felt the click and as you can probably see from the photo he was pushing quite hard into the orange.

I'm glad we did this little exercise,those little bit's of information might just make the difference. Thank goodness we have the technology and intelligence in this day and age to have such a life saver of a pen!

It also reminds me that we are still yet to buy a trainer epi-pen for family and friends to have a look at and practice with.

Here's hoping we never have to use one for real

Allergies suck!!!!

Most of my readers will probably already now that Declan deals with his life threatening egg and nut allergies in day to day life, as well as his asthma and Eczema.

Friday was his follow up allergy prick test and check up to see how he is doing, also to test Thalia for allergies now that she is old enough for the prick test to be accurate.

D day (Friday) soon turned into dooms day as the results started to unravel :(

Declan's prick test soon showed that his egg and peanut allergy numbers had doubled since June last year and as we thought his dust mite stayed the same at 13. Peanut being the more severe jumping from a 11 grading to a whopping 25 and egg nearly as severe jumping from 11 to 22!!!

Both the allergist, Andy and I were surprised to see the numbers rise and everyone expected a decrease if anything, according to the allergy specialist Declan's home life and food are very safe and what we have been actively doing for him the past year is all good.

The rise in numbers is apparently due to the exposure he gets though other people ......simple things like hugging, kissing, playing and spending time with people who have recently consumed egg and or nuts, who may not realise that even 6 hrs after eating these foods they can pass on egg and/or nut particles to Declan and in turn boost his vulnerability to a very bad reaction.
If his number's continue to rise the epi pen may not work on him in the situation where he needs it to overcome a bad reaction, this is the hardest thing to stomach and it's so hard to even type it.

For the prick test alone he needed more than the usual 'magic spray' to stop the reaction and itching....it wasn't until they had given his oral medicine (equivalent to an epi pen) and a tablet that he started to look like himself again.
It was very scary to see him that way.

To help the situation I am currently trying to find a anaphylaxis playgroup where Declan can have a safe environment to play and socialise, as well as having the bonus of meeting other families who are living a life similar to ours.
We are brainstorming all different ways to possibly lower his numbers....prayer is a big one!

On a positive Thalia's prick test was all clear...YAY!!!!!!
No food allergies, dust mite, animal allergies or grass/tree/mould allergy's :)

Thalia is at risk of getting a dust mite allergy due to her very dry skin gene and bad eczema.
The specialist after seeing Thalia let us know that Thalia and Declan's eczema were both diet related.....grrr more food issues!

So my little munchkins have now been put on the moderate elimination diet (thank goodness it not a strict one). This means that they can have no preservatives, colour's, flavour's, most processed foods, a well as a whole chunk of veggies and fruits and a selection of meats!
They are not allergic to all these foods but are simply intolerant so it's nothing compared to the severe allergy's Declan faces.
There are also not items we have to make flee from our house and Andy and I are welcome to eat them.

it's actually easier to list the items that they can have because the list is soooo much shorter :0

Saturday after the tests proved to be a interesting challenge, doing all the food shopping with the new diet commencing almost took me the whole day...Mrs flanery's, health food shops, coles, Aldi, Woolies and the butcher, thankfuly mum and dad came for the ride and made things a little easier.

I'm also very blessed to have a lovely friend who is the encyclopedia of the elimination diet due to her son's intolerance's, who is helping me get started....THANK YOU!!! you know who you are ox

Both the kids were weighed as part of the check up and are healthy weights, Declan at 14kg and Thalia at 10kg. The allergist always checks Declan's height due to the risk of stinted growth for the steroids in his medication and creams, they don't seem to be affecting his height at all though and he is currently 96.5cm.

So there you have it our D day in a nutshell (for lack of a better word)

Here I am again trying to get a shopping list together and plan menu's ready for the week ahead but I'm feeling much more confident this week about it all and I know we can do it.

God never gives us more than we can deal with!!! I just have to keep reminding myself.

A peek into my pantry

Welcome to my pantry!!!

I thought since I was going on a mission to clean up and clean out as most people do from time to time I would take some pic's to share


....you know the clean up days where you think "okay, this time it's going to stay organised and clean so everything is easy to see"

...lol well it never seems to work but at least you might find some exciting food that was hibernating at the back of the cupboard or have a few minutes, hours or days of that contented feeling of being somewhat organised

...that is when and until the hubby or child moves everything around and finds a oh so wrong place for what seems like every item!!!


enough of my ranter :P

The reason I wanted to share was to show what a pantry of family with severe allergy's looks like.


Living with a child who has anaphalaxis towards eggs and nuts isn't easy...every shopping expedition becomes very interesting.

Diving into a world of "may contain......" or "made in the same factory as.." can be somewhat frustrating and expensive.


Needless to say 1 3/4 out of my 6 pantry shelves are dedicated to baking alone.

It's been over a year since we found out about Declan's allergy's and it has changed our family's daily life in more than one aspect. We are very fortunate to have a few friends that also have allergy's in their family's and can understand, share recipes, brain storm how to convert that oh so yummy recipe to make it safe and so on.

We are also blessed that their are company's out there that make safe food for people like us...."HALLELUJAH!!!"

Yep, I'm that crazy woman standing in the isle of your local food store who smiles quietly to herself and does a happy dance while pure happiness, excitement and relief flows though her veins....over a new found safe ingredient or product. :)

There are also some very good benefit's of all the jazz that goes with living a allergy life.....baking (a forgotten skill and activity for all ages in past years), knowing exactly what's in your food (preservatives, chemicals etc), becoming more aware of your surroundings and probably much more that I can't think of at the moment.

On decluttering my pantry over the last few days and emptying boxes I saved 2 empty boxes for a specific purpose.
A bit of background information: For part of Thalia's Christmas present she will be getting some play food and play kitchen items and then for her birthday in Feb. she will get a play kitchen to go with them.
The play food we have brought has pretend eggs in it which made us think...do we let them play with it? should we take it out of the pack? leave it in?

After a few chats with some friends we have decided that yes we will leave the egg's in with the presents for the children to play with as a educational tool.
Obviously Declan isn't allergic to a plastic egg, we know that but we were worried at the age of 3, Declan might be confused with the whole concept that it's safe to pretend but not safe to eat the real thing etc..

So the egg will be their to show our children what an egg is,what it's used for, where it comes from, that other people can eat them etc
then as an addition to the play food I will place the 'orgran no egg' box pictured above for the children to pretend to use when they are "baking a cake" to make it safe etc. The no egg box and the safe biscuit box will also show and hopefully educate the children when they are a little older how to read labels and identify safe foods.

Well that's a day in the life of my beloved pantry....

remember eat, live, love and learn :)
ox

" mummy I am different!"

Today I had the pleasure of some wonderful Mummy moments and I simply must share them with you.

Since Declan was diagnosed with Anaphylaxis to eggs and nuts roughly a year ago, our every day family life has changed to suit. Even though Declan was a month shy of 2 when he was diagnosed and he cannot fully understand the severity of his allergies Andy and I have made sure spoken about it with him with age appropriate explanations.
We hope to educate him and give him the correct tools emotionally to cope with these allergies and show him that he is different but he is not strange or weird but just special in his own way.

Not long after his allergies became known we purchased a allergy alert wrist band for him (he has never really worn it as he never liked it) and he received the wonderful book pictured below as a gift from his Great Gran parents.

We have many conversations about what is "safe food" and what makes Declan sick. He loves and often helps me in the kitchen whether it be making biscuits for the family, baking cakes, helping make lunch and dinner and so on.
The last couple of months he has started to really grasp what his allergies are and we have noticed on occasion him asking others if a food has eggs or nuts or simply reminding them that he can't have them.This showed us that all the information was starting to sink in.
Declan and I sat down yesterday afternoon and got out the woman's weekly birthday cake books and made sure Decaln was still happy with the cake he picked out months ago (a stegosaurus cake ). After talking about all the different animals, shapes colours etc he finally agreed to mummy's relief that the Stegosaurus cake was still the best for his party next month. Mind you Mummy had already gone shopping and brought the party hats, plates and cups all with a dinosaur theme!
Declan sat at the dinning table at breakfast this morning and was obviously thinking back on yesterdays activity looking through the cake books. He soon reminded me that we were going to have a party for Declan soon and then explained..
Declan: "no eggs and nuts, keep them away...they will make Declan sick"
Me: "Yes that's right Declan! We are having a special dinosaur party for you next month. We will have lots of yummy food but it will all "safe food" because we don't eat eggs and nuts, they are not safe. It would be very sad if you got sick"
Decaln: "Thankyou Mummy, I don't want to get sick"
I smiled to myself thinking wow, he really does understand to a degree! and he was confident in himself.
It was even better before dinner tonight as he was reading his "why am I different?" allergy book with daddy, pointing to the pictures of eggs and nuts and telling daddy they were not safe for Declan. By the end of the book he was happy to wear his special allergy alert wrist band and continued looking through the book again without daddy as if it was the best book ever.
About 5 minutes later he stood up and exclaimed with a loud voice very confidently "Mummy I am different!". Andy and I were quite surprised and quickly said something to the effect of "Yes Declan you are, you are different and your very special because your you. We love you!".
Decaln had the biggest smile on his face and looked very chuffed as though he had just explained to Mummy and Daddy that he understood the book and his situation.
It was an awesome moment and Andy and I couldn't have wiped the smiles of our faces if we tried.....our little man was showing confidence in who he was and enjoying the learning process!!! horray
We are so proud of you Little man! ox