July 25th - Happy Christmas in July

I forgot about Christmas in July until the kids came running in and were yelling that Cartoon Network (NOT my favorite channel for kids) was having a Christmas in July marathon on today. Then I found out that a local radio station was playing Christmas music all day today. We've been having fun singing Christmas songs all afternoon. The boys even put a few Christmas decorations in their rooms.
While we were on vacation, I visited The Christmas Mouse Store in Pawley's Island and it had already put me in the mood for Christmas (I spent WAY too much money there) so finding all of the Christmas stuff today was a nice surprise. The boys are hoping that Santa will come (NOT!) and it's really too hot here to light the fireplace. But at least we were in the Christmas spirit for a few hours.

Merry Christmas (in July!)

The History of Christmas in July from The Holiday Spot




(image courtesy of The Green Tree Gazette)

10 Years

10 Years ago yesterday I married my husband. It's hard to believe that 10 years could go by so quickly. It's hard to believe that 10 years could by so happily. I could not ask for a better husband or father.

A reading from the first Letter of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 12:31–13:8aBrothers and sisters:
Strive eagerly for the greatest spiritual gifts.
But I shall show you a still more excellent way.
If I speak in human and angelic tongues
but do not have love,
I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal.
And if I have the gift of prophecy
and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge;
if I have all faith so as to move mountains,
but do not have love, I am nothing.
If I give away everything I own,
and if I hand my body over so that I may boast
but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind.
It is not jealous, is not pompous,
it is not inflated, it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing
but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
The word of the Lord.

Happy Anniversary to my wonderful Husband. I love you with all my heart!

Wheat Allergy Alert

WHEAT ALLERGY ALERT

July 22, 2010

DeBoles Nutritional Foods, Inc. is recalling “DeBoles® Kids Only! Gluten Free Tubettini Corn Pasta” due to undeclared wheat.

The product was distributed to stores nationwide and through Internet orders.

The recall applies only to lot code 30JUN11D1, which appears on the top of the 8.5-oz cardboard box. The UPC code 087336638305 appears on the bottom of the box.

FAAN Walks

Did you know that the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network is having a food allergy walk in the Cleveland area? Yes they are!


Date: Sunday, September 19, 2010
Time: Check-in begins at 2:00 p.m.; Walk begins at 3:00 p.m.
Location: Progressive Field, Home of the Cleveland Indians, 2401 Ontario Street, Cleveland, OH 44115
Distance: 1 mile
Restrictions: No pets, glass bottles, bikes, roller skates, or skate boards. Baby strollers and wagons are welcomed.

You can go here to sign up or to get more information.

Please join us in finding a cure for food allergies!!

If you don't live in Cleveland but you still want to walk you can check out other locations here.

The walks are great and they are a great way to connect with other people in your community who also have to deal with food allergies.

Why we walk:

* We walk to find a cure for food allergies.
* We walk to increase awareness of food allergy and the effect it has on a community.
* We walk to provide understanding, hope, and an opportunity for a child with food allergy to simply be a child.
* We walk to save a life!

Facts About Food Allergies (from FAAN):


* Food allergy is a growing public health concern in the U.S.
* Though reasons for this are poorly understood, the prevalence of food allergies and associated anaphylaxis appears to be on the rise.
* Peanut allergy doubled in children over a five-year period (1997-2002).
* Research suggests that food-related anaphylaxis might be underdiagnosed.
* An increasing number of school students have diagnosed life-threatening allergies.
* A 2007 study has shown that milk allergy may persist longer in life than previously thought. Of 800 children with milk allergy, only 19% had outgrown their allergy by age 4, and only 79% had outgrown it by age 16.
* More than 12 million Americans have food allergies. That's one in 25, or 4% of the population.
* The incidence of food allergy is highest in young children - one in 17 among those under age 3.
* About 3 million children in the U.S. have food allergies.
* The annual number of emergency room visits due to food-induced anaphylaxis in the U.S. ranges from 50,000 to 125,000, depending on the source.
* Eight foods account for 90% of all food-allergic reactions in the United States: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts (e.g., walnuts, almonds, cashews, pistachios, pecans), wheat, soy, fish, and shellfish.
* Food allergy is the leading cause of anaphylaxis outside of the hospital setting in the U.S.
* There is no cure for food allergies. Strict avodiance of food allergens and early recognition and management of allergic reactions to food are important measures to prevent serious health consequences.
* Even trace amounts of a food allergen can cause a reaction.
* Most people who've had an allergic reaction to something they ate thought that it was safe.
* Food allergies are life-altering for everyone involved and require constant vigilance.
* Early administration of epinephrine (adrenaline) is crucial to successfully treating anaphylactic reactions. Epinephrine is available by prescription in a self-injectable device.

We'll be walking. Will you?

Vacation: Getting there and day 1

When we planned this vacation, we called our community rec sports office to inquire when the end of baseball/T-ball was (February). Apparently they didn't know but didn't want to tell us that. They gave us some fictitious date because the season actually lasted two weeks longer. So we blissfully planned our vacation for the week of July 10 through July 18. And then everything that the boys wanted to do fell on that week. Baseball continued, football camp took place, and they moved scout camp from the week before to that week. Hooray for organization! The boys were really good about missing out on things they wanted to do and Older Boy also ended up missing a swim meet. We didn't want him to miss three baseball games so we didn't embark on our journey until after he played his 1:00 game. That meant we left the house around 3 pm. That's a pretty late start (and we learned a lesson and will N.E.V.E.R. do that again!). The entire trip takes about 12 hours from our house to Litchfield and we did plan on staying over night but the trip took longer due to the one hour stop we had to make to find some food. I packed a bunch of things to eat in the car but everyone was tired of lunch meat, pretzels and yogurt at one point so we found a Burger King where the Little Man can usually eat safe french fries. This was the busiest BK ever! We were there for an hour. We also told them about the allergies, made sure they had a dedicated fryer, asked that they scoop the Little Man's fries right out of the bin and immediately bag them so that no onion ring cross contamination would occur. And we went on our merry way. We stayed over night in Winston Salem, NC (a lovely town) and got up Sunday morning for breakfast and church. There's not much I can pack the Little Man for a 2 day trip for breakfast. He had fruit. And the Hampton had more fruit but he was still hungry. So I let him have the left over french fries from the night before. I dumped them on a plate to microwave them and to what did my wondering eyes did appear? A stinking onion ring. It was all the way at the bottom of the container. BK fail. Is it that hard to get this right? NO! I'm just glad that he didn't get that container of large fries the night before or we would have had an emergency on RT. 77 S.
We ended up going to a small Catholic church for services. Everyone was so friendly. It was so small that they immediately knew that we were out of towners and took us in as one of their own. Thank you St. Benedict's for being so nice to us.
And we headed on the next leg of our trip. Another 5 fun filled travelling hours and we finally made our destination. We checked in, unloaded and hit the Piggly Wiggly. It's a nice store and their deli says "We carry Boars Head Gluten Free Lunch Meat" but the cutter isn't gluten free so that really doesn't help me. They did have Boars Head hot dogs that stated that they were gluten free so we got those and then things got dicey. It was hard to find things that we are used to so I really had to put on my label detective hat. Why did some Hormel bacon say "gluten free" on the back while others didn't even though there didn't look to be any "gluten" in the ingredients? Hillshire Farm lunch meat looked OK, but it wasn't something we used before and it wasn't listed in any of my gluten free product guides. No organic yogurt. No SoDelicous ice cream. But we managed. And it took a while but I found enough safe things for him to eat for the week and I called Hillshire Farm the next day to confirm that their lunch meat was indeed gluten free. You know what this experience taught me? I'm spoiled. My grocery has a whole gluten free/allergy friendly section. And they've started putting "gluten free" signs on safe products around the store. I had to shop at the Piggly Wiggly the way I USED to shop in the beginning of dealing with food allergies. After unloading all the groceries, the boys went to the pool, and Mama sat on the deck with a good book. And our condo neighbors were all gathering around the bottom of our condo and gazing out into the marsh behind us and pointing. Being nosy I had to see what was going on. Of course it was only this:

Our alligator friend. I only saw him that one time. It was like he came over to give me the stink eye and say "Stay out of my marsh" and just to let me know he was there.

View from the condo deck

Next day we headed to the beach and had our first allergy friendly dinner for the Little Man.

I think I'm a low country girl at heart

Hey Y'all! I actually picked up the "y'all" while we were on vacation. Yes, I managed to slip out and you didn't even miss me :) We left on July 10 and drove to Litchfield Beach, South Carolina. I left my heart there!! If there was ever a place I could move (other than Maui but then who couldn't move to Maui??) it was the low country of South Carolina. I have hundreds of pictures so I'll bore you with them over a few days. We stayed in a lovely condo that had a full kitchen so I could cook for the Little Man. It's a good thing I brought lots of allergy friendly food from home because the Piggly Wiggly was NOT an allergy persons haven by any stretch. They didn't even have Stoneyfield organic yogurt (the boys were in heaven with their nasty old Go-Gurt that I N.E.V.E.R. buy at home). But we did manage to find two restaurants where the Little Man could eat out safely and several others that couldn't cook safely but were at least honest enough with us to tell us that (and they were totally sympathetic and nice about it, especially the lady who has a granddaughter with Celiac Disease). My older son went fishing and caught a shark. And there was an alligator that lives in the marsh behind our condo. That's all I've got for now. I've got to go and send out a newsletter for WEGO Health. We're happy to be home (after a 4 hour traffic jam from Greensboro, NC to Rocky Gap, VA.....N.O.T. F.U.N) and I'll leave you with this:

Summer Fun

This is the Older Boys first swim meet. He's loving swimming and we've been at the pool every.day.of.the.week. He's having a blast. I'm glad. My house is suffering from lack of attention though. But it's all about the kids, right? :)

Allergy March: Is Your Body Trying To Tell You Something?

Previously posted at WEGO Health:

The "Allergy March" refers to how young children "march" down the path to allergies and allergic diseases. It usually starts with atopic dermatitis (eczema), moves on to food allergies, then nasal allergies, and eventually asthma. Not every child or every person will end up with every one of these ailments. The "march" usually starts in infancy. My son presented with eczema within a few weeks of birth. He had "problems" with breast feeding and formula within the first few months, and started using a nebulizer due to "RAD" by six months of age. I'm not sure he did the allergy march as much as the allergy run.

At the time, I had never heard of the "allergy march". It wasn't until my son was diagnosed with food allergies around the age of 10 months that I had even heard of the term. Looking back, it makes perfect sense that he was predisposed to allergic diseases. The signs and symptoms were there, but I didn't see them. And none of our doctors pointed them out to me. No one said "Your child is more prone to allergic diseases or asthma due to his immune responses". I was told however that my children were just predisposed to eczema. My older son, who does not have food allergies nor asthma, had a severe case of eczema and wore bloody eczema scabs for the first year of his life. But his "allergy march" stopped there.

According to Nation Jewish Medical Center "The 'allergic march' is, therefore, a developmental pattern for a cluster of allergic diseases that begins in early childhood, revealing itself not only as trends in prevalence,but also as a common course of atopic manifestations in families and individual children".

They offer the chart below is a simplied explanation:

1. The allergic march refers to a cluster of allergic diseases that develop in early childhood.
2. Food allergies and atopic dermatitis precede and predict asthma and allergic rhinitis.
3. Eczema and some food allergies (milk, egg, soy) tend to be outgrown or improve with age.
4. Allergic rhinitis and other food allergies (nuts, seafood) tend to persist.
5. Allergy-associated asthma persists but can improve; “asthma” without allergy tends to be
outgrown or improve.
6. Disease severity predicts persistence and progression.


As a parent, what do you do if you think your child is starting the allergy march? Talk to your physician. And if you don't get the answers you are looking for, find another physician. One mom I recently spoke with said that her pediatrician told her that her child's persistent eczema was "Nothing" and not to worry about it. This is the same child that may have just had a severe reaction to tree nuts. Our bodies and our children's bodies give us signs when something is "wrong" and we need to pay attention to those signs. Eczema is a sign that something is not right with the body. We don't need to make a big deal over it. Many babies get eczema and it is nothing. But persistant eczema should be addressed and watched. If a child is showing signs of one allergic disease the chances are greater for them to move on to another allergic disease.

According to National Jewish early intervention in the allergy march " may offer a way to shape and optimize immune development to lead to better outcomes in these children". Their suggestions are as follows:

Categories of Interventions and Preventions in Children with Atopy to Reduce the Risk of Developing Persistent Asthma
1. Early interventions attempt to normalize conditions for lung growth and development.
2. Secondary preventions intervene in young at-risk children prior to the development of
chronic lung processes.
3. Primary preventions try to optimize development of early immunity so children can
overcome other aspects of risk.

Did you or your allergic child take the allergy march? Did your physician at the time recognize the signs and symptoms or did they go unnoticed? Do you have any suggestions for a parent who thinks their child is starting the allergy march?


For more information on The Allergy March and allergies in children see:

National Jewish MediSci Update: The Allergic March Of Childhood: This is a 12 pages document from one of the leading medical centers dealing with allergic diseases. It's a detailed look at the allergy march in children.

How to tell if your baby has food allergies from My Mommy Manual: This article talks about signs and symptoms of a food allergy in babies and what to do if you suspect that your child has food allergies.

WEGO Health's Allergy Rash page: A list of some of the best links on the web that discuss allergy rashes/eczema. How to know if you have it and what to do about it if you do.

AAAAI - Eczema Exposed: A comprehensive look at eczema from the American Academy of Allergy Asthma and Immunology

Asthma and Coughing

Previously posted at WEGO Health:

When my son was diagnosed with asthma, it was all new to me. No one I knew had asthma. My only experience with it was from what you see in movies and on TV. You know, how they portray the asthmatic as wheezing so loudly that the guy down the street could hear it? I never hear my son wheeze. He does, because the doctors can hear it with their stethoscopes. But I can't hear it. It's not that loud wheezing of the TV and movies. If we got to that point, he'd be in severe distress!!

Since he was diagnosed before he was two years old (only they called it R.A.D. [Reactive Airway Disease] ) and he was unable to speak and tell me how he felt, I had to look for clues that he was having trouble with his asthma (or R.A.D.). It wasn't easy. Yes, he got extremely fussy, but that could have been his allergies, or ear infections which he got every few weeks with no accompanying fever, or the asthma that had no wheezing. But what he did get with his asthma was coughing. It started out as a light cough and as his asthma got worse so did the cough. There would be nights we'd be up together until dawn and he would be coughing so hard that he would vomit. His albutrol nubulizer helped, but only for so long and then the coughing would start again.

My thought for this post came from a Twitter conversation that I was having today.

amyanaruk: Coughing, not wheezing is the #1 symptom of asthma. Exhibit A: RT @ __kerri Holy coughing spasm batman. Evidently I am late for symbicort. 1:52pm, Jul 08 from Web

chupieandjsmama: @amyanaruk My son doesn't wheeze until things are beyond severe. He's main, and for the most part only symptom, is coughing. 1:56pm, Jul 08 from HootSuite

amyanaruk: @chupieandjsmama Here, too. If we waited for wheezing, we'd be waiting on an ambulance.

__kerri: @chupieandjsmama @amyanaruk i wheeze neverrrr


As you can tell by the conversation, wheezing isn't a big symptom for anyone here. But most people think of wheezing as the one to watch for. If you are new to asthma, would you notice coughing as a symptom? Would you treat the "coughing" or wait for the "wheezing"?

According to WedMD the following are symptoms of an asthma attack:

Severe wheezing when breathing both in and out
Coughing with asthma that won't stop
Very rapid breathing
Chest pain or pressure
Tightened neck and chest muscles, called retractions
Difficulty talking
Feelings of anxiety or panic
Pale, sweaty face
Blue lips or fingernails
Or worsening symptoms despite use of your medications

All of the above ARE symptoms of an asthma attack. They can also be symptoms of a heart attack, stroke, or any number of other things. If you are a new asthma patient or are a new asthma care giver, these can be a bit vague. I know when my son first started having asthma attacks there were times I waited too long to treat because "I wasn't sure what the coughing meant". Now I don't wait. I treat it. And if he's still coughing with no other symptoms or no worsening symptoms, then I assume that the coughing isn't asthma and it's being caused by something else. If I treat it and the coughing gets better, then I know he's having trouble with his asthma and we need to keep an eye on things to make sure they keep improving and they don't get worse. And if they get worse? Call the doctor or head to the ER.

What is your main symptom of an asthma attack? Do you or your children wheeze, cough or both? Did you recognize your cough as an asthma symptom?

For more on asthma and coughing see:

Tips To Remember: Cough in Children from AAAAI

Calming Your Cough from Allergy and Asthma Network Mothers of Asthmatics

Chronic Coughing: on YouTube

Happy Sixth Birthday Little Man

My baby is six today! I can't believe you are six years old. This was a BIG year for you. You made it through Kindergarten (or better yet, I made it through Kindergarten). You loved it, you thrived, you learned so much, and you didn't let your food allergies hold you back. You grew from a little guy to a big guy, not so much in size but in attitude. You left behind many of your favorite things from the preschool years. Toys and TV shows are now moving into the realm of the grade schooler and it makes me sad to see you grow up but it also makes me happy to see grow up strong and happy. As your Mommy it's hard to say good bye to the baby but it's sweet to see you grow into the "big boy" that you are today. This year you'll be a grade schooler and I know you'll excel. Your goal for the year is to swim in the deep end of the pool by yourself and I'm sure you'll accomplish it. I love you Little Man! Have the happiest of birthdays my son.

July Fourth: Sparklers and Fire

We only had fire. Only our neighbors had fireWORKS. I'm too fearful to let the husband shoot them off. But he swears he will next year (we'll see...). This is actually the first year I let the boys have sparklers (thanks to the dollar bin at Target). Things with fire scare me. But everyone fared well and we didn't light ourselves up. Yes, you'll see by the pictures that we do camp fires occasionally, but I'm usually harping on the boys the whole time to stay away (Am I too over protective?? Probably...)



Roasting marshmallows



The Little Man is over roasting his.



It's sparkler time!







Hurray for the neighbors!

Summer means travelling, vacations, and parties

Summer fun with food allergies doesn't have to be scary. You just have to plan ahead. I haven't been here much lately, but I've been over at WEGO Health writing some summer food allergy posts. Here are a few that I think are worth checking out. Add your thoughts and suggestions too!!

A Safe and Happy July Holiday Season With Asthma and Allergies: Did you know that fireworks can trigger an asthma attack? They can, and there are other things to watch out for too. See a list of suggestions of things to watch out for.

Food Allergies: Planning Ahead For Summer Outings: This post revolves around day tips. Keep summer fun alive and stress levels low with advanced planning.

Food Allergies: Planning Ahead For Summer Outings Part 2: Going on vacation with food allergies? Stop here for some tips and share some of your own.

Buckle Up! We're Going On Vacation With Food Allergies: Another vacation post! We're going away soon and this post talks about the prep that I'm doing. What other suggestions can you give me?