Our journey into the world of food allergy began in early 2008. Our son was born in November of the previous year. By February his skin was covered in eczema. He then had some colds which quickly developed into bronchitis. Sam was fully breast fed for the first 6 months of his life. As we introduced solids we noticed that sometimes he would cough and then vomit after a few spoonfuls. Was it a texture thing we wondered? Our pediatrician had no answers at this point. I then became aware it was each time he ate jars of baby food which were ‘green’. This made me look to the ingredients. The common link was peas! I returned to our pediatrician with this finding. Surely no one can be allergic to peas I said! He soon put me right and told me people can be allergic to almost everything! He proceeded to do some skin prick tests in his office ahead of referring us to CHL and to Dr. Morel.
A new mystery appeared – often if Sam ate bread he would have the same reaction – coughing, chin itching and then vomiting. BUT, he could eat Weetabix with no issue which suggested it not to be a wheat allergy. I start to look to ingredients of various breads we used. Common link: pea or bean flour (used to add “bulk” at a low cost in combination with a reduced amount of wheat flour).
We waited for our appointment with Dr. Morel which took place when Sam was around 1 year old. More extensive skin prick tests and blood test confirmed Sam to be allergic to the following: eggs (cooked and raw), tree nuts, the ‘leguminous’ food group (peanuts, peas, beans, lentils, soya, chick peas and so forth…) and seeds.
We left Dr. Morel’s consulting room that day feeling very frightened, very alone and with a prescription for all that constitutes a “trousse d’urgence” - namely: adrenalin injectors, antihistamine, cortisone and a Ventolin inhaler.
Fortunately, the egg allergy was later to be removed from the list after a successful egg introduction program led by Dr. Morel and the nurses at Kannerklinik.
As both my husband and myself have pollen and environmental allergies as well as asthma, the allergy world was not completely new to us. Food allergies were however.
And so the never ending process of reading ingredients labels and explaining about Sam’s allergies to crèches, to schools, to Maison Relais, to soccer camps and so forth began. Along the way I succeeded to inject myself with adrenalin when demonstrating how to use the device at a soccer camp - by pulling out a ‘real’ device that was lingering in my bag waiting return to the pharmacy instead of the trainer…!!!
Sami is now approaching 14. We take no risk and chose to focus on the foods he can eat rather than on those he can’t. Now he attends Lycee it is actually easier to manage as he takes his own lunch to school. No more checking Maison Relais menus and discussions with the chef (who I add was brilliant)!
A worry for me when he was in the early years of schooling was that he would eat something then feel bad / strange and not tell anyone. Thankfully this never happened. We would however quite regularly receive calls from school and Maison Relais to say Sam’s eyes were itching and red. The cause was sometimes known (e.g.: other kids eating pea soup, playing with a farmyard made from lentils and other pulses, or tree pollen around March time…) and sometimes unknown.
An occurrence from those early schooling days that I hope I never see happening again was a visit to school by “Kleeschen” who proceeded to throw peanuts at the child filled audience. I shivered. I still shiver when I think about it. Thankfully the airborne peanut particles caused no issue for Sami but for other children it could.
We have also navigated our way round tree nuts being used for crafts in classrooms and a teacher who insisted to eat their daily bag of mixed nuts while teaching with a nut allergic child sat in front of him..yes, really!
Please know that I am only too happy to discuss any part of the journey of raising a child with multiple food allergies if it can help someone else navigate the way. I know however we still have some way to go as Sami now becomes more independent through the teenage years.
For now when he is out with his friends he often sends me photographs of ingredients lists and asks “are these ok?”, or now we are moving towards “are these ok, I think they are but I want you to double check”. I am sure soon he will be confident enough to not ask for my “double check”, until then, I am happy he asks me.
A few of the friends he spends time with most have also come to our house to be shown how and when to use the “trousse d’urgence”. Another step to becoming independent - surround yourself with good friends!
Through our allergy community in Luxembourg, I know several parents of children who have successfully navigated the teen years, into the student living away from home years, and beyond. When I have moments of worry or doubt for what Sami has to live with and manage, I always think to these families and I am forever grateful to know these families and to have seen their children transform into young adults successfully living and managing their allergies independently.
As a wonderful teacher that Sami had in precose once said “anything is possible, it just takes more planning”. So very true!!
The Wallace Family