What was that??

Well slack here too but see other blog for info!!

We have had a busy time but Miss Z decided just two weeks ago that it was a good time to have a reaction and require an ambulance trip with a few hours observation time in the Emergency Department!!
We had eaten fish n chips from the take away shop for tea and ordered our usual order.

Miss Z ate her normal foods but around 10minutes later she started coughing...and coughing...and coughing...I asked how she felt but she couldnt describe it to me. Gave her a drink of water and administered some ventolin.
Of which neither made any difference.  More ventolin 10mins later but nup no difference. Then thought that maybe it was a reaction, but not sure what. Administered some Polarmine Anti-Histamine.
No welts/hives/swelling evident but nothing I was doing was helping relieve the cough either.
So a call was made to the Emergency Services.  Upon arrival of an ambulance she stopped coughing - but thankfully only breifly!! Decided to get them to take her and I to the ED and get a check up done.
Just as well we did as Miss Z deteriorated en-route and required adrenalin in her oxygen mask with the ventolin.
She became drowsy and very wheezy.
The paramedic told me that I had in fact done the right thing in calling them as there at one stage I felt I had wasted their time.
Upon arrival at the ED a full check up was done and coughing was still there but no hives etc.
Dr's decided to give Miss Z a shot of adrenalin in her thigh/buttock and this took 2 nurses, myself and the dr who had  the needle to hold her down.
Dr also said that I should have administered the epi-pen!! I didnt think it was warranted but he said it should have been done!!
After 2 hours observation in ED we were allowed to come home.
As soon as the Dr left our cubicle Miss Z started coughing and coughing and coughing AGAIN!!
She did this most of the way home but settled down once in bed and sleeping.

I checked with the fish and chip shop about the ingrediants in the foods we had and nothing was foods that she shouldnt have been exposed too.
So we are no wiser as to what bought this reaction on.

We have a new referral to the Pead and will be getting another lots of testing done soon along with some other things looked at.

Life is never boring in our house!!

We have found out that Miss Z can eat Twix choclate bares so she is very happy with that!! Something new for her as a treat!!

Anyways I have heavy eyes and must try to sleep.

cheers

Shopping trip October 28 2009

Well I guess you can say that today was a good shopping day for Miss Z.
Mummy netted some new goodies for her to try!!

Captain's Table Watercrackers - yeah a bit plain and boring but something different for her - and she can even have the Homebrand ones from woolworths BUT weirdly she cannot have the Coles homebrand version :S !!  Also found some more Orgran bickies for her to have!! And then in the baby food section there was some Mini Rice Cakes Apple & Banana flavour and it specifies on the pack that they are peanut free!!

So was a good shopping trip for her.

Oh and the You'll Love Coles Fruity Rings are cool for Miss Z as well!!!!!

Going to contact Miss Z's Dad who works at a Supermarket and see if he can find out about some rice bubbles for her as so far I have come to a dead end.....

How Far Does One Take It ??

Miss Z was eating a icypole the other day at school.. and out she came in one big hive on her face!! I mean come-on!! A flippin icypole!!

How far do we need to take the allergy business?

Do we need to make her life so boring and let her have some of the luxuries in life like a icypole?

I know some have it tougher than us but I just think that sometimes life is so damn cruel to so many people!!

And then there is packets and how they are changed by the company to read differently when once they were safe.  (I ranted about that last time I know)!!!

Do we need to go as far as avoiding everything that says may contain traces of nuts etc And the ones that say "Manufactured on a line that also processes nuts etc".....

AHHH What an awful world we live in.....

OK rant over.....

Found some new goodies for Miss Z @ Mum's work the other day so yay finally something different for her lunchbox!!
Gotta love Orgran products !!

Ok troops want food!!

chow

T.

Frustrating Shopping Trips

Was quite frustrated the other day when doing my groceries at Coles and I noticed the Coles brand Rice Puffs had a new box/design...picked them and had a look to discover that these now say those words "May contain traces of eggs, nuts and sesame" ... GRR !! They were the only brand rice bubbles that I know of that are Miss Z safe!! Surely there are others out there somewhere!!!!!!
Cant buy Kellogs branded cereals as they may contain traces of eggs and nuts too or are manufactored on equipment that process eggs, nuts and seeds!!!
GRR! Why is life so hard for allergy kids????
A while back I even noted that Fosters Clark chocolate snack packs are a no go!! And also another brand chocolate custard!!!
Looks like I am going to have to do some research and contact some other parents of allergy kids!!!
On a brighter note Woolworths now have a Organic Spiral pasta that is Miss Z safe.. only Coles had this but I havent been able to find it there but was over the moon to see one at Woolies!!

Miss Z still has her rash on her face today but it doesnt appear to be bothering her.
Was speaking to my cousin last night and she said her two kids were reacting to the same thing/water/chlorin at the same place where Miss Z and Co. are going atm for learn to swim.. so interesting to see that she isnt the only one....

chow
T.

From the start

Well Miss Z was born January 2000. 6th child, 2nd daughter....

She already had things to deal with when I introduced her to baby rice at around 3mths.

Each time she would have baby rice she would get a bright red rash around her face and I was told it was eczema. And to give her a rest from the baby rice for a few days to see what happens.  So I did.

I waited about 5 or so days and tried her again and BANG! that rash came back.

So off to the Doctor I took her and we were referred to our lovely pead who then referred us for allergy testing.

April 2000 saw us with a skin prick test being done.

The results showed her being allergic to egg, nuts and potato.

Ok so potato is starch and I guess that it is in baby rice too.

So thankfully we hadnt started her on anything else as the result may have not been a pretty one.

As the years have gone by we have had regular testing done of her allergies and the potato one has now gone,  thankfully.  But the other two remain and a soy allergy has appeared but it is not a major one.

Miss Z has had a couple of reactions over the years by ingesting a couple of bites of a peanut butter sandwich (OOPS) left sitting around by one of her big brothers. Another reaction was when she ate cream off a spoon that had previously had pavlova on it although it had been licked clean.

We have phenergan and other anti-histamines for Miss Z and she also has epi-pens at home and school and I carry an epi-pen in my bag most times.  Thankfully I have never had to use the epi-pen but have had to give her a antihistamine.

Around April 2007 when Miss Z was with her grand parents while we moved house she was exposed to peanut butter and couldnt stop coughing. We though she just had a bad cough and never thought a lot of it.  Until she was later exposed to some nuts and had a similar turn.  It was then we began to wonder if maybe she had become prone to being allergic to things within the air.  So a Dr appt was made and off to the pead we went.

And the result was: Yes Miss Z falls in to the 2% of the population that have a reaction to airborne allergens.

So we now need to keep her away from places where nuts are likely to be that are not packed or covered up.  Thankfully - as hard as it is - she is only like this with nuts and not eggs.

School has been hard for Miss Z with the schools she has attended having to ensure that she is not exposed to nuts and eggs - with nut being the worst of course.

The primary school that she is at now had not had to deal with any food allergies like this until Miss Z started there in July 2008.

It has taken a while for things to fall into place for the parents, staff and students there but at the moment all seems to be fine and I am always  more than happy to answer any questions, provide recipes and the likes.

I am loathing the fact that every product you pick up these days has the wording "Packed on equipment that may contain traces of eggs or nuts" or "This product may contain traces of egg and nuts".  Yes I know it is to cover their butt. But it is very frustrating for the parents of children with allergies when we have so much trouble buying food for our children.

Yes I know it could be much worse for Miss Z as others have allergies so much worse but in our family it is bad enough.

Just this week the school have been doing Learn to Swim at one of the pools at a gym.... Monday and Tuesday Miss Z was ok but Wednesday saw her face and ears in a rash.  So we thought it may have been the latex swimming cap and we got her a lycra one and I kept her home from school to keep an eye on her.

Thursday saw no problems but on Friday we got a different story.

Friday I went along to watch Miss Z at her lessons and was happy to see her having a go.

When I went with her to get her changed and dressed I noticed welts/hives/spots on her legs, arms, back and bottom.

I called her aide - who is with her on all excursions - to have a look and she was suprised.

I said I thought it was either something in the air there or the chlorine. 

Administered a dose of antihistamine, dressed Miss Z and phoned the Dr for her to be seen.

Of course this would happen on a day that I went on the bus with the class and didnt have my car!!

By the time we got back to school the hives etc had all but gone and I headed off to the Dr with her.

Dr wasnt our usual one but he agreed that it was most likely the chlorine and that she must not do swimming next week either. He also checked her breathing and assured me that we had done all the right things!!

I know that there are many others worse off than Miss Z but gee! Why cant she do something fun and learn a new skill without having a reaction!!

So now Miss Z is resting on the couch after having her medicine this morning and will need more later in the day.

No more swimming with school next week either!!

Poor Miss Z is what I say....