A Sobering Reminder...

...that kids sometimes die from their food allergies. Ugh.

Full story here: Seventh-grader dies of food allergy at Chicago school

So tragically sad. I'd say I'm speechless, except there are countless thoughts swirling in my head, such as:

--it is stupid that all schools are equipped with defibrilators but not Epipens. At this point shouldn't Epipens be standard issue at all places hosting children, like camps, schools, airplanes, etc.? (I mean, I wouldn't personally want to solely rely on my child's school having an Epipen around rather than sending her own Epipen to school to be stored there, but still -- it seems there should be one there as a backup. What is the great harm we are trying to prevent here by NOT having extra Epipens around? Accidental injection? Overdose? Give me a break. The risk of potential death trumps that.)

--why does food have to be a part of SO, SO many school events in the first place? We wouldn't even have to get into the question of nut bans so much if food were just kept in the cafeteria at lunchtime. Kids deserve to have their classroom be a safe place for learning.

--Georgia has never had Chinese food. I view it as extremely high risk. I'd flip a lid if someone served her Chinese food at school. [EDITED TO ADD: I should clarify that I'm not blaming the teacher involved in this particular incident. I presume permission to eat the Chinese food was given by this girl's parents, but I have no idea. I just meant that as of right now I can't imagine ever feeling comfortable allowing Georgia to eat Chinese food at school, outside of my immediate supervision. But who knows, maybe I will feel differently about that when she's 13.]

--Georgia's preschool kept her Epipens at school, but this story reminds us all of how quickly a reaction can grow out of control. As they say, seconds count. (People TOTALLY forget that and look at you like you are crazy when you act annoyed about your daughter going to gym class in a separate building where her Epipen will be a block and a half away. No, they don't eat in gym. But do you want to be the one sprinting on a mad dash looking for an Epipen in case of some freak emergency? I don't think so.) I wonder if Georgia's teachers would've remembered where the Epi was in a time of crisis? I wonder if they'd have remembered how to use it? For my own sanity, I generally like to assume the answer is yes and put these terrible thoughts out of my head, but stories like this one are a painful reminder that things can go horribly wrong.

--it's not clear to me what all the facts were here. It appears there was no Epipen in the classroom or at the school to give the girl. But we have no idea how long it took the EMTs to arrive. Presumably they had epinepherine on board the ambulance, but I don't know. Also, as much as Epipens are thought of as a life-saving device (which they can be), I think people need to realize that sometimes they are not enough.

I don't mean to make this all about ME, and Georgia, and our family. My heart goes out to this family. I can't even imagine the pain and grief they are dealing with.

Now go hug your little ones, be they babies or all grown up. Squeeze them tight.

I just visited Kourtney Kardashian's blog. Really???

I'm not a follower of the Kardashians or their reality TV show, but I heard via FAAN's Facebook feed that Kourtney Kardashian recently had to rush her 11 month old son to the hospital after he had an allergic reaction (vomiting and hives) to eating his first taste of peanut butter.

Here's a link to the People.com blurb about it:
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20444171,00.html

Oh! I feel for her! I have never had to rush Georgia to the hospital and can only imagine how scary this must have been.

The reason I was compelled to visit her blog and comment was to leave an encouraging word. Apparently a lot of people have been criticizing Kourtney and calling her a bad mom for giving her son peanut butter in the first place, and then also for taking him to the hospital, saying things like, "I can't believe you'd go to the hospital for an allergic reaction."

Others in the food allergy community seem instantly ready for her to become a spokesperson, never mind that she's probably still adjusting to the news herself and isn't up to speed on all the facts about food allergies.

It is hard enough to deal with the overwhelming feelings that come with discovering your child has a food allergy. I can't imagine adding to that the stress of being in the public eye and having your every move judged. She may have chosen a life of celebrity and everything that comes with that, but she sure didn't choose for her son to have a food allergy. Good luck to you, Kourtney. I'm glad your son is okay.

RAST results

The results of Georgia's blood work came in and are as follows: (I'll explain the "Class" numbers to the best of my ability at the bottom of this post.)

Peanut went up but remains at a Class III.
Sesame went up and rose from a Class II to a Class III.

For some of the fish, we were able to get more specific results than in the past. They were able to separately test for cod fish, tuna, salmon, halibut and tilapia, and I'm not sure they did that before because I don't have 2008 and 2009 numbers for all those fish. She's testing positive for all of those. Her cod fish and tilapia scores went down, although they both remain in the Class III range.

Similarly, we got a more specific breakdown of the tree nut scores this year. The good news is that for some of the nuts (i.e., almonds, pine nuts and hazel nuts) her scores are so low that they are considered a Class 0 (i.e., negative test result) or Class I. Our allergist explained this to mean that if Georgia's scores remain low, then when Georgia gets a little bigger the allergist will recommend that she do a food challenge for those nuts. Now, even if she were to pass such a food challenge, she might have to continue avoiding those nuts for fear of cross contamination. However, manufacturing practices are improving, as is allergy awareness, so I know there are already certain products out there (e.g., particular brands of almond butter) that you can safely consume even if you're allergic to other nuts. So, no change on our nut avoidance practices for now, but maybe in a year or two? Fingers crossed.

Her highest tree nut scores were for pecans and walnuts.

Now the grand finale: Georgia's not allergic to shellfish! (Or "sellfish" as she likes to pronounce it.) Woo hoo! As the results have been explained to me, Georgia may never have been allergic to shellfish, but we were previously told to avoid all shellfish due to (1) her allergic history/profile; (2) the fact that testing is not 100% reliable; and (3) the fact that she has a fish allergy, thus making the risk of cross contamination high (due to the handling/processing of seafood). Anyway, we are thrilled. I don't know any 3 year olds who eat tons of shrimp and crab, but I don't care - this still opens up a whole new category of protein for us and moves a few foods back out of the "threat" column for our family. Even if Georgia hates the taste of shellfish, or refuses to eat it, at least Joe and I can now eat crab and shrimp at home without worrying - yea!

Practically speaking, we will be reading labels carefully, and probably buying exclusively frozen shellfish to eat at home. The risk of cross contamination from other fish in restaurants or from the fresh seafood counter at the grocery store is too high to risk eating that stuff.

While I had the allergist on the phone I also picked her brain about DHA fortified foods. You may have noticed your milk or other foods being marketed as, "Now with DHA!" They want you to believe it will make you smarter or make you live longer - I don't know. Hey, I'm not knocking it - I take a fish oil pill everyday hoping there's at least some value to it. What I was worried about was that these DHA fortified products may contain a fish oil that Georgia's allergic to. The allergist's answer was that many DHA products are actually made from seaweed and should be okay, but that we should always read labels. If something's made with fish, it is required by law to state that it includes fish. So, I'll be doing some label perusing at the grocery store soon. Last thing I need is for Georgia to be served supposedly safe milk and cookies, only to find out that the food scientists of the world have figured out a way to get fish into them.

Oh - so a word about the "Class" levels referred to above. In my own words: the Class just corresponds to the level of probability that a positive result is in fact accurate. It is not a measure of the "severity" of one's allergy, though you will see many confused parents discussing these things online as if that is the case. (In looking into the meaning of the Classes, I was amazed at the misinformation swirling around on online message boards. People saying things like, "My son scored a 6 on a scale from 1 to 4." What? That doesn't even make sense. Made me think of Spinal Tap, though - turn it to ELEVEN.) : )

Here's a slightly more scientific explanation from a website called Food Allergy Support, though I have to add that I'm not really familiar with the site or that organization and therefore can't vouch for the veracity of the following:

"The severity of a person's allergic response is not related to RAST level. Class 3 individuals can have severe responses and Class 6 can have mild. RAST tests are only useful to determine whether an individual is allergy, not how allergic they are. However, different antigens have different threshold levels above which an allergic response is likely. For example, people with a peanut RAST result of >14kU/l are likely to have an allergic response to peanut. Soybean typically required >30kU/l; egg as little as 7kU/l. Class 1 and Class 2 often fall below the threshold where most individuals would experience a food reaction, so doctors often consider results in this range equivocal. If results fall in this range and the patient has not experienced an actual reaction to a food, the allergy may be confirmed via a food challenge."

So, there you have it! This was supposed to be a quickie post. Oops.

Allergist Visit (and answers to some questions)

Our first visit to Georgia's new allergist was great! We all really liked her, including Georgia.

I can't believe how positive I felt after this appointment, considering that at the end of the day, nothing has really changed for us so far. We'll have to wait 7-10 days to get the RAST score results from Georgia's blood work, and even then I'll be surprised if she's eligible for any food challenges. Still, though, this doctor just spoke so positively about all of the research that's being done in the field of food allergies that it was the first time I've felt like there's real hope for a cure, not in the esoteric "someday" sense, but truly in the "Georgia won't always have to deal with this" sense. (Maybe even by high school!) For any food allergy sufferer, I'm sure that would be happy news. For a mother, the thought is enough to make one burst into tears of joy. (I didn't. I'm just sayin.)

Anyway, we asked some questions (some of which are frequently posed to me by friends or family), so I thought I'd share the answers. (The nerdy lawyer in me is now compelled to remind you that I'm just relaying what I heard, and that no one should follow this advice but should instead talk to a doctor about your individual circumstances.) Also, all of the answers below have been paraphrased and elaborated on to my heart's content.

1) The EpiPen temperature and light control issue. Official guidelines recommend keeping the EpiPen between 76-78 degrees and out of direct sunlight. This is tricky when you live in a place with temps ranging from -10 to 110. I know some people who keep their Epi in a cooler all summer when they go out. Others have been told to keep the Epi in its original cardboard box so as not to expose it to too much light. What are we supposed to do?

Our allergist's answers:
Temperature: She tells people to take it with them, and that if they're comfortable, the Epi is comfortable, and not to worry about it too much. So basically, I took this to mean don't leave it in your car's glove box (duh), but you don't need to stress if it's 90 degrees out and you're heading to lunch. Based on her answer, I won't be worrying with a special case for the Epi unless we'll be somewhere very hot or very cold for an extended period of time. Beach day? Yes. Quick trip to the park on a hot day? No.

Light: No, you do not need to keep it in a cardboard box, or a bag, or otherwise strive for darkness. The idea is to not leave it lying in direct sunlight, but carrying it around in the plastic green carrier it comes with should be fine. In other words, it's not going to go bad in light the way that exposed film would.

2) Labeling. We were looking for greater clarity about whether to avoid all foods made on shared equipment, or "made in the same facility as," and that kind of thing. We asked this question knowing that there's no "right" answer, but I just wanted someone to tell me what to do! Plus I wanted to know that the answer is based on facts and reasoning. (To elaborate: I feel like we have been living a double standard, because we never bring foods labeled this way into our home from the grocery store, and yet when we do occasionally eat out it's not like I'm asking to see the packaging of the bread that Georgia's sandwich is made on. So while I know, for example, that that bread doesn't contain nuts or sesame (because I asked the wait staff), I can't tell you that it wasn't "produced in the same facility" as another food containing her allergens.)

Allergist's answer: We can serve products that do not contain Georgia's allergens (peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish) in the ingredients list but are labeled as having been produced in the same facility as those allergens. We should not serve products that are labeled as having been produced on the same equipment as those allergens. (Also, we should not serve products labeled as "may contain" or "may contain traces of" with respect to Georgia's allergens, but we were already clear on that.) The doctor did not know of any good statistical studies about the number of allergic reactions stemming from foods that supposedly did not contain the offending ingredient but were labeled this way (as "same facility" or "same equipment"). However, she did say that she has had patients who have had serious reactions to "shared equipment" foods.

3) What about June? June has eaten eggs, but she has not had any nuts, sesame, fish or shellfish, simply because we don't typically have those foods in our home. So far she has displayed no signs of food allergies. We were wondering whether she is supposed to continue avoiding those foods because we now have a family history of allergies? Or when are we supposed to introduce them?

Allergist's answer: The long and short of it is that before sending June to an environment like preschool (2 years from now), we'll need to know for sure if she has any food allergies. However, we shouldn't really introduce June to Georgia's allergens until we're prepared to make those foods a regular part of her diet, because there have been cases of people eating a food so infrequently that they essentially develop an allergy to it. (I don't think researchers are 100% clear on the science behind this causation concept, or where allergies come from generally, so don't ask me to explain it, but apparently insofar as it relates to how we are to treat June, this is the prevailing wisdom for the time being.) The allergist told us about families where 1 parent has to go on a weekly peanut butter date with the non-allergic sibling just to make sure that the non-allergic sibling continues to be able to eat peanuts.

It's a big sacrifice, I know, but I will go out on a limb now and say that when the time comes, I'll go on a weekly date to eat Reese's cups with June. : ) It would be a needless hassle in our daily lives right now to incorporate nuts, fish, shellfish and sesame into June's diet when the rest of us aren't eating those things at home, so we'll be tabling the introduction of those foods for at least another year or so.

4) EpiPen Use. Should we have injected Georgia with the EpiPen during reactions that were (a) handled adequately by Benadryl, but (b) caused her to cough? (We asked this question because of stuff I have been reading on the topic. My confusion was, if it's a seemingly "mild" reaction that appears to be adequately handled by Benadryl, is it really necessary to inject the EpiPen just because there's a little coughing involved?)

Allergist's answer: Yes. If the reaction is affecting skin only (hives, some facial swelling), then Benadryl is okay. If it is affecting breathing in any way or involves the swelling of the tongue, then inject Georgia's thigh with the EpiPen and call 911. Ugh. I could write a whole post about this topic. It's a bit frustrating and disheartening.

5) Peanut oil. Must we avoid it? Prior to this appointment, we hadn't been worrying about avoiding peanut oil in most settings, because studies show that most allergic individuals can safely consume peanut oil if it's not cold pressed, expelled or extruded -- types of peanut oil that are all associated with "gourmet" oils, not the stuff they dump in the fryer at your average restaurant.

Allergist's answer: Yes, you should avoid peanut oil. It may be true that most types are okay, but you'll never know for sure what you're getting, and it's too risky. Again, to this I say: ugh. It's not like avoiding peanut oil is hard when you're buying things at the store - you just read the label. The problem is in settings where things like fries or chips are served, and now we can no longer assume that they're fine. As an aside, I would say to anyone reading this who is uninitiated into the world of food allergies, this is part of the problem: you end up having to avoid a lot of foods that in actuality are probably fine for you to eat, not just the ones that you know are dangerous. It's more limiting, and it also causes people to look at you like you are crazy overprotective when you tell them your daughter can't eat the french fries because she's allergic to peanuts.


So, that was it! All in all, a great appointment and wonderful chance to get some questions answered. Our allergist thinks that immunotherapy treatments now being conducted in clinical trials may be available to the public in 2 to 3 years. Wouldn't that be fantastic?

Allergy Mom Confessions: Pad Thai

Last night after the girls went to bed, Joe and I ordered pad thai take-out. You know, the kind with the little mound of tiny bits of chopped up peanuts on top?

We took it outside and ate it on the back porch just to be safe. And it was delicious.

I felt like I should destroy the evidence and take a shower afterwards. Never in a million years did I think I'd be snarfing down pad thai on my porch like it was contraband. The things we do now... Too funny.

New Allergist

First let me say: if you are in med school, or thinking about enrolling, I highly recommend you pursue the field of allergy and immunology. Granted, I am not a doctor and know nothing about the training involved or what the job pays relative to other specialties, but I can tell you there must be a shortage of pediatric allergists based on how long it takes to get an appointment.

Georgia's allergist, who we liked very much, moved out of state, thus forcing us to figure out an alternative. Switch to a different doctor within the same practice? Or switch to a new doctor in an entirely different practice? Pros and cons were weighed. Complicating the decision-making process was my firmly held opinion (based entirely on anecdotal evidence) that there's a wide range in the quality of available allergists. Some allergists take the time to educate the patient (or the patient's parents, as the case may be), and others only run a simple blood or skin test and send you on your merry way into a total morass of misinformation, which is scary when you consider that confusion about allergies can lead to life threatening situations.

We ended up deciding to stay with the same practice since they know Georgia's history, and we have come to expect a certain level of quality service from them. Well, we decided to stay, that is, until I called looking for an appointment 8 weeks out and was told that NONE of the physicians in the group had a single available appointment for the remainder of the YEAR! Our name was added to a several-months-long waiting list, even though Georgia is considered an existing patient of this practice.

So, that pretty much ended it for me. We'll be trying out a new allergist, at a new practice, where we were able to get in with about one month's notice. We got a recommendation for this allergist from a doctor friend of ours, and I've now begun the process of building this new allergist's abilities up in my head to the level of "magical wizard who will solve all of our problems". That's realistic, right?

Seriously, though, I get kind of keyed up for these appointments. They only happen once a year. On the plus side, the limited frequency of visits is a nice reminder that Georgia's condition is a very livable one. Think of all the children with diseases that require them to be in and out of doctor's offices and hospitals all year, constantly being tested, poked and prodded. I am so grateful for our health and the fact that no one in our family is facing that situation at the moment. On the down side, the once a year nature of these allergist appointments makes it feel like you've only got one shot to get more information and ask questions in person. One opportunity to change the course of how you live your daily life for the next year.

I guess I'm exaggerating a bit; it's not like you can't contact them at other times of year, but the annual appointment is the big show in my book. So tell me now - are there questions you have thought of that I should be asking? I don't want to forget to ask anything while I've got the allergist's ear!

Dude, you need to relax.

So you think you're all cool and not at all worried about allergies. You're sure you're not harboring low-level anxiety at all times.

And then your cell phone rings in your office while you're at work, and it's someone calling from the preschool, and your heart is racing as they're saying, "This is so and so from such and such school, and I'm just calling because..." And you're thinking to yourself, "How fast can I get there?"

Except that all they are calling about is the fact that school pictures are happening on a Monday, but your daughter doesn't attend on Mondays, so you'll need to make a special trip to drop by if you want to have her included in the class photo.

Oh.

Okay.

So, um? No one's dying?

Fantastic.

We'll be there at 8:00.

Oh, and p.s. did you know that you just gave me a heart attack?

(No, I did not say any of that. Was just thinking it.)

Anyway, apparently I need to take a chill pill.

Chef's Card: Before and After

I had been meaning to create a decent chef's card for a long time but had never gotten around to it. Part of the delay was admittedly due to the fact that we just don't take Georgia out to eat much, but I know that's no excuse - I mean, it's not like we never go out to eat. And then every time we'd get ready to leave for a vacation, where we'd obviously be eating out several times in a week, the idea of a chef's card would come to mind again. I guess that in the hustle of wrapping up work, getting ready to leave town, buying necessities (and usually packing for 3 of the 4 of us), the chef's card always fell by the wayside.

Well, after this little incident, I finally got off of my duff and created a better one. If you aren't familiar with chef's cards, I think the pictures will explain it.

Before:

{Yes, that's a scrap of pink construction paper. Nuts/Fish/Sesame is my way of shortening peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish and sesame. I know it's important to convey ALL of Georgia's allergies, but I'm also of the mind that too many words can lead to people tuning out the whole thing. Maybe others disagree?}

After:

{Free template available on FAAN's website. I highlighted the words at the top to draw attention to them. This one is printed on bright paper so that it's less likely to get overlooked by a waiter or cook, and it's laminated. I only have the one but figure I should print some more since they're likely to not return from the kitchen.}

What do you think? Looking at it now, I'm wishing I had specified pine nuts, but at least I remembered to put pesto, which is the usual sneaky pine nut culprit.

Georgia and June's Crayon Party

We celebrated Georgia's 3rd birthday and June's 1st with a crayon themed party. (Allergy-friendly, of course, which I feel compelled to mention since I've parked this post here on Dining With Goldilocks.)

This first picture is just for fun, lest you get the idea from the rest of these pics that everything always looks so put together in our house.

{Here's Georgia "helping" me with the decorations the day before. She's in pajamas, eating dry Cheerios, it's about 5:00 p.m., and she has strewn cupcake wrappers everywhere, amidst a pillow that she dragged into the kitchen and a toy stroller she knocked over.}

We covered all tables and parts of the wall in butcher paper for drawing. Crayons were on sale for back to school at Target, so I was able to get several hundred for just $4.00.


The cupcakes were maybe my favorite use of the theme. I bought a nice set of food coloring (which I'll be able to continue using for a long time), and made a veritable rainbow of frosting colors, in various shades of each hue. I purchased the edible crayon cupcake toppers.


Originally I thought I would go on Flickr to find cool pictures of crayons to use in our decorations, but I couldn't figure out how to print them. Then I thought, why don't I just photograph some crayons myself? Here is a no-sew Happy Birthday banner that I made out of 4x6 prints of my crayon snapshots.


Here's a better look at one of my crayon shots. They're all available under my Flickr handle (baumgak) if anyone wants to use them.


My niece, Alice, drawing on our walls. I figured drawing on the walls would be a treat seeing as how it's usually a big no-no.


I discovered this after the party. I believe it's supposed to say "Juney and Georgia".


We had a ton of fun making the favors, and they were a great tie-in to the theme. Here's a picture of the favors before they were bagged. Georgia helped me to upcycle crayon bits from the bottom of her box into star and circle shapes by melting them in the oven. Instructions found here. (Tips: Do not use washable crayons. If using silicone pans, put oven at 200.) Also, I adapted an idea I think I originally saw on Design Mom of taking a photo of an outstretched fist and inserting a lollipop stick, but instead we did it with crayons. Such a cool effect! I must say I'm impressed with us that we were able to get a usable shot of June for this purpose, since she can't make a fist on demand. She is pictured handing someone a tiny leaf that she found on the ground. Hey, whatever works!


We played "Drop the Crayon", a variation on the more familiar "Drop the Clothespin", wherein the goal is to drop a small object into vessels decreasing in size with each round. We started with a large metal mixing bowl and worked down to a drinking glass.


Sam checking out whether Harry made it.

He did!

Here I am casting a spell on the presents. Just kidding. Actually, in lieu of other gifts, we did a book exchange. Every child came with a wrapped book, and every child got to go home with a book new to him or her. I think it worked great for a very small group of young children close in age like we had.


This doesn't have much to do with the crayon theme, other than the fact that it's colorful, but I got the idea for using a Pack n Play to make a ball pit from Rookie Moms. I thought it was hysterical and the kids got a real kick out of it, too.

See, Sam is why we need a sign like this. : )


Sam and Harry having a chat in the ball pit.

Well, that about does it for showing off our decorations. On to the party pics and gratuitous face-full-of-cake shots!


"We are making these nice fake smiles for your photograph. May we eat our cupcakes now, please?"


Max re-purposing a "Drop the Crayon" bowl.


Happy Birthday!


How many people does it take to blow out 1 candle?


My sister commented that June appeared to be approaching the cupcake like a blind person at first. You can see what she meant from this picture.


Ahhh, there we go!


Just wanted to show off their "1" and "3" t-shirts. Georgia wore the "1" on her first birthday, too. I've decided to make number shirts a birthday tradition in our house. (Well, for the kids anyway!)


Synchronized cupcake eating!


I think Georgia's face is saying, "Daddy, please shave." Joe's been keeping his vacation beard well past vacation just for fun. It's going away this weekend, but now it will be forever remembered in photographs thanks to the many momentous occasions we celebrated in August 2010.


My baby!




A genuine Juney smile.


Thanks for visiting!

Walnut pesto mayo. Are you kidding me?

I feel like I'm beginning to bore myself with so much recent allergy talk, so I'm going to make a long story short:

• Went out to lunch with the girls last Friday.
• Looked at the menu online ahead of time for safe options.
• Ordered her a ham and cheese sandwich.
• Told the waiter about Georgia's allergies (nuts, fish, sesame). (Aka, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, and sesame.)
• Tried to hand the waiter a small piece of paper with Georgia's allergies written down clearly in all caps. (My shoddy version of a chef's card, I guess.)
• Reminded the waiter to be careful not just of her food but of cross contamination from other food (e.g., the person who just prepared a PB&J shouldn't handle Georgia's sandwich).
• Food arrives. Georgia eats one bite only. She's normally a big eater.
• I notice one hive and ask my sister to wipe Georgia's cheek, thinking it might just be a contact reaction to something.
• I notice the mayo on Georgia's sandwich looks a little funny and ask my sister to investigate.
• Turns out, they put walnut pesto mayo on Georgia's sandwich! Are you kidding me?
• Remain calm. Wait to see if medication is needed. Decide medication is needed, because Georgia is acting like a spaced out zombie.
• Give Benadryl. She immediately perks up.
• Total reaction amounted to about 2 hives, zombie-like state, loss of appetite, redness on her cheek, one or two coughs (which may or may not have been related to any of this), and whatever the hell else may have been going on inside of her that I will never know about. (See below for more on that.)

I was kind of mortified that this all happened in the company of my sister's friends and their children, because I felt like we were causing a bit of a scene, even though everyone couldn't have been nicer about it. Good news is that Georgia ended up fine. Bad news is that this was a very frustrating experience. I'm normally so embarrassed (I know I shouldn't be) to address Georgia's allergies head on in restaurants, but this time I think I really did everything I was supposed to do up front. There was just a breakdown in communication between the waiter and the kitchen, I guess. Because I am a huge nerd, I have since written the restaurant manager a letter to tell them what occurred and that I think they may need better allergy policies or staff education in place. Basically, I just want to keep this from happening to someone else.

Silver lining here is that Georgia and I had a nice chat about her reaction on the way home. Any reaction, though unfortunate, is a data point that we can learn from, an experience that will help Georgia to better identify and articulate in the future when she thinks she may be having a reaction.

I feel like an idiot, because during our chat, I asked her if it felt funny when she ate the bite of sandwich, and I totally misundertsood her anwer. She responded by saying that it felt like she had a pipe in her mouth. A pipe? I was picturing the type of pipe a person would smoke tobacco from, and I couldn't even think of where she had seen a pipe, other than Curious George books, or maybe pictures of Santa. So I figured there was no way she'd really know what having a pipe in your mouth would feel like and basically chalked her response up to toddler nonsense. But later that day, when Joe got home from work he asked her about what had happened at the restaurant, and Georgia again told him that her mouth had felt like it had a pipe in it. "A pipe? What kind of pipe?" he asked. "You know, a pipe. Like how water goes through pipes," she said. Ohhhhhhhh. Duh. So, I gather that she was feeling some constriction of her throat or swelling in her mouth or something, based on this description. Which makes the whole experience just a little scarier in retrospect, but I am not going to dwell unnecessarily on that, because the point is that she recovered quickly and is fine.

(Wish I could have said the same about my mental state that day. I was still replaying everything in my head and worrying unnecessarily about hypothetical situations by the time I went to bed.)