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medpundit |
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Thursday, August 29, 2002There is a child in our community who has both a peanut allergy and a mother who is an anti-peanut activist. My first brush with the peanut terror was at a luncheon for my son’s Suzuki violin class, of which the poor allergy-stricken boy was a member. As we sat quietly eating our dessert of cookies and milk, the instructor rose to make an announcement of “life and death importance.” (her words) With shaking voice she told us that there was a child among us with a peanut allergy and that there were peanuts in the cookies. My heart leapt to my throat. I thought he had eaten them and was in anaphylactic shock. But no, my alaram was premature. He had not eaten them, smart and careful child that he was. The problem was that we were to go from the luncheon to a hands-on science museum. We should all immediately go wash out our mouths and wash our hands so that he would be in no danger of coming in contact with peanut protein at the museum. Skepticism replaced alarm. What of the hundreds of other museum patrons who might have eaten peanut butter for lunch? Wouldn’t they pose just as much of a risk? I asked the question aloud of the father sitting across from me. “I don’t know, but they sure scared the holy hell out of me,” was his reply. I have since had the privilege to watch this well-meaning mother scare the holy hell out of teachers, administrators and school children. Her child has even attained celebrity status with a full page newspaper story that laid out his entire history. It seems that when he was a toddler, he had an anaphylactic reaction while under the care of a babysitter. The babysitter swears that she gave him no peanut butter. The only thing that could have explained the reaction was the presence of an opened can of peanut butter in the kitchen. Obviously, he had such a sensitive allergy that even the merest whiff of peanuts could do him in. (Raised eyebrows are appropriate here. Anyone else suspect the babysitter was afraid to tell the truth?) Mother quit her job and devoted her life to protecting her son from peanuts. He was not allowed to go to school, but taught at home, thus the Suzuki violin lessons. But, he’s a very bright boy, and there are programs in our school system for very bright boys that his mother just could not pass up, peanut allergy or no peanut allergy. So once a week he braves the hallways of the public school system to go to a class devoted to the “gifted.” This was not gained, however, without first mounting some defenses. The teacher of the special class was lectured on the danger of peanuts and given an extensive list of food items that should not only be kept out of the classroom when he was in it, but out of the classroom at all times. My other son is in that classroom on a different day, and I have been given the “list of foods to avoid.” It includes, in addition to peanut butter and peanuts, chocolate and sundry foods with peanut oil in them. I marvel at the completeness. The teacher is frightened enough to go through each child’s lunch bag to make sure they have no contraband, and the mother comes to each class at the beginning of each year to lecture the children on the dangers of peanut allergies. When her son received an award for work well-done, the school held it's honors assembly on a weekend so he could avoid the great unwashed peanut-eating masses, and everyone was instructed to avoid eating peanuts in the twenty-four hours preceding the assembly. It’s enough to make one roll one’s eyeballs impolitely at teacher conferences. Don’t get me wrong. Peanut allergies are very real, and they can be fatal. They have been transmitted by kissing and even by liver transplants. I’m well aware of their seriousness and of the fright they can instill in a parent’s heart. My own daughter is peanut-challenged. I assure you, there is nothing so frightening as watching your child have a serious allergic reaction before your very eyes, even if you are a doctor. But, fear is not an excuse for abandoning sense. The chances of dying from anaphylactic shock from ambient peanut protein in the hallways or cafeteria of a school are miniscule. There’s always the chance that a child will inadvertently eat a peanut or something with peanuts in it, but that is no reason to forbid all children in the vicinity from indulging. We can’t protect our children from every risk in the world, nor can we be at their sides for the rest of their lives. The best we can do is to teach them to be properly cautious and to be prepared. We have not banned peanut butter from our home, much less from the school. My daughter keeps an EpiPen® and oral steroids at school to be used if she accidentally eats a peanut. I’ve given her teacher, the principle, and the school nurse detailed instructions, in writing, of how to handle her if it happens. My daughter, although only seven and rarely serious about anything, has learned to ask about peanuts in any unknown food. If she can’t be reassured sufficiently, she passes. She even, at times, doubts me. Recently I took her to a new ice cream stand in town. She had a waffle cone, which she had never had before. “Do they use peanuts to make these?” she asked me warily. “No. They don’t use peanuts.” She looked suspiciously from me to the cone. “Trust me,” I told her. “I used to work in an ice cream shop.” Budding skeptic that she is, she thought about that for a while, then she said, “But you didn’t work in this ice cream shop,” and she threw away the cone. posted by Sydney on 8/29/2002 07:02:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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