7yr old Omaha boy nearly dies from accidental peanut ingestion in classroom

[socks on a rooster]

Wow, did Carefulmom nail it recently when she was saying in another thread how "safe" lists aren't very safe. This boy got someone's snack IN THE DARKENED ROOM watching a movie.

http://www.ketv.com/r/30307603/detail.html#.TyHcChQh2No.facebook

[IowaMom]

Thanks for posting. I forwarded this to DD's teacher and nurse.  A prime example of how mistakes CAN and DO happen, and why we are so adamant about classrooms being food free.  Thank goodness this little boy is ok.

[GoingNuts]

OMG, this made me cry.  And such a good illustration of what can go wrong, and how a "not so bad" reaction can go south in a hurry.

That poor boy, those poor parents.  Thank heaven he is OK.

[ajasfolks2]

NO FOOD is gold standard.

NO DEATHS to anaphylaxis should be the GOAL and the NORM.

Enough is enough!

[MandCmama]

And what if they were at most other hospitals, where that life saving equipment is not available  So very scary 

[socks on a rooster]

Again, the school called the mom and mom took him to the ER. I didn't read any mention of an epi pen, and he had asthma. Bad tummy ache and itchy throat should have equaled epi.

[IowaMom]

Agreed socks.  This was not handled at all how it should have been. The worst part of the reaction may have been "delayed", but it sounds like he had itchiness right away.  AND, they knew for a fact he had eaten a PN product.  Def should have been epi'd at some point and 911 called.  With all that time lost he easily could have died.

[CMdeux]

Yeah, I was thinking that based on our experience, this does NOT sound like a "delayed" reaction so much as a biphasic one, and fairly classic at that.   


The larger question in my mind is still-- why was food being served to this child in the first place??  WHY??

What educational or nutritional purpose did it serve?  How was it essential to the children in this classroom?


Yes, yes-- I know the answers to that particular pair of questions.  Clearly the school administrators need to be answering them, since they apparently never thought about it until now.

  I just find the fact that "food free" instructional space is apparently "just too much to ask for" morally repugnant in the extreme.   

[IowaMom]

Just looked at the article again, and now there is a very long comment placed by the boy's mom's best friend explaining what exactly happened.  Sounds like they did give him benadryl, and in reading I can see why it was a tough call whether to epi.  I guess it's hard to say what any of us would do in that situation unless it happened.  Just thankful he's ok. 

[socks on a rooster]

About a year ago, dd ingested milk protein during lunch at school (crumbs dropped onto her food most probably), and she developed an itchy throat. She was given Benedryl, observed and returned to class because dd said she was fine. The timeline is sketchy to me now, but by the time I picked her up (it was a minimum day) she looked lethargic and shortly after getting home she said, "Mom, listen." She had wheezing and stridor, no other symptoms at all. It was so scary how stealthily it can happen, and I am SO grateful that it was minimum day and I was there when the wheezing developed. So, I know personally that the "avalanche" of anaphylaxis can begin slowly, but gain speed quickly.

[CMdeux]

 

"Anaphylaxis.  It's not what you think.  Until, OMG! OMG! OMG!-- it is-- but by then it might be too late to stop."

That pretty much sums it up nicely.  Each and every one of my DD's major reactions (since the first one) have been completely mindboggling in their ferocity and astonishing in terms of speed at that point. 

Each and every time, it was seconds from an idly curious "huh... I wonder what..." (meaning, completely nonspecific symptoms that may or may not have even BEEN allergy-related, nevermind FOOD related) to OMG! OMG! OMG! Someone HELP-- she's crashing!!     We have seldom been able to pinpoint just what the trigger was in most of these cases... just that it is "probably" peanut contamination, given the circumstances-- but there's never been an overt ingestion source to tie it to since the first reaction to pn.  Very anxiety-provoking, that, because basically, what environment DOES NOT pose that sort of risk, short of other pn-free homes?

I find it so incredibly frustrating to try to communicate this reality to other caregivers.  That if something seems "off" they may only have a few seconds to wonder why before they will be handling a situation that looks and feels remarkably, and terrifyingly, like imminent death.  There is something about it which simply does not compute until you've seen it happen with your own eyes.  It doesn't seem to matter who you are or what your background is.  I can tell that even our allergist (and he's VERY good) hasn't ever seen it happen firsthand.  Oh, he believes us-- but only because he's so well-versed in the theoretical and because he knows me and my DH well, and he is experienced and sensitive enough to register my inner PANIC when I notice anything that could be impending anaphylaxis symptoms in DD.  He can put those things together to get a sense of the underlying history behind that panic.  But he doesn't get it (not in that visceral sense) because he's not seen it.

The doctor in the story has seen it.  Now-- he gets it.    How incredibly fortunate that this happened where pediatric ECMO was available.  I'm so glad that this little boy didn't die.  I think that this story emphasizes once more just why we are so careful and so suspicious of others... 

[Carefulmom]

Wow, did Carefulmom nail it recently when she was saying in another thread how "safe" lists aren't very safe. This boy got someone's snack IN THE DARKENED ROOM watching a movie.

http://www.ketv.com/r/30307603/detail.html#.TyHcChQh2No.facebook

Really.  I have always thought that all these safe snack boxes do is enable them to have more food activities without feeling guilty.  That is a horrible story.  So scary.  That child could have so easily died.  Many hospitals do not have ECMO.

[lakeswimr]

This is so scary.  There are times I should have epid and did not.  The symptoms were minor but if I went strictly by our very conservative plan I would have epid.  DS hates getting it and argues against it.  The idea of being seemingly fine for that long with just minor symptoms (I read it as minor stomach ache and itchiness) to nearly dying in seconds is very scary. 

This story is why I don't trust other people.  I don't want any allergens at parties at all.  I want my child fully included but if I can't be there I don't trust anyone else.  I don't want anyone serving him food.  I want him eating out of his lunch box or from a container I send that no one else touches.  Being safe trumps being included.  Checking food labels wasn't enough to keep this child safe.  If he had had his own plastic container with food chances are he would not have accidentally eaten the granola bar.

[CMdeux]

Yes, I really wish that I could bottle what the ER staff saw so that every FA family had it available as an "Elixir of Enlightenment" for use with schools, family, physicians, basically anyone that is clueless and/or obstructionist.   

Better still if, before any human being could open his or her mouth to trash "neurotic" FA parents and over-protective measures versus the "rights" of others.... that a lightning bolt would shoot down out of the blue and instantaneously provide such a person with a firsthand witnessing of events like these.  The sheer horror of it is hard to convey in words.  I just want to scream when I read things like this... I want to shout to EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE--  that this!!!!!!-- THIS is what we are up against.  FOR REAL-- every meal, every surface, every location, every MINUTE of every day, this is our reality.  And that if I seem to others to be something of a pain in the backside about food-food-food everywhere, all the time, maybe they ought to walk a few miles in my daughter's shoes and see the world through her eyes and ours before they say even ONE more word about the rights of others to live without being 'inconvenienced' by her safe inclusion in activities that have no business involving food to start with.

  I'm so sick to death of people not understanding what they are choosing to do-- oh, who am I kidding?  INSIST UPON, in spite of pleading and begging otherwise when they include food in activities that also involve children with known LTFA.  It's an unecessary risk.  They wouldn't take it on in a million years if they knew just how real it was.  I'm sure of it.  Nobody in their right MIND would.  That's my litmus test, personally.  When I (well, or DD does, at this point) explain the situation, and the person still has the CAJONES (pardon my language) to say "Oh, sure-- but the other kids can still have _______ and she can just be careful, right?" I know in that moment that they can't get it and never will, short of seeing my daughter fighting for her life right in front of them as the direct and obvious result of their willful stupidity in insisting on food-food-food-food...

   I'm often told by those same people that I just need to "understand" where they are coming from and be willing to "compromise."  Well, hey-- news flash.  I know where they are coming from.  A place of IGNORANCE.  Because I used to live there, too, tyvm-- before I had the epiphany of watching my kid almost die a few times.  Until they can comprehend just how little it takes (and really, in this particular instance, this was a MASSIVE ingestion-- way more than DD has ever eaten-- EVER) then I have nowhere to go with people like this because they truly can't wrap their heads around it.  They really do, on some level, think that we're exaggerating.  Because their own experience insists that it's impossible for what we say to be real.  Makes me crazy.   

Total rant.  I know.  Sorry.  It's just all so bloody unecessary, and it makes me FURIOUS.

[maeve]

This is so scary.  There are times I should have epid and did not.  The symptoms were minor but if I went strictly by our very conservative plan I would have epid.  DS hates getting it and argues against it.  The idea of being seemingly fine for that long with just minor symptoms (I read it as minor stomach ache and itchiness) to nearly dying in seconds is very scary. 

This story is why I don't trust other people.  I don't want any allergens at parties at all.  I want my child fully included but if I can't be there I don't trust anyone else.  I don't want anyone serving him food.  I want him eating out of his lunch box or from a container I send that no one else touches.  Being safe trumps being included.  Checking food labels wasn't enough to keep this child safe.  If he had had his own plastic container with food chances are he would not have accidentally eaten the granola bar.

In the article it states:  "The snack somehow made its way out of another child's lunch box and onto Max's plate. In the darkness of the classroom movie party, the boy took a tiny bite."

This was the case of another family not following the rules for a peanut-free class.  This granola bar wasn't part of the "approved" treats for this movie in the class.  It does show, though, how because the class is eating food another child who might not like what is served may feel that it's OK to break out another snack from their lunch box/backpack--a snack that has not been vetted. 

Every year that DD has been in school, another family has not followed the guidelines about food in the classroom.  This is why I've been reticient to do a safe snack list and don't put items that can easily be confused, such as granola bars, on the list.