The Vancouver Aquarium and Our Peanut Dilemma
Posted on Thursday, March 4, 2010 by Jen
Our peanut-allergic world became a little smaller today after another frightening peanut encounter. We are members of the Vancouver Aquarium, one of our twins’ favourite places to go, and today my brother and I took all three kids there for what should have been a fun and exciting day.
It was not to be….
Our first peanut encounter was at the Beluga tank when the girls were watching the whales beside the tank. A little boy toddled up to our empty wagon and promptly dropped his peanut butter sandwich into it. I couldn’t believe it. What made it worse is that he then smeared the peanut butter all over the wagon while he tried to retrieve it. I politely asked the mother if it was indeed peanut butter and if she had any wipes to help me clean it. She grudgingly helped me.
Then, as we headed through the “tropical zone”, we ended up walking beside a family that had 4 kids all eating… you guessed it… peanut butter sandwiches. I could smell the peanut butter before I saw the sandwiches. It was pretty overwhelming for the senses in fact. I told my brother we needed to get away from this family as I watched their kids put their fingers all over the glass of every display tank and then lick their fingers and then touch the glass again.
It was shortly after this that Alicia’s reaction began. She wasn’t even touching the same glass. She was sitting in her wagon eating her lunch and suddenly said, “Mommy, my eyes hurt.” It was dark where we were but I could see her rubbing her eyes and they looked swollen. I told my brother we need to move it to where there was better light so I could see her. We ran to the main area where there was good light and indeed Alicia’s eyes were swelling. I pulled out our epi pack and promptly gave her a good dose of Benedryl. I also gave Madelyn some since she shares the same allergy though she was not complaining (she is not as severe).
I was shaking like a leaf. After seeing her first reaction, which I described in my last post about this, I was worried it was happening again. Fortunately, the Benedryl did the trick and there was no need for the epi pen. My guess is just being around that much peanut butter set her off. It took an hour for my heart rate come down. We left the aquarium.
I sobbed in the car to my brother after the kids all fell asleep in the back. I was devastated. My already small and scary world just became even smaller. We were just starting to get comfortable with living with this allergy and once again I don’t want to leave the house with the girls. How can I send them to school? How can we visit anyone’s house? Clearly Alicia is very sensitive.
My question is whether it is reasonable to request that the Vancouver Aquarium, and places like it, consider being a peanut free zone? I know that a number of schools and churches have adopted such policies. This is, after all, a matter of life or death. Today I felt like going up to the peanut butter eating families and letting them know about our situation and ask them to reconsider their food choice when coming to such an environment where the experience for kids is tactile in nature. Is that reasonable? I know that I don’t have a right to tell people what they can and cannot feed their kids but what if they were in our shoes? Would they feel the same way? Wouldn’t they want to help us keep our kids and others with this life-threatening allergy safe?
I’ll sign this one off with a deflated sigh… why has this happened to us?
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Hi Jen,
I was checking out different blogs and sites regarding peanut allergies and found your stories about your girls. My son (who is almost 7) has been diagnosed since he was 3 with anaphylaxis to peanuts. I hate calling it an allergy, because it is so much more than that.
We found out my son had this allergy when we gave him a peanut butter sandwich and he had one bite (we didn’t know at the time) and he had a severe reaction (vomitting, hives, lethargy). Benedryl was enough to take care of it at home as we were advised by HealthLink (an Alberta Hospital phone program). Just three weeks ago we had our second episode that landed him in the hospital and then medication for a week at home. That was at school in grade 1.
He has anaphylaxis to peanuts, nuts (and with it legumes like green peas). Soy protein is also another one that comes hand in hand with it. He was also diagnosed with mild asthma and eczema (which are part of the deal as well, I’m told).
It’s hard not to get angry when people feel like this is just an allergy or the kid just being fussy about food. It is life-threatening.
I appreciate you sharing your stories because it made me feel better knowing I’m not the only mom who struggles with the wanting to wrap him in bubble wrap or letting him to go school, birthday parties, etc. He has learned the hard way this month how life-threatening this really is.
Sincerely,
Stacy
Thanks for your comments Stacy. School has been a particularly scary subject for us since one of the twins is so sensitive. We are lucky enough tonhave found a school that has a nut free policy that as a result has many other children enrolled with the same allergies. While the public school system seems to fail us in this regard (in BC, anyways), this particular private school is our saving grace. It is son hard to strike a balance between wrapping them in bubble wrap and letting them be kids! The ignorance we have encountered, even from some family members, is difficult to understand. This is life or death and it is up to us to protect and adocate for our kids while they are too young to do so for themselves.