13 December 2007

Allergies can be difficult to deal with...

Blogging is one of those things that, to do well, you need to do constantly. Kind of like sewing. Or knitting. I've not been blogging enough to be really good at it. I have so many things I am interested in, and I find it hard to limit myself to knitting--so I won't. Pictures, well, they might need to wait for an edited version of this post.

This week I did not do any sewing or knitting. I struggled with some challenges at school. I am very allergic to peanut products (among other things--I wear an epipen in school). We discovered through parent teacher interviews that one of my students had (much earlier this year) brought in peanut butter cups to school and smeared them on his desk to 'kill the French teacher'. He's grade 6, and not particularly bright. The world totally revolves around him, and his x-box; I doubt seriously that he understands exactly what he said, and what it really meant. But it wasn't fun to deal with, and it is something that has left me totally drained. There is nothing like calling parents to explain the situation, and the seriousness of the issue--nothing.

Maybe I'm in denial. I mean--I swell when I smell peanuts, fish, shellfish, eggs or mangos. Life is precious, in my opinion. I don't have a lot of it to waste, I think. The chances of me dying from an allergic reaction are probably pretty high, but that is not how I want to live out my life. I want to be able to enjoy my children, and to (hopefully) enjoy my grandchildren. I don't want to need to worry about touching the desk of a child, and wondering if it will kill me.

2 comments:

Marji said...

OMG Beth, this is horrible.
I totally understand your allergy. My son has anaphylactic reaction to nuts too, and has had some close calls.

Hugs to you.

TracyKM said...

Thank you for writing this. I never thought of the chance of a teacher being the one with the allergy; it's so uncommon in my generation (my son is going into grade 3). That boy obviously has some emotional issues--he actually sounds bright to me.
I've always wondered though...if you have a non-nut product, like....Oreos...that say 'Might contain traces of peanuts' are we not supposed to put those in the lunches either? I'll admit I don't check labels for items like that!