1 year! (and 27 days!)
It's been a long slow process but it's neat to look back and realize we've been at OIT (oral immunotherapy) a full year with no reactions. That's pretty amazing! The little man is doing fine and excited that school is about a month away. Crazy.
The allergy planning at school is complete! Hooray!!! There are papers, on file, signed, in the office. It took a lot of emails, a lot of patience, and several face to face meetings, but it's done. The main points (see previous post):
- Subs are trained on epinephrine, but only at their initial hiring. This is frustrating, but it's better than never.
- The bus drivers will be trained (as a group), by the nurse before school starts
- We will have at least 4 epinephrine devices (for us that's the Auvi-Q Jr) at school. The "red bag" that follows him class to class (1 or 2), in the office(2), and …)
- He will be allowed to wear his spibelt with an Auvi-Q(1)! (for those in the allergy community this means he can self-carry, and was a BIG concern for us). This one is HUGE.
- After much discussion, he can have his epi on the bus, and it doesn't have to go into his backpack. He can continue to wear it in his spibelt under his shirt.
This now covers the concerns about the bus, the bus driver, most of the concerns about substitute teachers, access to epinephrine by a bunch of 5 year olds (if it's in his backpack), and transit to preschool aftercare. Patience and determination (and honestly just asking calm questions!) really paid off. The allergist was not going to help us push for an epi on him (to cover the bus or red bag missing scenario), but we feel much better that we got this in his plan and he will have access to his meds on the bus/all the time. May he never ever need them!
I am sure he will be looked after at school. But it's really hard to leave a nut free day care and put him in a community setting where we will never meet some of the folks that take care of him. We have done everything we can to make sure that his meds are within easy reach and that he knows what to do. The nurse will make sure the staff knows what to do. I have no doubt he will be loved at school, he is in an awesome place where he loves with abandon, with his whole body, his whole heart. He hugs his teachers goodbye every day, he lights up when he sees us, he runs to us when we get to preschool and jumps into our arms. He has an infectious smile, a belly laugh, is surprisingly insightful and observant. Kids… they are amazing. He also has a wicked smart big sister to chase after and learn from. She will do anything to keep him safe (and maybe torture him a little in the background). They are worth every tantrum, every fear, ever sadness over their hurts. It's a big step to turn them loose. We will have to do it in ever increasing stages. He's ready.
Not sure mom is :)
