Coming and Going Allergies

Living with food allergies can be extremely difficult but should be approached

in a positive, proactive way.

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Jan 7 2017 - This week one of the news items has been about introducing babies to peanuts as it has been found that most of them will not develop an allergy to them like so many   between our children and grandchildren have. This allergy has gone to the point that schools and other places where children hang out have forbidden peanuts and peanut butter.

We have a grandson with an allergy to nuts now but it is not the first allergy this child has had.

  

When he was under a year old his mother noticed he had a reaction to cake mix and this is what developed then

 

Nov 2007    (revised in Jan 2017)  

I’ve been given a new challenge, an egg allergy, to learn about. 

It is our young grandson that has the allergy. We are concerned of course but especially because we often have him on his own.  Thus we need to understand this possible life threatening allergy.

The ingredients of packaged foods and recipes have been scanned for years for such things as fat and sugar in all their forms but eggs is a new one to me…

Didn’t realize that so many things can contain eggs and that they come under so many names… Found out that even Grandad’s favorite cookies are a no-no… best not to have them in the house as a temptation to the child let alone Grandad ;o)  That’s one of the harshest yet simplest ways I’ve found of controlling my hubby, The Junkie, and the food shopper for our household.

 

 It is a plus that the child is only eleven months old and not very mobile yet.  His food is controlled by adults, formula and homemade baby food.  It won’t be long though before he’s into people food and begging for whatever we are eating because he loves his food.  

Wonder what’s in the dog’s food because the child is very interested in the mutt and follows the fur ball round on all fours.  Soon we’ll likely find them head to head in the dog’s dish.

We have a bit of time to prepare ourselves, the panty, dog food  and Grandad’s junk food to make sure the child isn’t mistakenly given eggs in any form.  In the meantime there’s Dimetapp on hand and a free EpiPen Patient Starter Kit, on its way.

Now it’s off to scan the ingredients of the dog’s food.

(EpiPen has never been needed - touch wood)

The four pictures above his first birthday cake,  Halloween, he want to be a dog for 3 or 4 years, And he missed it buddy our dog so cuddled with the toy dog I got to put our dog’s collar, tags and neckerchief on after he went to wait at the Rainbow Bridge.

Albumin/Albumen	Ovolactohydrolyze proteins
Conalbumin	Ovomacroglobulin
Egg substitutes, e.g., Egg Beaters®	Ovomucin, ovomucoid
Globulin	Ovotransferrin
Livetin	Ovovitellin
Lysozyme	Silico-albuminate
Meringue	Simplesse® (a fat substitute)
Ovalbumin	Vitellin
Ovoglobulin

Possible sources of egg to look out for include the following:

• Alcoholic cocktails/drinks (such as sweet Marsala), eggnog, foam/milk topping on coffee
• Baby food
• Baked goods, baking mixes, confectionary (e.g. candy, chocolate)
• Battered/fried foods
• Creamy dressings, salad dressings, spreads (e.g. mayonnaise)
• Desserts (e.g. custard, dessert mixes, ice cream, pudding)
• Egg/fat substitutes
• Icing, glazes (e.g. egg wash on baked goods, nougat)
• Lecithin
• Meat mixtures (e.g. hamburger, hot dogs, meatballs, meatloaf, salami, etc.)
• Pancakes, waffles, French toast
• Pasta (e.g. egg noodles)
• Quiche, soufflé
• Soups, sauces (e.g. béarnaise, hollandaise, Newburg)

BACK TO Jan 2017

I made a first birthday cake for him and it was a challenge because the substitute egg used makes a very different consistency – the challenge came when it was iced as it was not as solid as cakes with eggs which help to bind the ingredients for one thing.

He outgrew the egg allergy although as far as I know he doesn’t like eggs now.

 About three years ago we were at his home and while his parents were busy he and his sister were playing with a dish of mixed nuts and not listening to their grandparents when we asked them to stop, possibly because it was Christmas Eve.   Within minutes his face started to swell and his eyes were itchy. Out came the Benedryl, (the latest medication to calm his allergic reactions), and he spent the rest of the evening in a very mellow state.

Once again he was tested for allergies and the nut allergy was found as well as an allergy to dogs.  Great now we had to watch for nuts and dogs.

Honey Nut Cheerios breakfasts are out and  peanut butter sandwiches for lunch.  Not sure peanuts which are a legume not a nut are part of his allergy  but rather than taking chances we stay clear of peanuts.  Forgot one morning and give him Honey Not Cheerios. Soon his eyes were itchy and his face a little puffy. A dose of Benedryl was needed and we pretty well lost him to drowsiness until it wore off.

 

And the dog well, we have a different dog to the one he followed around and eventually imitated. However, although she is part poodle he still reacts when he is here so we have special chairs that she has not been in for him to sit in and he has to splash water on his face when his eyes start to itch and/or go outside away from the dog. His father our son is also allergic to the dog - wasn’t when he lived at home but now he is. Both of them have a harder time in the winter when everything is closed up but we are always on the watch in case allergies flare up.

We got fooled into buying a Cockapoo because our son had developed his allergy by the time we were on the search for another dog. We soon found out that yes a curly haired dog is not as bad but it is the dander that causes the allergy not the hair – but curly hair more of less traps the dander in.

There is no such thing as a non-allergic dog just some that are not as bad and our dog does not shed her coat like most so that too makes a difference. 

This child also has asthma and so does his father. Didn't know his father was asthmatic until he was in his teens and went to a doctor as he needed a chest x-ray to work in a camp kitchen. When he was  a child and to this day if there was anything the affects the chest  around he is sure to get it. He also had croup well into his late childhood and his son too has suffered with it... Both seem to be in a pretty mild point of asthma and/or croup right now so here's hoping whatever is going on continues.

 In the meantime having food and dog allergies in the family prevents them from getting any type of furry pet. His sister who loves dogs more than he does now wants a pet so badly she is coming up with ways to have one.
 Lately she has focused on our dog. Her latest plan was only to take care of her when we go away - one day she told me I could drop my four legged pal off at their house when we go away and she will take care of her. Try to explain to an 8-year-old that won't work even if the dog is kept in a room the guys don't go into. However that plan was mild compared to what she was going to do a few months ago.

 She has been concerned about what will happen to our dog when we die, (no concern about us dying though because we are old after all :o)

 Her plan was that she, her sister and their mother would move to our house and the guys with the allergies could stay in their house. I just went along with that plan with a smile on my face knowing there is a very slim chance of it ever coming to that as we plan to live to a good old ripe age and even if the dog does, she'll not be here when our bodies give up.  Mom squashed her daughter's plan so then the 'drop her off at our house' was next. 
None of us want to tell her that her pal likely will not need anyone to care for her down the road. Nor do we mention that you can buy horse meat.

                                                                             Becoming friends with each other

 “Animals are such agreeable friends―they ask no questions, they pass no criticisms.”
                                                          George Eliot

  

Has it been Twenty Years Already?

"Memories are like a garden. Regularly tend the pleasant blossoms and remove the invasive weeds."

                                                                      Linda Fifer Ralphs

January 1 2017 
  

Twenty years ago today the Love of my life and I were separate by about 1,200 kilometers. It is the only New Year’s  we have been apart in the 55 years we have been a couple.  It was the loneliest I’ve ever been yet filled with nervous anxiety of what was to come at any moment and the reason I was on my own away from home, yet with family. 

I watched 1997 arrive in three Canadian time zones on a little TV  in a cool room with huge windows looking down on a deserted parking lot while snow gentle fell from above. People came and went from the room but by the time I had watched the third arrival of 1997 I was alone in a strange yet mystical stark place.

Twice I called my husband to update him but also to cry and share with him my loneliness and the second time to bring in 1997 in our time zone as well . He was with family so although he missed me he had family with him.

 Eventually I fell asleep on a bench type couch only to be woken to a doctor being paged – a distress page at that.  

Would the end result of why I was here have a tragic ending or a very happy one?  

 And now the rest of the story :D

Around the middle of 1996 we found out we were to become grandparents.  The baby was due in December a few days before Christmas.  Although the rest of 1996 is a blur there was much ado about having a baby in our lives once again.  I knitted, cross-stitched  and crocheted little things and afghans, one for baby and the other a bigger version of baby’s, for Mom. Got the family wicker bassinet out, cleaned up and made a new covering for it.  

1968 Father of Baby-to-be and 1996 the bassinet is ready for the next generation.

It was decided that we would spent Christmas with our son, wife and the baby. I went down early by train, to be there when the baby arrived.  The bassinet was packed full of gifts, all the baby stuff and whatever else was needed – it just made in under the size and weight to go on the baggage car.  The soon to be grandfather was following later to join us for Christmas and we would come home together afterward. 

That was the plan but not what happened.

 My train was late and as the mother-to- be had come with our son to pick me up  missed a good part of her baby shower.  When we arrived so did the bassinet and it stood in the middle of the room as if it was the focus of the shower while it was admired and took over the show. 
 

 The due date came and went and we marked time walking or window shopping I found a sweatshirt that I have been reluctant to give up but it brings back vivid memories of that time. We attended a Christmas concert at the school our daughter-in-law’s nephew attended and a dry run of an Ann Murray concert that would be filmed as part of a TV special to be on TV later.   (Our DIL worked for a hotel and was given tickets to the dry run). And I missed my four-legged baby Teddy my young blonde cocker spaniel who was home with the guys - the soon to be, grandfather and uncle.

 Granddad or so he should have been, arrived and the four adults celebrated Christmas with an empty Christmas stocking waiting for the little one to arrive.   Granddad in-waiting went home and we marked more time, walking and whatever. On the 31^st our daughter-in-law had a doctor’s appointment and woke with some pain. That was it there was no way they were going and leaving me here, I wanted to be as near as possible to the great event!  It was a wise move because the expectant parents never went back home.  I spent the day in and out of the room where the young couple were, found something to eat and once again the rest of the day is a blur until they were off to the delivery room and I to the waiting room down the hall.  Every once in a while our son came to see how I was and to ask if I wanted to go back to the apartment,-no way was I doing that it would have been lonelier than I was down the hall from the action or lack of it, it seemed.  

In the meantime family of other mothers-to-be came and went. Just after midnight a new grandmother came in to use the phone to announce her good news, she was the grandmother of the first born baby in that hospital. With that the loneliness was now sadness too and had me on the edge of tears. I wanted so badly to share happy news yet our baby was taking its sweet time to come into the world. Two more babies were born and tears of anxiety did flow then all was quiet, it was as if I was alone in the world.

Now where I left off – not long after the doctor was paged somewhere around 4 AM our son came to tell me he had a son – I stopped holding my breath, followed him down the hall, was lead to a rocking chair and a little cocoon of love was put into my arms – life has not been the same since.

Not sure how many days later Granddad came back we had some time with the family then we headed home to my new for rocking grand-babies chair -  a Christmas gift from Granddad.

For years after that our vehicles knew no other direction to head in but little did we know what the next two years was to bring.

Today our eldest grandchild celebrates his 20^th birthday not sure but maybe with the Love of his life.

When the baby was five moths old he and his mother came to spend some time with us and the rest of our family got to meet him. They were here for Mother's Day one of the best I've had

The announcement we had put in our paper meeting his uncle and the first woman of interest in his life, his one day to be aunt :D  Teddy thought he had a new playmate and would bring his tennis ball to him to play (on tray of Jolly Jumper) The two of them traveled together in the back seat of our van when we brought our grandson home for a visit.

 In 1967 Canada celebrated the Centennial of Confederation and we were expecting our eldest, his father. Now in Canada’s 150 anniversary of Confederation, it sesquicentennial year,  there are two more generations in our family so much to celebrate - proof that  life goes around and around in a circle. 

"Take care of all your memories. For you cannot relive them."

Bob Dylan

Was it Only Fifty Years Ago?

 “Memories warm you up from the inside.

But they also tear you apart.”  

 Harki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

As we get ready to going into 2017 and Canada’s 150^th birthday I have memories of 50 years ago swirling in my head that need to be shared. 

 

At the end of 1966 we had been married for two years plus and had yet to start our family.  1967 was to be a wonderful year of celebrating Canada’s Centennial of Confederation and we lived in the right city to do that.  Montreal would be hosting Expo ’67, the World Fair it would be Canada’s big party for the centennial April 28^th to October 27th.  

Our passes were ready well before the opening and working downtown gave us a chance to go after work which we did it seems May 6^th for the first time.  We got to enjoy and visit most of the pavilions, counties and other attractions yet not feel rushed as we had plenty of time to go again and again.  Yes we had our favorites but we tried to see and experience as much as we could.  (Found a hand written list in my passport. It has dates and amount of time we spent there -over 44 hours in 7 visits .]

 

That changed in mid-July when my sister and I took our younger siblings and a nephew to the fair. We had packed a lunch of turkey sandwiches which were accidentally dropped off the mini rail while we were going from one area to another. We watched our lunch disappeared among the crowd knowing we would have to now buy lunch.  That and rides for a price on an elephant is what I remember most about that day or was it the cost that seemed to be mounting as the day unfolded  children you know wanting whatever they see… Back to why losing the turkey sandwiches stands out, I love turkey sandwiches and my taste buds were excited every time I thought about our lunch. Didn’t know that day but never got to enjoy what was left of that turkey my sister and I had gone together on so we’d have leftover for sandwiches and soup, all the bits we missed as we were both married and celebrations were at our parents so the leftover turkey for us afterward– this bird was just for us and our hubbies. And what we had been willing to share was lost :0(((  We had plenty of leftover turkey back home but I couldn’t eat it, just looking at it turned my stomach I was soon to find out I was experiencing morning sickness.  Followed shortly by signs that a miscarriage might happen, I was forbidden to travel – our plan to go to Florida with friends was cancelled, still have yet to take that trip south.

My visits to Expo were pretty well nil after that and so was my recording of dates and time spent there. I had another life to prepare for now :D I stayed home and Dick went with our guests to see the fair.

One of the last stamps in my passport is October 7^th in The United States see-through plastic bubble now known as the Biosphere which is about the environment.

 

    A great site to read about Expo 67 back then

   Expo 67  http://expo67.morenciel.com/an/index.php

One of my very favorite pavilions was the Western Provinces. A simulated mine elevator opened at the other side to huge Douglas Firs and a humongous truck and massive trunks of trees, the scent alone had me standing right in a pine forest.   Walking around the exhibition grounds there was a chance of  entertainment popping up up such as the Mexican Mariachi Band or the Fort Henry soldiers with their mascot, David the goat – always try to see David when we visit the fort.

  

Photos are from slides and poor quality  - 

Mariachi band, Fort Henry Guards, David the goat

 

The boutiques were a glimpse into other countries and so were the restaurants .The stacking Russian doll stand out for me as do the delicious smells around the food court.  Habitat 67, the stacked cement complex of dwellings was a marvel of it time but turned out not to be so eventually. 

 

The process  of how the Islands were built up to become Expo 67 were followed closely from start to finish.   A subway was opened and new highways too - some had the lighting system built into the concrete sides, not a great idea for our winters and they were soon replaced. We had a few souvenirs around for several years or until the 76 Montreal Summer Olympics took over.

And what has carried on since 1966? I took driving lessons when I was pregnant and almost made myself sick worrying about where the instructor would make me drive in the dark and city traffic - once along the new highway with those lights in the sides, flashing in my face as I went along; another to cut across 4 lanes of traffic on Decarie Boulevard to make a right turn at the top of an up off ramp. However,  I became a demon behind the wheel once I had that driver's permit in my hands.  Still drive and am proud of my record but am not as brave as once I was.

In the fifty years between Canada’s Centennial and its 150^th We’ve lived on the island of Montreal, had two houses, a few cars and several pets. Have taken a few nice vacations, spent a lot of time in Nova Scotia and learned many new things via the internet for one way, and some hobbies and past times as well. Curling and Golf for my hubby and that too, the golf, is connected to that day the turkey sandwiches were lost at Expo 67. He had gone golfing for the first time with my sister’s husband and the clubs/bag I gave him for his first Father’s Day (think it was).

   In the late winter of 1968 our first son was born and since then parenting our sons and having six grandchildren to love has been a huge part of our lives as family is so precious be they blood , four legged or come through roots. 

AND our main Canadian Centennial project will be 49 before the winter is over. Wonder what we can out do that with for the 150^th?

“Nothing is ever really lost to us as long as we remember it.” 

                                                                       L.M. Montgomery, The Story Girl