A horrifying egg story (!!)

Posted on 27/02/2018 by lindaFB

Driving to school, normal, lovely sunny school run. We chat, as we always do. We talk about friends, about school, anything really. We are trying to figure out which of the girls doesn’t have a cat because A wants to go on her first ever sleepover. Its not fair she says that she’s almost 9 and never slept at someones house. I instruct her to ask all the girls about their pets and tell me. I feel sorry for whichever family doesn’t have a cat because that mum, she will be my friend! haha

Then a bit of silence…. and a tentative …. “mummy…….” I can hear already by her voice that this is something important. “Yes sweetie?” I say. She takes a deep breath, “mummy, Miss Z says we are painting hardboiled eggs in art for easter”. My heart almost stops. Like a giant claw just closes around it and Im unable to breathe. Eggs? I say, real eggs? “yes mummy, real eggs, hardboiled ones”. My mind is racing, my knuckles white on the steering wheel. Trying so desperately to stay calm. Did Miss Z forget? Has she not read her file? Did someone somewhere go totally bonkers? When do you have art again I ask. She doesn’t remember. A, I say, listen to me now. If at any point you go in to a class room and there are eggs there, real eggs, I want you to walk straight out and go to reception and ask Miss T to call mummy. ok? “Yes mummy” she almost whispers. I ask her why she didnt speak up, she shrugs. I try to be calm still, I tell her I am proud of her for telling me, I tell her well done, and she did the right thing and next we will work on being vocal and speaking up. She understands, she nods. She knows.

We arrive at school. My legs are weak, I feel like I might pass out. I kiss them both goodbye, try to smile and seem normal, but my whole world is spinning.

I go in to reception, I try to be calm, I am everything but calm. Hi Miss T, I need to speak with Mr R, Mrs Y and Miss Z I say as politely and calmly as I possibly can. Yes of course she says, what is it regarding? “EGGS” I say and then I feel relieved somehow, I laugh, Im almost me again. Ive made it, Ive made it in there, Ive averted whatever disaster may have happened. I quickly explain the situation. “Yes, she says, of course, EGGS”, she pops off to the staffroom and manages to catch all the people I had asked for. She comes back. “Polystyrene egg” she says, “thats what they are painting. But I reminded them all about real eggs, and that if any real egg is brought in to any class room by anybody A should leave immediately. I am sending an email to all her teachers now as well, just so they all have a reminder”.

I am holding the reception desk, laughing now, I can breathe again. We make a joke about stupid chickens and stupid eggs and I am so relieved I almost want to hug her.

I am so relieved. Polystyrene eggs.

How a small conversation about egg can ruin ones morning.

Welcome to allergy mama world.

My top 6 #Back2School items for an allergy kid!

Posted on 27/08/2016 by lindaFB

So, Im one of those mums remember? (Eye roll as you see fit). As one of those mums back to school is a little bit harder, and a little bit more stressful. Whether you are new to the allergy / celiac game or an old timer, my list of must haves may help make your life a teeny bit easier. Aili was diagnosed as a baby, not yet 2 years old, now she is over 7, and making sure I have these allergy must haves around is totally routine.

Gluten Free labels! I stick these on all our lunch box containers, these serve as a great reminder for any teacher or other adult approaching my child and hopefully reminds them to not touch my carefully prepared allergy safe meal. These are from Ladybug Labels and they ship internationally. The labels are dishwasher safe and stay on for a long time. Through the years I tried many different brands and these win hands down. The quality is superb and they are easy to peel off and stick. (http://www.ladybuglabels.com)
Name labels. The last thing I need is for my kids to lose anything (they do, anyway obviously, especially my son, lol), but even worse would be their stuff getting mixed up with someone elses. All their lunch gear including cutlery has a name label. Again I tried many different ones from different companies and these are now my go to every year. Delivery is fast and cheap even for international delivery. I always get the plain label, it sticks well, peels off easily and is dishwasher safe. I still have some labels from when my son was 4 that are stuck on! He’s almost 10 now, thats value for money right there! These are from Easy2name and come in lots of different colours. (https://www.easy2name.com)
Good lunch boxes! My kids bring lunch to school every day and I need something that lasts, is good value for money, and works! It needs to be able to keep my kids food hot or cold, and I need to be able to clean it easily as it goes in to a contaminated environment on a daily basis. We now use only Pottery Barn lunch boxes. The kids get to pick a new one every second September, so we have a few, the first ones we ever got are still alive and kicking (!). We use lunch boxes for every day outings as well, so even though the Pottery barn boxes aren’t exactly cheap, the fact that they are practically indestructible makes them value for money. I pop them in the washing machine regularly to clean them and so far, no problems! Pottery Barn also delivers internationally! (http://www.potterybarnkids.com)
Good Thermoses! My son goes through anti cold food phases, especially in winter. Ive tried so many thermoses its unreal, many of the kids ones are actually good, but to small for my growing boy! I also found many are hard to open once the hot food is in and I prefer my kids to be able to open their own containers. Surprisingly, the best food thermoses I have found are the IKEA ones (or maybe not so surprising, it is SWEDISH after all, haha). They are a great size, easy to open, no flimsy silly seals that come off after 5 uses, and best of all, I can wash them in the dishwasher (they do say not to, but I do and so far no problems). As far as affordability goes they are amazing. The food stays nice and hot too which is obviously great as so many thermoses don’t keep their heat well. (http://www.ikea.com)
Baby Wipes and hand wipes. Seriously, you cant get enough of these babies! I keep them in every school bag, in every handbag and each kid has some in school. The baby wipes are sometimes on special and you can get a box with it, cover the box in funky stickers and make it non babyish for school. Alco gel is of no use as it does not kill gluten or other allergens, allergens need to be washed / wiped off! You can get wipes in pretty much any shop. Not all wipes are gluten safe! Johnsons contain no gluten.
A good freezer block. Again, I tried so many. Having had my kids in school in Dubai I may have gotten overly paranoid about the whole cooling issue, but unless you are sending a hot lunch you really do need to worry. These allergy / celiac kids are often more sensitive then others, and the last thing we want is to give our kids food poisoning. I have every size and shape imaginable, these ones are firm favourites as they are slimmer then others, come in pretty colours and stay frozen until lunch time even though they are slimmer. I got these particular ones in Jula. (Yup, another Swedish shop!) (http://www.jula.com)

Anyone want to add anything? Is there something you cant live without for sending your allergic or celiac kid to school? Id love to know 🙂

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Tesco Poland – Thank you!

Posted on 04/05/2016 by lindaFB

Remember some time back when I wrote about Tesco Poland and how absolutely awful it was in terms of free from? I sent that blog post to every Tesco head office address I could find, tweeted it repeatedly and emailed SO many people. Then… a few months back things started happening in Tesco. A free from shelf appeared, then two shelves, then three…. the bio section grew as well. I kept saying to hubby, I HOPE they bring their free from range over, its SUPERB… then I started seeing the Free From lactose free stuff (this from a shop that didn’t even have basic lactose free milk before). The Free from cottage cheese arrived a few weeks later, and I was like “YES!!! They are SERIOUS”. We now have a gluten free section that would put most other shops to shame, bigger then Auchan and carrefour for sure… and today…. oh wow… today, there was a free from sign on the freezer, and there was ICE CREAM! And there was jumping up and down a little and squeals of happiness and YESSS!!!!!!

Now all we need is the pies, the ready meals, the lasagnes, the cottage pies the everything!

And one of the leading sandwich meat factories went gluten free a couple of months back, and another looks like its following suit! POLAND, you are shaping up nicely for people like us! Im so happy. Really. Its only food… and yet its the normality of walking in to a shop and being able to buy something that others take for granted.

Tesco Polska, dziekuje bardzo!

Inne wiadomości na temat życie bez glutenu w Polsce, nie zapomnij śledzić nas na Facebooku.

Sometimes I just want to scream- an update on our diseases.

Posted on 20/02/2016 by lindaFB

I am trying to process all this new information, come to terms with it, understand it…. but its hard to come to terms with things that are maybes, things that aren’t for sure.

With the Celiac process I also felt sorrow, and guilt (because mummy didn’t know) and then I read and read and read and learned whatever I could, made a support group because there wasn’t one, met others and I processed. I not only processed but I excelled in my knowledge, helped others (and still do) and it was all ok. Celiac was ok, our disease was not a lonely thing. We were “severe” symptom wise and issues wise, not those happy go merry celiacs that go out and function somewhat normally. We had issues, many of them. Now ofcourse I know most of those issues were probably not celiac at all but all the other crap that we now know about.

Trying to process a disease that I have to google every time I need to write it because I cant learn to spell it (hypereosinophilic syndrome) , trying to process a disease that she probably has but they dont want to say for sure yet because there is no damage, (lupus and rheumatoid arthritis), trying to process and understand a disease that is super rare and the only specialist that deals with it in the country we live has closed down his email and no doctors know how to get us the help we need (Ehler Danlos Syndrome). What else…? Haha, I mean, we for real have to think twice to make sure we include everything when we are told to give a medical history. The allergies and the celiac take a backseat will you, you are so minor I mostly forget! I even find that offensive myself as a celiac advocate, but it is how it is right now.

Then there is her immune system, a system that we know its faulty, but they cant figure out what part. She gets sick and her system doesn’t respond, she doesn’t fight. Her levels are ok on paper, but in reality…. not so much. They are testing and re testing, the road has already been so long, and yet there is an awfully long way to go before we actually get to someone saying a. yes, this is whats wrong with her immune system, or b. There is nothing wrong with her immune system and whats happening is a symptom of her other disease(s) that are not yet fully diagnosed.

Meanwhile we are at home a lot. We rest. We eat. We try to live a normal life. What is normal anyway? This is normal to us, pretty much has been for years, naming the crap really doesn’t make much difference in how we live, although I must say I do feel better.

When baby girl says she has a bad day now and she’s tired, I let her stay in bed all day. A year ago I would have felt guilt, guilt that she isn’t playing outside, guilt that we never DO anything, guilt that she didn’t get enough fresh air etc etc etc. All that guilt by the way, it wasn’t my guilt, it was the guilt that society puts on you when you have a child that doesn’t look sick. If they don’t look sick they cant be, and so they must conform to a life where you do stuff every day, go out every day, dont use a puschair when you are 6 etc etc etc. Now the only guilt I have is that I pushed her when obviously on those bad days she needed to rest.

Oh, and I have guilt about her hair! Gosh, this hair that we grew and grew, and she would cry when we brushed and I thought she was just being a kid. She asked to cut it, and I didn’t say no, but I talked her in to keeping on with growing it long, every time. Now after reading and reading I realise that most EDS patients have “hair pain”, many cant stand to have their hair brushed as there is so much pain involved. Who the hell am I to try to talk her in to having it long?? I listen now. I have learned to listen with ears that aren’t tainted by our societies pre set expectations of what life should be like. I listen like a true listening expert and whats more, I hear her.

I will keep processing, I will keep on hanging in there. Check in on us on facebook (which is far easier to update then here).

Love and spoons

Having a healthy child….

Posted on 08/11/2015 by lindaFB

When you are pregnant and people ask which sex you would like you happily answer that it doesn’t matter “as long as its healthy” you say. Because then and there, thats what you are supposed to say. It doesn’t matter if you wish for a girl or boy, the wish for health comes first.

Then fast forward a few years…… and the child, the child that was born with 5 fingers on each hand, 5 toes on each foot and an adorable heart shaped birth mark on her bum…. this absolutely perfect human being that you made. She is not healthy. Not even a little. And you know what…? It doesn’t matter even one tiny little bit. You don’t love her any less, you don’t secretly wish to return her for a refund and you wouldn’t change anything about her for the world.

You learn to live with the cards you have been dealt, you make the best of the situation you are in, learn everything you can about the diseases and issues you face, and life goes on. It goes on, and you live and you fight, and sometimes its hard, so very very hard, but its ok, because its your life, and everything you do is for your child, and it really doesn’t matter one little bit because to you she is perfect in every little way.

Don’t feel sorry for us, don’t say oh poor you, don’t say it. Don’t say you are lucky that there is nothing wrong with your child. This health thing, its a tricky thing because it can come and go, instantly. Think instead, think for a moment, if you see me struggle, how can you maybe help…? There is so much you can do, really there is!

Spend time with us. Understand when we cancel for the 15th time. Forgive me for forgetting really simple things. Come for coffee. Ask if you can bring something – I will always say no, but its nice when you ask. Call or text, even when if I forgot to reply the last time. Send me a link to a funny or cute story, better yet, make me laugh.

Just be there, be our friend, be our equal, not someone who pities us. My child, my princess, she is perfect in every way, just like your child. Things sometimes aren’t as simple for us, just accept this. Accept us, this way, the way we are.

Things are a bit tricky for us lately. Don’t walk away, we need you now, more then ever.

(putting most our health updates on Facebook lately – go visit)

My child has an invisible illness…..

Posted on 04/10/2015 by lindaFB

Its hard to explain to people. The questions, “why is she not in school”, well, she is sick a lot, “oh, so were mine at that age”…. yes, but not like this, she is different. I don’t want to explain, just leave us alone. We didn’t take her out of school for fun or for attention.

We cant come to your house, I don’t feel safe there, I don’t know how clean it is, or what allergens are lurking. We are not allowed to go to busy places…. I don’t want to explain.

Im sorry we cancelled on you again, we are not lazy, we do want to take part but its really hard for me, for us to stick to things we planned. We need to take each day as it comes.

Im sorry I park in the spot reserved for mother and baby or pregnant ladies with my 6 year old. There are days when she cant walk very far without getting out of breath, she is too big for her push chair and I don’t have the strength to carry her so far.

Im sorry I am sometimes unreliable or wont set things in stone, Im sorry Im sometimes so tired I can hardly spell my own name or listen to you when you talk to me.

I sit and watch over my child at night, measure oxygen levels and temperatures and give medications.

Im sorry she doesn’t look sick. Im sure if she did it would be easier for you to understand. Some of the sickest people you will ever meet don’t look sick in the slightest.

So the next time you ask and I try to explain, please don’t say “oh but she looks so well!” or “oh, she looks fine to me!”. You are not her doctor, you haven’t seen her paper work. You don’t know about the bone pain that sometimes makes her cry walking down the stairs or the nausea that sometimes hits her and is so overwhelming she has to lie down straight away. Or the breathing issues or the tiredness that comes from fighting. I know. I know. She has an invisible illness.

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A big thank you to my school – a step in the right direction!

Posted on 04/09/2015 by lindaFB

A big step for mankind…. well, thats how it feels. So far in Poland I haven’t come across a school with a food policy (the number one question one of those parents ask when looking at schools). Last year I nagged, other parents nagged, many others also nagged, against. As they do you know.

But this September big things happened. There is a food policy. A food policy, an allergy action plan, staff that have all been trained in first aid and trained on allergies and contamination. Eating in class rooms will stop over time, and the school will be nut free. No more birthday cakes at school (YES!!!!!!) There are now standard procedures for kids with “issues” and I no longer have to make my own information leaflets or train staff.

This, this is good for schools. Its amazing. It can only help to make the school better. I am a firm believer in food policies. I am a gigantic supporter of food policies. I was, even before celiac kid was diagnosed. Why? Because I am a human, because I know that even if my kid doesn’t have a food issue, someone else’s kid might. An anaphylactic shock is not something I want any child to experience, or watch.

As one of those mums I might get some dirty looks over the food policy, but I will hold my head up high, and take some credit, not blame. Because a food policy is the right way to go. It teaches our kids about others who may be different, it makes them aware, a world that is aware and considerate. That is a world I want to live in.

Thank you school!

Including the different child

Posted on 26/04/2015 by lindaFB

Time and time again here in Poland I see the food allergy kids being forgotten. They sit on the sideline watching their friends eat cake or whatever it is thats been brought to school / nursery. It makes me so incredibly sad.

In Sweden there are rules against this, schools (and nurseries) have to follow government guidelines, this means there are strict food policies and also inclusion policies. No child is to be treated different. Basically, it means, that if there is cake in class, suitable cake must be provided for ALL of the children. If this somehow fails there is a report system in place with a chain of command that you make your complaint to and there will be an investigation.

In Dubai we were lucky to have an amazingly supportive school and a food policy that suited us. There were no laws backing us up, but caring adults and a large dose of common sense, meaning a small child should be included in a school environment, not excluded. No matter what the child says, it is not ok to have a kid sit and watch friends eat. School – in my opinion – should be for learning, and once you start teaching kids that its ok to exclude another child based on their allergies, religious beliefs, autoimmune diseases, then you are going down a very very wrong path.

We teach our children to respect others, to not point at the morbidly obese, not to laugh at others misfortune, to be caring and nurturing individuals, but how then, does it make sense to have a child in a class room or lunch room going without? It goes against everything we are teaching them, and if you ask the young children themselves, it upsets them too. Most would rather have a toy or a treat that everyone can eat. It isn’t that hard really. And if it feels to difficult, then simply ban foods that exclude from a school environment. It is the right thing to do.

I haven’t had enough fight in me in the past few months to deal with this. But the fight needs to go on. The sad thing is…. it shouldn’t have to be a fight at all 😦

Please do share this post, not for me, but for all the children it affects.

-Linda

On a pancake mission – day 2

Posted on 16/04/2015 by lindaFB

Ok, nobody tell anyone its been like a week since the last pancake.

Today again I searched and found lots of different egg free pancakes, I wanted one without an egg replaces such as chia or banana or apple sauce, because sometimes, we just dont have all that stuff lying around. I found a few recipes and modified them to make them suit me and obviously make them gluten free.

This one was awesome, but I can imagine the flour is the make or break here, I had to adjust the amount of liquid a few times until I was satisfied, but do note, the batter will be super thick. As the baking powder sits and does its thing, you may even need some more liquid towards the end.

3dl all purpose gf flour (I used a cake one as they are less dense, you may be able to use a bread flour, but start off with a bit less)
4dl milk (I used lactose free)
1tbsp (yup, a WHOLE tablespoon, no joke) baking powder
1tbsp sugar (I tried without this at first, but they kindof need it, try honey if you are a no sugar kindof person)
1 pinch of salt
butter or oil for frying, plus a big dollop (about 2tbsp) for the batter

Mix all ingredients together, I never faff around with dry first or whathave you, just whack it in a bowl and blitz with an electric whisk. Like I said, this batter will be thick, its normal, it needs to be.

Start of with a pretty hot pan and lower to medium after the first pancake. Turn each pancake once edges are solid and it almost stopped bubbling.

Verdict: Celiac kiddo loved these, she says they are even better then the previous one which she gave a 5/5. She also says Im a super hero at pancakes and if there was olympics in pancake making I would win (GOD I love my kids!) Big brother says they are super super yummy. He gives them 5/5, he says they were pretty much equally good to the other ones. I also tried even though Im back on a strict low carb diet, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! You actually can make pancakes without egg and gluten and make them taste like the real thing. My only critique would that they are a tad doughey in the middle. Next time I will try adding some flavour to these, I think they would be great with some chocolate chips or blueberries! I give them a 4/5 and thats comparing them to a pancake with egg! So not bad at all.

Linda

Dont forget to “like” GlutenFree & Me on Facebook!

On a pancake mission – day 1

Posted on 09/04/2015 by lindaFB

Gluten free was easy. Gluten free pancakes taste amazing and I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t love them (they are better then gluten ones, trust me!). But then you go almost completely lactose free and egg free and you sort of sit and wonder, if pancakes are lactose free, egg free and gluten free, are they still pancakes?

Well, after almost a year of being pancake less I decided to go on a pancake mission.

Pancake 1

This is a combination of several recipes I found online, the base recipe(s) had more milk and fancy flavours, they also had gluten. So, this is what I did.

1 ripe banana
1,1/2 dl gf flour (I used a cake one rather then a bread one, but whichever should be fine)
3dl milk (lactose free or whatever tickles your fancy)
1tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
a squirt of evoo (or melted butter is fine if that works for you), a bit in the batter and some more for frying

Mash the banana in a bowl and add other ingredients, whisk well so its not to lumpy. Fry as you would a “normal’ pancake.

Verdict: Well, there is one thing in the world I will not eat or try ever, and its banana. I apparently didn’t like it even as a baby. My mum forced me to eat one in childhood at some point and I promptly puked. I cant even stand the smell. So, I almost died having to mash the thing. Honest. But almost dying is worth it for my kids, so mash I did, with my head turned away and running to the hallway for breathing breaks. I cant tell you what it tastes like. But Celiac kid ate almost all of them! She was screaming and jumping up and down from being so happy about pancakes, she says they are the best everrrrrr! I guess thats a pretty good verdict 🙂 From a cooking point of view Id say they burn pretty easily, I had to keep the temp lower then “normal” pancakes. They were also a bit runny, so a bit bigger then what we usually make, but maybe more flour would have fixed this. Anyhow, daughter gives these a 5/5. I wont rate them as I didnt try, and big brother is in school so missed out on these.

Pancake number 2 tomorrow!