peanut allergies

I just read some posts (on a message board that I participate on) talking about what a pain in the butt it is to have kids go to a "peanut free" school or peanut free classroom. This infuriates me. I am to the point of tears. One and a half years ago Kenzie had a miniscule bite of a peanut butter cookie. Within seconds her body was covered in hives and swelling more by the second. It took us 7 minutes to get her to the ER and by that time her eyes and mouth were swollen shut. She was terrified and so were we. The doctors rushed her back right away, shot her up with epinephrine and antihistamines and we waited... and waited. Two hours before she could open her eyes again. I can still see her face - she looked at me and tried to smile but couldn't because her face and lips were so swollen.

Is it such an inconvenience to give your child a cheese sandwich? a turkey sandwich? raviolli? Is it so hard to come up with something else to give your kid to take to school to eat? By all means, give them all the PB&J sandwiches they want at home.
Without trying to sound overly dramatic, my daughter could die if she is exposed to peanuts and not treated in time after her reaction starts.

If your child has to eat PB&J sandwiches, please, I urge you to try soy nut butter – tastes exactly the same as peanut butter. Hell, if you don’t want to pay the extra $0.50 let me know and I’ll send you a jar.