Friday, June 3, 2011

Future fears

Every time I reach a stage of acceptance and understanding something else comes up and I feel like I'm back to square one. Why is this? I guess if I was to be philosophical, perhaps I can be glad that these things come just a little at a time and not all at once. So rather than getting completely overwhelmed I just get knocked off my feet... and get a sore backside!

A lot of our friends have kids turning 3 next year, so they've started enrolling into Kinder programs, and thoughts turn towards primary school. I bought a book too with a chapter about entering school, so my thoughts have also turned that way. I'll put a proper review up soon :-)

I work in a school so I get to see some of the inner workings that perhaps don't get seen by parents. This is scary... I heard of a young child who had peanut butter flicked knowingly by an older student. The poor child ran to the first aid office and fortunately a dose of antihistimine was all that was needed. So is this bullying or is this attempted murder??! It makes my blood boil!

I found out that the school I work at is following typical guidelines for storing epipens too... unlocked cupboard... check, stored in an insulated container... check, stored in a central location... hang on a minute!!! Yes, the medical centre is in the center of the school but in a school with over 1400 students is the middle really the best?? The book I read suggests carrying it with you, but apparently this is not allowed by my school. The nurse suggested that it takes 30mins typically before you get a reaction, so that should be enough time... I kind of accepted this initially, but when I got home I started thinking. What if you've touched something and you don't realise you've been contaminated? So 30mins later, your body reacts... and reacts badly. At this point, you do not have 30mins. We're all told to use the epipen THEN call the ambulance. So how does storing the epipen 10mins away make sense?!?!

So what's the solution???!?! Thoughts of home-schooling cross my mind... One thing I am certain about - a school with over 1400 students is 1400 more possible contamination sources. The smaller the better I think... Outward bound camp in year 9? Forget it... not on your life! Those of you who live in Australia might remember one poor boy with peanut allergies. He filled in all the right forms, but somehow he ended up with a dinner pack containing peanuts. I think they went through at least 4 epipens, but sadly he died. Whether the remoteness of their location or simply the amount of peanuts he ingested was the critical factor... I can't begin to imagine the devastation for that family. Other school camps? I'm really not sure...

So you can tell by the number of elipses that I've used... yeah, that's what you call those 3 dots... I've been doing a lot of thinking. Where has it got me? I really don't know.

Now that I've been knocked back off my feet again... got to figure out how to get back up again... for our son's sake.

1 comment:

  1. that nurse is wishful thinking my son had a reaction straight away, so yes that would be a worry having a life saving treatment that far away, ecspecially when the highest percentage of anaphylaxis is in daycare and primary school.

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