Review: No Nuts For Me

Ella was just over 2 years old when she was diagnosed with her peanut allergy, so trying to teach her about it is a very slow and repetitive process. She has learned to recite that peanuts make her sick, and that her EpiPen is her "special medicine," and that if she ever eats a peanut she needs to use her EpiPen and then call 9-1-1. But I wasn't sure if she really understood it.

So I went looking for a book at the library that she could understand, and I found No Nuts for Me by Aaron Zevy. It's a story about a day in the life of a boy with a nut allergy. The boy in the story is a bit older than Ella (he's elementary-aged), but she loved the book. The boy talks about what he can eat, how he uses his EpiPen, his MedicAlert bracelet, and lots of other stuff. By the time our 3-week library loan period was up, she had almost memorized the whole book!

I loved that the boy in the book focused on what he could do, rather than what he couldn't do. It shows kids that having a peanut allergy isn't the end of the world.

I would recommend the book for kids age 3 to 8 (although Ella understood it at 2).

Support!

I was looking around on the Anaphylaxis Canada website, and I found out that they organize support groups all over the country, for people with anaphylaxis and their parents. I decided to sign up, since I know only one other person with a life-threatening allergy, and I thought it would be good to connect with a few more. Because, let's face it, if you don't deal with the reality of this type of allergy on a day-to-day basis, you have no idea what it's really like.

So I sent an email to the group administrator in my area and she responded within a couple of hours! Pretty amazing for a volunteer-run group! I gave her my info, she added me to the group contact list, and before the day was done, I had 3 more emails from her with info about group meetings, other members and general info. And not only that, but I also had two more emails from other group members offering their support. Wow!

I will go to my first meeting in a couple of weeks, so I'll let you know how it goes. So far, though, I am super impressed with the information, support and care that these people showed me. I would highly recommend this support group! Especially if, like me, your child is newly diagnosed.