12 November 2010

PEANUT ALLERGY SCARE C'mon Man! What are the chances of this happening.

Well now its time to tell a few stories about our "scares" in food allergy land.  On Halloween this year we travelled out of town for the day.  Our only choice was to fly Southwest Airlines due to the time we had to arrive at our destination for an event.  This is always a scary choice as SW Airlines serves peanuts on all its flights.  Thankfully they do allow you to let them know if someone traveling has a Peanut Allergy.  We appreciate this fact. I made all the necessary arrangements ahead of time and again at the gate.  They designated the flight a "non-peanut" flight and serve pretzels instead. (Of course they cannot control the food brought aboard.)


We carry wipes aboard and my son wipes down the seat, seat belt, tray, armrests etc.
We settle in. All went well with our outbound flight. The first flight of they day usually results in a clean plane, so all went well.


The return flight- same bat channel- all the precautions.  Of course the plane has ferried passengers to their destinations all day full of peanut munchers  (note- I actually love peanuts myself so no offense meant to my fellow peanut lovers).  Needless to say the plane is not clean nor any effort made to clean up the peanuts.  Yes when we chose to fly on SW we expected this might be the case.  Yes this is a  little nerve wracking.  


Alexander takes it in stride but he must be a little fearful.
I don't think the prospect of a peanut emergency in mid-air with an Epipen that only lasts 20 minutes (and a 2nd Epipen a few more minutes) and thus  the possible scenarios have dawned on him. (is this a run-on sentence?)


We take off.  Usually and wisely a SW flight attendant announces that there is a "peanut allergy aboard" but this time they did not.  Sure enough about 30 minutes into the flight the lady next to Alexander pulls out her snack. I wish I had a pictures.
It was a GALLON SIZE BAGGIE full of every kind of peanut imaginable. I've never seen such a thing.  A gallon baggie full of peanut M&M's, spanish peanuts, salted peanuts, dry roasted peanuts.  You get the idea. YIKES!


I thought "what are the chances?".  The chances of the only person in the universe with a gallon size baggie full of peanuts plopping down right next to a kid with a peanut allergy 
(not to mention the "mid-air" part.)
"C'mon man!"


Alexander did not say a word.  When I noticed this baggie I whispered to Alexander that he needed to tell her he had a peanut allergy etc.  He say "no" and I thought "are you crazy".
Not able to convince him, I waited to see if she was going to eat some of her "snack".
A little while later she started to open the bag.  It was open maybe 1/2 inch and the strongest peanut "aroma" I had ever encountered wafted through our aisle.
I had to let her know my son had a peanut allergy. I was nice and respectful and she was nice. She immediately put away her peanuts. (Thank you whoever you are). Near disaster avoided. God answered my prayers for protection.  


"What are the chances".  Tell us your "C'mon man story"


Share your food allergies stories. Email your stories to me at salt.light.truth@gmail.com and
I will post them on the blog.
I know some stories might not turn as well as the story above but I am sure they will help others.  
After all there is a world out there waiting for help or encouragement.

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