Dear son started middle school last fall and it has been a great time of growth for him. He walks to school and has his medic alert bracelet and AuviQ always on him. We have AuviQs in the clinic also.
Son still takes his own lunch every day. He sits with his friends from elementary school and has not had any problems. If they are eating peanut butter, he sometimes asks them to move. I don’t know that much about his daily routine at school – he feels able to handle things on his own.
Before school started, we talked with his PE teacher about availability of the AuviQ when the class was outside on the fields. The teacher offered to hold it during class, but swapping the device around has never seemed like a good option to me. The PE teacher always has a walkie-talkie and we decided that was fine.
The boys sometimes walk to Chipotle after school. This would be safe for son but he doesn’t like the food there. Subway roast beef is a good option for him that he loves. McDonalds hamburgers are OK too but he’s been avoiding fast food since seeing the “Supersize Me” movie in health.
His middle school band has a trip to Hershey Park in May and that is something we’ll have to research and figure out.
We are grateful his adult coaches have been very willing to learn the AuviQ and Epipen. The dads in our community look out for him at basketball and baseball games when we are not there.
Dear son will start umpiring this spring and he will make sure someone at the game knows he has an allergy and where his bag with the AuviQ is. If it is a situation where he doesn’t know anyone, then his dad or I will stay.
I still worry about college dining. I think peanuts will be well labeled but soy protein seems to be showing up in more foods because it ramps up the protein content. For now, dear son makes wonderful scrambled eggs and spaghetti with ground beef sauce.
He needs us less every year and that is OK.