A Nutty Day

May 31st 2009 was a day that I will never forget. A day that will inherently make Landon's allergy worse ( the next reaction) and a day that I became truly fearful of eating out with my son ever again.

It was like any normal day...Landon had his breakfast and snack and lunch time rolled around quickly. I was in the mood for some French Onion Soup so immediately " Panera" popped into my head! Panera has the best French Onion Soup.......and I mean best! So Landon, Jesse and I got into the car and headed to Panera on Bald Hill Rd (the one next to Trader Joes- for all you Rhode Islanders). We have been here so many times- and almost 90% of the time we ask what their policy on working with nut products is and if the items we order have any nuts in them. WE always order the same things- every time. We feel safe with these items because we know that there are no nuts in them. This time- we didn't ask about their policy- since we knew what it was and we were there just 4 days ago and was not veering off from the same items we always ordered.

Things went wrong- really wrong. Someone must have made something with nuts, or handled a pastry with nuts and grabbed my baguette without changing their gloves. Something that takes only seconds to do- could have cost Landon his life. That is unacceptable to me. They have a policy regarding "nut products" for a reason. They were supposed to change their gloves anytime they handle nuts-Period. No excuses...if they are busy- running low on gloves etc...
They were not busy that day...and it was early in the day that there should have been plenty of gloves...so what was the excuse- Laziness and not doing their job right.

Long Story Short- we ended going home & placing Landon in the tub as discussed with our Doctor to try and clean off any allergen on his skin.....About 2 minutes into the bath Jesse called me in to look at his eye...no Ladies & Gentleman- not his surrounding skin of his eye- his actual eyeball. It was swelling right out of his head. I almost passed out...and immediately my heart went to the floor- I felt weak, dizzy and couldn't even talk. I called my mom and all I kept saying was, " His eye is coming out of his head", over and over again....Jesse Called 911 and they were here in about 3 minutes and rushed him to Hasbro.....
When we got there his breathing was getting worse and his eye literally looked like it was about to fall out of his head. They gave him so much medicine in hopes to avoid the Epinephrine because it is very painful and has its own risks. But No- my poor baby had to get the Epi shot. We were there about 8 hours and sent us home because his breathing was stabilized. Landon as on 3 drugs for about a week to try and get the allergen out of his system...and had a black eye for about 2 days after.

I can't explain what this was like. This shouldn't have happened. I know mistakes happen- but that's why they have policies out there.....A mistake had already happened for them to enact this policy. Please- if you work in the food service industry- as your boss what their policy on nuts is...and if they don't have one- contact your local town council and enact one. It saves lives.

We have only been out to eat 4 time since this incident and only 1 time did we allow Landon to eat anything form the restaurant. This is something that Landon will have to learn when he is older to understand. But for now- the burden is on my shoulders to make sure this NEVER happens again. A burden I don't mind as long as my son is happy & healthy.

I am not Nuts.....I hate Nuts!

Joy
A.K.A Landon's Watchdog

This Picture was at the Hasbro- after all the meds.......he was hooked up to many machines and was such a good boy considering the circumstances. His eye looked like this for about 2 days and then was black & blue. This picture is in the bath- the eye hadn't even started to come out yet...Picture this 10 times worse..the bottom lid was folding over itself because the eye was expanding and protruding out.....We called 911 immediately after we saw this.....