I am SO glad I was finally brave!

"Mother Bear" update:
(If you don't know what this is about check out the post I made on October 17th entitled, "Mother Bear".)

In DECEMBER I finally got brave enough to write an email/letter to the school district's "nutritionist" (I use this term lightly seeing as how the "nutritionist" for our school district is actually an office manager/accountant that took over the nutritionist's job when she retired. She does a decent job, I suppose, but isn't that CRAZY!!!).  I was
SO nervous about doing this! As a mother of a child with food allergies I have learned that a lot of people think it is a HUGE burdon for them to have to "deal" with his needs and I just try to take on the responsibility as much as I can alone without causing a problem for anyone. I had taken all those steps to protect Matty I thought, yet he was still in danger. Well, she called me right away and said that BY LAW they HAD to provide a peanut-free table for him. There are a lot of things I didn't know that were putting him in danger and I thought he was as protected as possible. I had taken a bottle of Benedryl and an EpiPen to the school for him and after talking with the school nurse I learned that the school couldn't even LEGALLY use the medication I provided him with because it was an over the counter bottle of Benedryl and they needed a prescription so it had Dr.'s orders and dosage information specific to Matthew. The epi pen was just there it wasn't in the box which had Dr.'s orders on it. The nurse made me feel like an unfit mother and a total moron every time I talked with her because I didn't know everything she knew that I was supposed to do.  I finally said,"Look, I had NO way of knowing these things unless someone told me and how on earth am I supposed to just PULL this stuff out unless someone tells me what I am supposed to do?!" Anyhoo, we had a meeting Wednesday that is called a 504. The people that were there: Me, the nurse (by the way her office is at the Health Department because she is the nurse for the ENTIRE district, not just for the school. Yeah, that's right, NO NURSE in the school!!! SCARY!!!), the principal, Matthew's teacher, the district "nutritionist", a representative from the superintendant's office, the cafeteria supervisor for Matthew's school, and a lady that was kind of the mediator for the meeting. I was SO nervous on the days leading up to this meeting! I prayed and fretted. The meeting went FANTASTICALLY well!!! As of Wednesday...NO MORE PEANUT BUTTER AND HONEY CUPS!!!! Matthew can eat a warm lunch like everyone else on the days they make rolls now!!! HOORAY!!! They typically have mac-n-cheese or potatoes and gravy on the days they have peanut butter and honey cups to go with the rolls. They will provide hiim with a peanut-free table!! I expressed my concerns over parents not knowing what steps need to be taken to protect their children. One KEY piece of information was unaware of is that the nurse is to be notified THE DAY a child with a medical condition such as food allergies is enrolled so that they can properly train the child's teacher on how to treat that child's condition if an emergency should arise and how to administer an epi pen as would be necessary in MY SON'S case!!! Guess when the nurse was notified of Matthew's allergy?....In DECEMBER the day the nutritionist received my email. This means my son attended that school for 3 MONTHS before the nurse was notified and the teacher trained. She still would not know to this day if I hadn't written the letter. SCARY!!! The receptionist DROPPED THE BALL!!! The school failed us and now there are still children in the school who have the same problem and they don't even know it!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!!! At the meeting it was decided that a note needs to be sent out to ALL parents saying that if they have a child with medical conditions such as food allergies they need to talk with the school and it will have a list of all steps that need to be taken to protect their children since they were improperly oriented at registration. They actually decided that this note would be sent out DISTRICT wide!!! There is also going to be a packet of information and a list of necessary steps to be taken given to each parent of a child with a medical condition at the time of registration so they can monitor the schools responsibilities and take care of their own. We went over what steps would be taken on field trips, on the school bus he rides daily. They will provide Matthew's class with a little instructional class thing that will explain to the children what it means to be "allergic to peanuts" so they can more fully understand and help him out instead of trying to hurt him like the one student did with the peanut butter cup. I didn't even know that was an option until the mediator told me it was. I offered to be an advocate for parents and students with medical conditions and food allergies to help them through the process since it has been a LONG, drawn out, difficult process for us and it SHOULDN'T be!!! It should be simple and precise and easy to make sure your child is safe at school. I feel so much better to think that things are headed in the right direction. When I told Matthew the changes he said,"YESSS!!! I can eat macaroni and cheese and potatoes and gravy now!!!"  When I told his big brother, Zack who's in 4th grade. He said with big crocodile tears in his eyes,"Thanks mom. Those peanut butter cups scared me so much for Matthew." I am so glad I didn't chicken out like I almost did! It took me 2 months to get up the nerve to write my letter. I only wish I had written it immediately. I thought the only problem was the peanut butter cups, I had NO IDEA all of the ways my son was in danger or I would have done something sooner!!!  I just needed a little time to be brave! Like I told the people in the meeting: After watching my 2 year old baby son nearly die in my arms after eating a pistachio I will do everything I can to make sure it doesn't happen again!!!