The Allergy Kid

I think I always a vision of "the allergic child." Fragile looking, probably wearing thick glasses, Mom hovering close by with the Purell, etc. That is, until Logan was diagnosed yesterday with some pretty serious food allergies. I'm still trying to wrap my head around this one. We went yesterday for the skin prick test, prompted by a major hive outbreak after a trip to the park. I already posted on that one. Anyway, we got the test done and they also tested for a bunch of other things. The bad news is that Logan is allergic to peanuts, eggs, dogs, cats, grass, dust, and several other things. The good news is that he's not allergic to dairy or gluten, which are so much harder to avoid and really make "normal life" for a little kid a lot harder to achieve. The other good news is that there's a good chance that he'll outgrow the food allergies by the time he reaches school age, if I do a good job of eradicating those things from his diet immediately. Also, environmental allergies can be treated, and overcome, with a series of shots. So, we'll probably start those as soon as we can. I guess that's the nice thing of having pretty much met our deductible by April - we're free to do what we need to do health wise for the rest of the year. So now, the question is where to from here. I've already cleaned out my pantry and it turns out that egg and peanut allergies are probably the best ones to have, if you're going to. You can get egg-free pasta (just make sure it's not processed with pasta that has eggs in it.), you can make your own bread with no eggs, etc., and with all the hype about severe peanut allergies, most companies are very good about labeling their products. So, it could be worse. I spent a lot of time last night researching and looking for information on this stuff, and it made me really grateful for the things he CAN still eat. So, we stop using mayo and start using cream cheese, etc. Not a really big deal. We'll just be the kid that brings his own cupcakes to someone else's birthday party. Hopefully, he'll outgrow this. I'm optimistic and hopeful. I am thankful that we discovered all this through allergy testing and not through a life-threatening trip to the ER. I was so surprised to find out he was allergic to these things, though. He's eaten peanut butter and honey sandwiches almost daily for the last year. However, the doctor said that reactions can be minor and missed, or no reaction at all until your body throws its immune system into overdrive. That's how people get surprised with anaphylactic, life threatening reactions to things. So, yikes. We've had quite a year so far, and it's only April!

Chronicles from the Backside of the World

Alright, it's Tom here; this is my first entry, piggybacking on Kellie's blog. I just want to share some of the interesting things happening on the other half of Planet Earth.


To your right, you will see a map of the United Arab Emirates. It is a small country next to Saudi Arabia and across the Persian Gulf from Iran. I won't give you a geography lesson, so if you want to know more about this splendid country, the CIA would love to share more information with you: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ae.html



Please note the green star in the middle of the map. That's an approximation of where I am right now. If you have ever complained about being in the middle of nowhere, well...I am currently a 2 1/2 hour drive from Abu Dhabi City in the desert. This is not the sage brush & cactus desert, this is the sun blazing, sand duning, camel walking, mirage making, heat stroke inducing, oil producing DESERT (not dessert, as some might be tempted to spell it.)



I am the new HR guy for a gas development construction project. If I were an engineer, I might go into what gas development means. I have 9 months HR experience, and I'm replacing a guy with 8 years experience, so it should be a great learning experience. Fortunately he will be staying for a couple more weeks to complete the handover. We work six ten-hour days per week, with Friday (Muslim holy day) off. For security reasons, cameras are not allowed on site, so I didn't bring one. Still, the picture on the left is a very accurate representation of the road between the job site and the camp where we all live.

I live in a trailer at a camp full of 4000 men. My room, including the bathroom, is about 12x16. We eat all our meals in a cafeteria. I could find all kinds of ways to make it sound miserable (plenty of people complain incessantly, but it's really not that bad. Guys who have worked multiple Bechtel projects say that this is the best camp they have lived in. The worst part by far is being away from my wonderful family. That is really tough...and I have not even been gone a week.

In my five days so far, I have:

• Spent over 24 hours in transit
• Seen camels roaming the desert
• Blown a tire in the middle of nowhere
• Seen a pickup high-centered on a sand dune
• Bought my first pair of steel-toe safety boots
• Dealt (dealing) with someone losing their passport - days before needing to leave the country
• Dealt (dealing) with someone suspected of carrying an infectious disease - trying to keep my distance

Well, I think that's a good start, and I'm trying not to bore my faithful readers with too many details. Stay tuned for more...Chronicles from the Backside of the World!

Road trip!

Well, Tom left on Wednesday so we've been trying to stay busy. The opportunity came up to go to College Station this weekend and visit my mom, which was alot of fun if not exhausting. We drove up on Friday afternoon and went the park with all the institute kids that evening for the activity that was going on. (As I type this, I know I'm going to look back and think this is a lame post. I'm so tired, for reasons I will explain in a minute and I can tell that the brainpower is seriously lagging.) Logan had loads of fun chucking rocks in the stream with my mom and picking flowers to bring to me while Dallin was confined to the stroller. Sadly, he got into something that he was extremely allergic to and ended up with huge hive welts all over his face; like, his eyes were almost swollen shut. Not good. (Didn't take any pictures of that.) So we made a mad dash for Walgreens to get some Zyrtec syrup, which I tore off the shelf, opened with my teeth, and gave him there in the store while my mom found some hydrocortizone, opened that and started slathering it on his face neck and arms. He was fine and definitely a good sport for the whole thing, but I'm calling the allergist on Monday to make an appointment to get him tested. I don't want to be suprised like that again.

Some of the fun things that happened on the trip:

• While driving to College Station, Logan sang "Happy Birthday to You" to everything he saw along the way; like, the whole song with only the "Dear _____ changed. (ie: trees, purple flowers, sky, cool car, other trees, Mama's bag, Logan's blue water, Dallin's orange water, etc.)
• While we were at the park, Logan got to pet a nice dog named Hershey. For some reason he got obsessed about wanting to "fluff the puppy's tail!" and fluff most anything about the puppy. "Want to fluff the puppy's ears? Want to fluff the puppy's toes?" He loves dogs so much, but is a little intimidated by bigger ones. He was pretty proud of himself for making friends with Hershey, who was a pit bull/chocolate lab mix.
• Logan really likes to sing. Driving home from the mall, he sang lots of verses to "The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round," including the baby wheels on the bus (very high pitched round and round), the Daddy wheels on the bus that go, "Hiiii!", the Dallin wheels on the bus that go "AYA AYA AYA!!" (uncannily accurate impersonation), the Logan wheels on the bus that go "PI-YAH!" (see the episode Samuri Pie of the Backyardigans), etc.
• My parents bought us dinner at Jason's Deli. Yum!

And we're done!

So, having been diligent in Dallin's helmet wearing, we're officially done! It's very exciting, as I had been expecting that he would be wearing it for the next two months but Dr. Bob was satisfied with his progress at this point and said we could move on. I haven't been able to get any "after" pictures yet, but I'll post some soon. Right this moment we're trying to get Tom ready for his six month stint in UAE. I'm sure that the reality of the situation will come crashing down sometime after he takes off on Wednesday, but for the moment it still feels so far away. I feel like I'm ready to get this show on the road, though. I think it'll be a very good learning experience. Tom and I were talking about this the other evening; the fact that neither of us has really been "on our own." There's always been a room mate, companion, or family member living with us that could kind of pick up the slack on an off day. Not so much, this time. It'll be an interesting experience for sure.