A brief update of Fionn

Been a while, first post this month. Shame.

So, some good news regarding Fionn and his allergy. Last Tuesday we went to see Dr. Paul Carson who carried out a skin-prick test to ascertain the severity and range of Fionn's allergies. We had to bring our own melon (apparently they don't test for it very often), which we forgot, so I had to tear up to Tesco in Stillorgan (while the school-run traffic was pouring out of Oatlands) to purchase a fresh cantaloupe. I came back to the clinic to find Fionn stripped to his nappy, tears pouring down his face, and full of distrust of the strange man with the needle :( As it turned out it was worth the (brief) upset: Dr. Carson was able to tell us that based on the severity (or lack thereof) of the reaction to the peanut extract he didn't feel that it was necessary for us to have to carry adrenaline auto-injectors. This comes as a huge relief to us: although it is likely that Fionn would still have to be hospitalised if he comes in contact with a peanut, it will be because he is massively unwell, as opposed to being in a potentially life-threatening situation. It seems a small thing, but we don't have to worry that unknown food might now kill him, which was making weaning the less than fun experience it should be.

We also found out that Fionn has a very mild allergy to eggs (it's almost definitely what's causing the eczema), but apart from that Dr. Carson gave us the all-clear, which meant that on Thursday afternoon Fionn was happily tucking into cod and pasta in a cheese and garlic sauce :) Happy days.

So apart from all the drama surrounding his allergies, Fionn is progressing in leaps and bounds. He moved out into his own room last weekend (following a <sarcasm>great</sarcasm> trip to Ikea), and seems to be settling in quite well. He loves his new mobile (thank you Aunt Róisín): he can only reach it while being held in our arms, and he spends his entire time either trying to pull it down from the ceiling or blowing at it to make the planes spin around :)

He can pull himself up on anything that doesn't move (or even one us if we stop moving for long enough), which means that any items we have left on top of lockers, chairs, side-tables, etc. have been making steady progress away from his reach as he gets taller and taller. We're coming to the realisation that everything within two feet of the floor is now unequivocally his - he has already attempted to eat small wooden blocks, soil, newspaper, Sinéad's wedding ring, dried fennel, my driving licence, and a €50 note:

He's also become so much more aware of what's going on around him: he responds to the word "book" by going over to his box of books and picking out whichever one he wants to have read to him; any time he sees a duck (be it in the park, a book, or his bath) he makes a good attempt at a Donald Duck quack - although he also does this for swans, pigeons and waterhens :) On top of all this, the child is an out-and-out flirt, and a narcissist: check him out here practising his camera face:

I'll get in trouble if I don't put up a nice photo of him after those two beauties, so here he is chilling out with Grandad Greg in Moymore at Easter:

That's all for now, hopefully won't leave it as long again before posting next time, although the dread dissertation looms large. I'll finish on a sad note, my grand-uncle Noel Quinn passed away on Friday. We'll all remember him with great joy and affection: Noel was a wonderful man, and I'll always think of him when I hear someone sing "Old Man River". Thanks for the moments Noel.

The future is bright, the future is nut-free

On Saturday Sinéad and I went along to a parents support group meeting organised by the Irish Anaphylaxis Campaign. No kids allowed, so Fionn spent his time entertaining his more than willing baby-sitters (Roisin & Brion) by climbing up a flight of stairs three times. Good man Fionn.

The meet-up was excellent, with about 20 people attending, some couples but mostly parents attending by themselves. The stories we heard were very varied: the ages of the children with anaphylaxis ranged from Fionn at nine months of age up to at least 17 years old; and the allergens included everything from peanuts to potatoes. It was a really informative few hours, especially for myself and Sinéad, as we're obviously still very new to this, and we got some good practical information like names of experts in Ireland, and the kind of supports that were available (not much).

We also got to listen to peoples' own personal struggles, to hear about the kind of everyday stuff they had to cope with, and that we have yet to face: kid's parties; eating out in restaurants; transitioning to new schools. Parents sat there discussing the vital neccessity of having adrenaline shots (anapens/epipens) pretty much everywhere - in the home, at school, having the child carry two themselves - as well as making sure that as many friends and relatives were familiar with how the anapens work by asking them to practice with a training "pen". It all seemed a bit daunting, and one lady (who also quite recently found out that her son has anaphylaxis, although he's much older than Fionn) seemed to sum up my feelings quite well, saying that before she found out about the diagnosis she had never given much thought to allergies and allergic reactions; now that she knew, she felt that she had crossed some great divide, and that we were somehow separated from the general public, in that it is now all that we can think about, that we now have this huge extra responsibilty to remain vigilant on behalf of our children about what they eat and what they are exposed to.

This may seem like a doom and gloom post, but it's not. I came away from the meeting feeling quite motivated by the level of support from the others present - they've made it this far, and their success (in some cases in spite of much greater challenges than we face) is inspiring. The Irish Anaphylaxis Campaign is doing a great job of raising awareness in this country, and I'll be giving some of my time to empower the community by helping out with the website, as well as doing what I can to help with the drive to have the campaign become a recognised charitable organisation. I'd like to thank Claire and Fiona for organising the meet-up, as well as the other parents we met on the day, and look forward to seeing you again soon.

Oh, and by the way, Declan Kidney for Taoiseach.