Check out our bracelets!
Two weeks ago, I finally got off my duff and made a Very Important Phone Call.
One of the other FPIES Mamas had recently reminded us all to do so, after she had a near accident one day. It reminded her of the time that her family was in an accident and the adults were taken to a different hospital than her daughter.
If that were to happen to my boys, it could be bad.
For either of them, in the aftermath of an accident, it might not be too dangerous during the initial treatment…but IF the Geek and I were so injured we could not quickly join them, or if, God forbid, something happened that meant we could not join them at all, ongoing hospital care could become, frankly, deadly for my kiddos if their medical issues were not known.
I can imagine a million different scenarios where my boys could be hurt by a hospital while the medical staff was trying to help them.
Say that the Geek and I are not available to discuss medical conditions with the ER personnel. Mr. Happy isn’t really hurt at all, but he’d been sent to the ER just in case. A well-meaning nurse realizes he’s hungry, opens up a bottle of regular dairy or soy based formula, and feeds him. BAM! Vomiting, diarrhea, hypovolemic shock. Then they’ll pump him full of IV antibiotics, further disrupting his fragile gastro-intestinal balance, and put him on an IV of saline – which is derived from corn.
Say Mr. Charm is injured, but not badly. The Geek and I aren’t there to discuss things with the ER personnel. Mr. Charm is admitted overnight, and before anyone can tell them any better, they serve him breakfast. Bacon and eggs. BAM! Anaphylaxis ensues.
See what I mean? There are a ton of scenarios I can imagine like this.
So it seemed prudent and responsible to make sure that regardless of where they are or who they are with, emergency response personnel will be able to quickly determine any special precautions they will need to take in caring for my sons.
You can enroll in MedicAlert online, but the other FPIES Mama’s who had already done this told everyone that it is easier to do it over the phone; due to our rare medical condition, it’s apparently tricky to find the right “things” to tell the system to put in our files. The operators on the phone, however, can easily enter strange data.
MedicAlert is so cool, even, that when I called, I was placed on hold. Then the hold message said to leave a message, and I would be called back when I would have gotten through while waiting on hold! You don’t lose your place in the queue when you leave a message! Love. It.
So I did, and got a call back, and it took about two hours to get everything properly set up for both boys.
The operator was warm, sweet, and precise; she really worked hard to get all the kiddos information correct.
I was impressed with the process, impressed with the thoroughness, and impressed with the price: $36 for a year service and the bracelet. For $3 a month per child, I can relax and worry a lot less about at least ONE thing in our lives.
SO worth it!
I went with the old-fashioned Red markings on the bracelet, because I didn’t want the emergency personnel to accidentally overlook the bracelets in a crisis. I wanted them to be very obvious!
Our bracelets arrived in Saturday’s mail. Just a week and a half after I’d called – they are FAST!
Mr. Happy seems to barely notice his, except when he’s crawling. Then the large part of the bracelet slides to the back of his wrist and his crawling now sounds like a peg-legged pirate stomping around the house…”clomp…clomp…clomp…” It’s kind of funny, actually.
Oh, and it makes a really handy teething device when nothing else is available.
Mr. Charm isn’t fond of his bracelet. When he saw me put the bracelet on his brother, I asked him “Do you want a bracelet, too?” because he has definitely noticed that Mommy, Daddy, and Brother all have amber necklaces…and he doesn’t. (Don’t worry, we’re getting him a necklace, too!)
He, of course, said “Yeah!”
I put it on, but almost immediately he began grabbing his wrist and saying “Boo-boo”. It isn’t too small, and it doesn’t hurt; I think he’s just not used to it and when he catches it on something and it tugs, he doesn’t like the sensation.
He can get over it. That sucker is NOT coming off.
Oh! A really sad, funny moment came when I was measuring the boys wrists for the bracelets! As a reminder, Mr. Charm is closer to his 3rd birthday than his 2nd, and Mr. Happy is a mere 9 months old. Their wrists measured exactly the same! 4.5 inches for BOTH boys. Mr. Charm is small, and Mr. Happy is big, and despite what the dietician said, I still attribute it to the malabsorption Mr. Charm had when he was a baby that we didn’t know about. Sad…
So now my youngest son wears an amber necklace and a bracelet at all times, and my oldest son is about to do the same. I’ve never been fond of jewelry on men, but I LOVE this jewelry on my little men!
Do you have MedicAlert for your kids? Is it just a HUGE stress-reliever for you, too?
