Onboarding

We recently traveled to Long Beach, California, for Luca’s first visit to The Southern California Food Allergy Institute. Knowing how often we will be traveling there, we decided to keep this trip short. We flew out to California Wednesday and home on Friday. It was a lot of travel for such a short time but the trip went very well and seemed totally doable to us. 

We flew Delta and I was very impressed with how knowledgeable they were about food allergies. When booking flights, we could indicate Luca had food allergies in their “special accommodations” section and they allowed us to pre-board so that we could wipe off his seat on the plane to ensure there was no allergen residue where he was sitting. Multiple flight attendants confirmed Luca’s allergies with me and while they did not have peanuts to hand out, they made sure the almonds they had were okay to give to the other passengers. A flight attendant on our way home even checked with us to make sure we had Luca’s EpiPens with us. They were also really sweet with Luca and made his first flight so special. He got his “wings,” and they even let him sit up front with the pilot for a picture! 

I used to get nervous thinking about flying with him because of his allergies. I was always afraid of the potential of him having a reaction while we were thousands of feet in the air and having no immediate medical attention available. It’s definitely played a factor in where we have vacationed with him in the past. I’m so relieved he did well with it, since we will be doing it frequently. 

Traffic in LA is no joke and was probably the most annoying part of traveling. Note to self: fly out earlier to avoid LA rush hour traffic. There was a Whole Foods right next to our hotel which worked out well for us. Luca doesn’t eat at restaurants so it was essential for us to have a kitchen at our hotel where we could make simple meals and snacks. We had an easy dinner at the hotel our first night and we took Luca to the hotel pool. Then we all basically crashed after such a long travel day. 

Thursday was appointment day! We were taken back almost immediately when we arrived. Luca had a set of vitals taken and then one of the physicians came in to go over the program with us. We had done a lot of research beforehand so not much of the information was new, but it was definitely helpful to hear again and have the opportunity to ask questions.

After talking with the doctor, the nurses came in to do the skin test. The skin test is done by making the tiniest “prick” into the skin on the back. Each needle has a tiny amount of a specific allergen on it. A hive will normally appear if you are allergic to that specific allergen. They tested about 35 different allergens on Luca’s back based off of a very specific food intake form I filled out prior to the appointment. After 15 minutes the nurses came back and measured the raised portion of each hive (called the “wheal”) and the redness around it (the “flare”). The measurements determine if it is a “positive” reaction or a “negative” reaction. Luca has had a lot of skin tests before but never for this many allergens. 

Some of the results definitely surprised us. They will factor in a lot of other testing with this skin test to determine Luca’s treatment plan in the program. When the skin test was over we went down a couple floors to the lab. It was a simple blood draw, which Luca has also had to have many times in the past. He hates these tests but he did great and was such a trooper. Luca even got to pick a little prize out of their treasure chest afterwards for doing so well. They scheduled us for our next visit at the end of August and that is when we will get more information on his allergies, how they will treat them, and how long he is estimated to take in the program.

After our appointment we had the rest of the day to do whatever we wanted. We drove around and explored the area a little bit, we hit the beach (Luca’s first time at the ocean!), and we tried a restaurant for lunch, Noble Bird Rotisserie, that came highly recommended by other food allergy families. 

I have never experienced such care concerning food allergies at a restaurant before. A manager took our order (protocol for food allergy customers). He could tell me each and every menu item that was safe for Luca and exactly which things contained his allergens. I asked a ton of questions and he was so kind to answer them. The restaurant itself was adorable and the food was delicious. We sat on the patio and weirdly enough, I wasn’t even worried for Luca to eat their food. I could tell how serious they take allergies and for the first time ever, we all enjoyed a meal together in a restaurant like a normal family. It’s funny because Luca didn’t seem to think much of it, but that made me a little relieved. He obviously doesn’t feel like he’s missing out on anything and that makes me feel good.

We got to meet up with another allergy family in SoCal’s program while we were there. They also have a 3 year old boy who has almost the exact same allergies as Luca. The boys had fun playing at the park while we talked about our trips out there and all things food allergies.

We checked out pretty early the next day, knowing we would likely hit LA traffic and that it would probably take us longer going through security traveling with food, medications, and pumped breastmilk for Gia, who was home with grandma. All the excitement of the last few days finally caught up with Luca and he spent most of the flight home curled up asleep with his head on my lap.

Overall, everything went really well. Traveling with someone with food allergies adds a whole other layer to logistics when planning a trip. It used to feel really daunting to me, but I do feel like we will get into a good routine pretty quickly. I think this trip out to Long Beach showed us how feasible it is to fly with him and will open up a lot more traveling opportunities for us as a family. We are looking forward to our next visit where we will learn of Luca’s treatment plan and have him be one step closer to food freedom!