The Senior Class Trip to Southern California is upon us! How do you help your teenager to manage their food allergies on a weekend trip? The better question might be – how do you help yourself manage your fear and anxiety while your teenager is on a weekend trip with the Senior Class?!

We’ve had years to prepare for such a trip, but now that the trip is this weekend – all that planning is followed by still more preparations to ensure Morgan’s safety. He’s very aware of what his food allergies are – peanuts, tree nuts, sesame, fish and shellfish – and he ALWAYS carries two EpiPens and a Chef Card for restaurants. He’s had a lot of practice eating out with his Forensics team; and he’s been on plenty of trips with our family and once to the Boy Scout National Jamboree with his Dad along for several days of that trip. This will be the first trip that he’s entirely on his own from start to finish. He’s almost 18 years old, so it’s probably time!

Morgan and I got all his trip paperwork completed by our allergist to allow him to take his medications with him and to carry his EpiPen and inhaler. Additionally, he has to take other meds for his asthma and environmental allergies. He been the manager of those meds recently, ensuring that he takes them every night. That feels good to have turned those over to him.

Our allergist signed off on a Health Care Plan for the trip that included what to do if Morgan goes into anaphylaxis. The chaperones on the trip, all teachers, have only been trained to call 911 after giving an EpiPen. If Morgan were to need to go to the ER in Southern California, someone will need to go with him in the ambulance AND someone will need to stay with him in the ER for 4-6 hours to ensure no biphasic reaction occurs. Morgan and I made a presentation to his chaperones last week at school to ensure they knew all the steps necessary to keep him safe. The teachers were so appreciative to know about the details of his food allergies, since they had a student last year experience a seizure on the trip and they had no medical information about the issue from the family.

Thankfully, the coordinator of the trip, the AP Government teacher, is VERY detailed. She has prepared an itinerary for the trip that includes the times and locations of every activity. This has allowed Morgan to look up the restaurants on the Internet, and to call the hotel to ensure that he can obtain a safe meal for breakfast. On the days when they will be able to eat at Disneyland, for example, or at any restaurant near the hotel, he’s had to do more research on the locations of the restaurants and their menus. I’ve had to communicate my need to know specifically what he’s going to eat and that he’s got a plan. Just saying, “I’ll handle it” doesn’t make Mom feel good!

Morgan is flying United Airlines which doesn’t serve peanuts. I plan on sending him with wet wipes so that he can wipe down his environment on the plane, which we always do when we fly. He’s trained many of his friends about allergic reactions and administering his EpiPen. He will bring EpiPen trainers to do so again. We’ve found that teenagers love to be trained and to practice with the trainers. Some scoundrels like to administer the trainer on their forehead, but I know the message is still getting through!

All of the students will be housed four to a room, boys with boys and girls with girls. The teacher in charge has already insured that Morgan knows all of his roommates and feels comfortable asking them to not bring any of his allergens into their room. Even if Morgan didn’t know them as well as he does, I feel sure he would be able to advocate for himself and have a safety zone in the room.

As for Mom…I will be sending him off with lots of love…and lots of instructions too: Make sure to take pictures and especially make sure to HAVE FUN!!

To read Morgan’s two posts about his Senior Class Trip – read them here and here.