(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Apparently, I am a Cautionary Tale [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-11 The nut station in the cafe at work--well away from the other food. "In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes." - Andy Warhol "Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!" - Aesop Actually, I have never wished for any kind of fame or even to be well known. But at our core, I suspect most of us would like to be recognized. A few years ago I had an allergic reaction at work. I am allergic to tree nuts, and I'm pretty careful about reading ingredients of anything I put in my mouth. However, this one time the chef had mislabeled the ingredients on a desert. They were serving sweet potato pie at an event. I love sweet potato pie, but I rarely ever have it because it is usually made with pecan. There was an ingredient card above the pie listing the allergens: "Contains dairy and wheat" was listed at the bottom. I read the ingredients carefully--no nuts! Two bites later, I realized there might have been an omission. I carry an epi-pen for just such instances. While standing there talking to a coworker, I said "Excuse me," and jabbed myself in the thigh. That's usually good for relief from allergy symptoms within 30 seconds. However, this time the reaction kept progressing. My tongue started to swell, I broke out in hives head to toe, I started salivating out of control and gagging on my own saliva, my ears started that insane allergic-reaction hum, and my eyes started to swell shut. I flagged down someone in the cafe and had them call me an ambulance. They walked me downstairs where I sat on the curb and passed out until the ambulance arrived and got me breathing again. My epi-pen was expired by about 8 months. It turns out that on an epi-pen, the expiration date really does matter. Do yourself a favor and check the dates on yours! A couple of days in the ICU later, I was back at work. The food team reached out to me to ask if I would be willing to work with them in crafting a new allergy-safety program. Yes! I felt uniquely qualified to throw my voice into their meetings! Over the next year, we consulted with health professionals and food professionals from all over the world and put together a new program of labeling, kitchen procedures to avoid cross-contamination, cross-checks for label accuracy, and training for all food staff. I sat in several hours of interviews about my experience with a professional video team. This morning I got a cup of coffee at the barista bar at work. The barista saw me and said, "Hey, I just took the allergy safety training this morning. It was all about you!" Indeed, my interview is now a part of the required safety training for every employee who handles food. Which reminds me of another quote: "It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others." - Ashleigh Brilliant Oh, and one other: "You are what you eat." A saying that I heartily disprove. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/11/2163328/-Apparently-I-am-a-Cautionary-Tale Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/