My last day in the kitchen ended with the department secretary putting anti-burn cream on my arms.

We were working on our practical making sauces. There should not have been any nuts in the kitchen, actually in my cooking class this semester there never should have been any nuts, but there were. The vegan girls who do not have food allergies and who are not registered under accessibility services got to bring in nuts almost every class day to use instead of animal products.

During the middle of the lab I rolled up my sleeves to find my arms were covered in eczema and slightly larger hives than before. I went to the station where the vegan girls were and asked if they were using nuts and sure enough they were. The items with nuts in them were baking in the oven.

It seems over the course of the semester I got more sensitive. I did not touch anything nut related yet I had eczema and hives.

I also could not eat anything since all of our items were baked in the same oven with the nuts. My arms got so itchy and they were worse than the previous times before.

I did not take Benadryl since I had to drive home. I did accept the anti-burn cream after I read the ingredients. I was asked if I had an epi-pen and I responded by pulling my epi-pen out of my chef pants pocket and explaining that I would only use it in an emergency if I couldn't breathe. I also said that anyone can stab me if I cannot do it myself and that I would not use the epi-pen for just eczema and hives.

With everything that happened after the course of the semester, I think I might meet with accessibility services to discuss with them what I let happen and what should be handled in the future with not just me, but other students with food allergies as well. And students with other food needs. There are so many questions I have.

#cooking #CC