Twas the night before Christmas… and I’m writing an update about my kids’ food allergies. (Okay, I’ve been working on it for a while because nothing is speedy around here these days.) I’ve actually been working on a post to share what our first Halloween with food allergies was like (How’s that for slow?), but I am going to back-burner that post and share it some other time.

I don’t think I wrote about this before, but my oldest went to his follow-up with the allergist and was diagnosed with asthma. He’s had trouble with lots of flares beginning in August. The asthma flares seem to be triggered by illness, possibly environmental factors, and his latest anaphylactic reaction seems to have also been a trigger. Being that it’s cold season, he’s been spending a lot of time using his nebulizer. His next follow-up is in March but we’ll probably be back before then.

My youngest went to the allergist for her allergy testing a couple weeks ago, and I am still trying to catch my breath after getting the results. She is allergic to: Eggs, Soy, Milk, Coconut, Sesame Seed, Peas, Peanuts, and Tree nuts. She now has her own Epi-pen, and she is to avoid shared equipment for peanuts and tree nuts, just like her brother. Her peanut RAST was literally off the chart, class 6, which is the most severe class of allergy. She is also likely allergic to amoxicillin, but her allergist said she’s just a little too young to do the test for that. She’s to avoid any amoxicillin until she can do the test. In addition, she likely has asthma too, but she’s too young to do that test also. The doctor got us another nebulizer for her. (Saying it’s been a great year to have health insurance in this family is a huge understatement.)

So, whew. We knew something like this was coming, because like I’ve said before, THIS is the kid we’ve been worried about allergy-wise. It is overwhelming to get diagnosed with so many food allergies. A few random thoughts:

• You can’t even imagine the excitement we feel when we find a packaged product that is safe!
• The peanuts and tree nuts were a complete shock. I asked them to test for those “just to be cautious” since we don’t expose her due to her brother’s allergies.
• Her symptoms that caused us to test: Random bouts of hives, eczema all over causing her to scratch until she bleeds, and random bouts of vomiting.
• When her nebulizer was delivered, I had the choice of getting another table top one like my son’s or getting a travel one that will plug into a wall or a car. I opted for the travel one, so we can use a nebulizer anywhere. I am not even being sarcastic when I say that was exciting!

This combination of allergies kind of crosses us over the threshold from “looking for which products are still safe on the shelf” to “accepting there is very little we can buy in a package and that we’re going to have to make most things from scratch.” I think it took a little while to truly come to terms with that, but now we accept it. We may as well embrace it and become great cooks! (Related: I got a new bread machine, and I’m so darn excited! I picked it because it’s supposed to be great for gluten free, and my intent is not to “gluten” it since I can’t have gluten. So far I’m really happy with it, although buying the necessary ingredients has been a challenge since I can only find certain products locally in Bob’s Red Mill brand, and they contaminate with nuts. Thank God for online shopping.)

So life got more challenging, but we can do this. Only God knows the reason for these challenges, but we accept them and we’ll all do our best with the support of our family and loved ones. A number of friends have put me in touch with their food allergy mom-friends, and that community is just so amazingly helpful and supportive.

Here some bible verses that have helped me get through this challenge:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. ~James 1:2-4

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. ~ 2 Corinthians 4:8-9

Merry Christmas to all!