After much pushing from my husband I have decided to start a blog. I am not sure how long this will last but I am super opinionated and I always seem to have a lot to say. Also, this can decrease my constant facebook posts...... People can just come here and read and I can vent. I guess I see it as a win/win situation! My main rant is about my son's severe and life threatening peanut allergy. It is the center of my life. By nature I am an anxious person. I worry constantly...to the point of paranoia. I am not sure why on earth God gave me a son with a life threatening food allergy- BUT he did. At least it keeps me busy. The one thing people always want to know is- How did you know Isaac was allergic to peanuts? Well now I can write it down and just send people to this blog. It will save me some time speaking.....more time I can worry about something else I suppose!
I want to first state that prior to having kids, I thought this whole "food allergy" thing was a CROCK. Really, who can be allergic to foods? I never knew anyone allergic to anything you actually ate! I remember some kid in 5th grade had hay fever really bad and had to go get allergy shots. That was about extreme as it went. I digress....... In 2006, I had a beautiful and charming 13 month old son. Whenever I ate anything, he would come running and want a sample. It was really annoying and I began to hide when I ate since I am not a food sharer. My husband was deployed to Iraq at the time and I was exhausted, mentally and physically. I made my self a nice peanut butter sandwich on toast and settled in on the couch to watch some TV. As soon as the sandwich touched my mouth, a certain someone woke up from his nap. I went to get him and settled him down with some toys and started to eat this glorious sandwich. Within seconds, there was Mr. Baby standing in front of me asking for "some". In the back of my mind, I knew (based on the ridiculous amounts of baby books I had read) that peanuts were something kinds shouldnt eat until age 3. But I figured, this kid wont be allergic to nuts, that is for other people....weird people. I dipped my index finger into my sandwich and I put the peanut butter on his bottom lip. He ate it and smiled but immediately I saw a hive where I had put the peanut butter. I knew what this meant. OH NO! I gave him liquid benedryl and called the doctor. They told me to call 911 and get him to the hospital. We lived a block from the hospital at the time so I threw him in the car and drove like a bat out of hell to the ER. I ran in like a lunatic carrying him like a loaf of bread and they rushed us back there. He was given more benedryl and we had to stay there for several hours. Good times with a 13 month old! In my mind I thought this was a fluke, a coincidence. I didnt really take it seriously. I dutifully made an appointment with an allergist (rule follower that I am). Several weeks later, they called me to tell me that he was allergic to peanuts (level 2 allergy) and allergic to cashews (level 1). I literally had to mourn the loss of a normal carefree childhood. Our lives would be filled with benedryl and epi pens..... I had no idea NO IDEA the journey this would take me on, the worry that I have. My sweet boy will never eat cake at a party, cant participate in many activities, and lives with a mom who would do anything to make it better..........
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