Skip to main content

Day 32, 33,34

As I write these posts I think "why would anybody care to hear a daily account of our little life and how a food allergy controls it". I realize that it may not be that interesting to everyone, but I'm reminded of why I started this blog. I want to share our challenges, show our perseverance, and remind myself every day that my faith in everything important to me is huge.

After being told that Sophia will not outgrow her allergy, but will continue to grow in severity, I am no longer holding onto the concept of a cure. Instead, I have faith that Sophia will learn how to manage the complexity of her condition and persevere through her life stronger for having gone through all of this. This is a much more realistic and obtainable goal. I have faith that people will understand that the safety of my child often means missing out on moments with their child, or them individually. Because the nature of Sophia's food allergy is so unknown and the knowledge underdeveloped, I will always tell everyone everything I know. A life threatening food allergy affects the lives of everyone. It isn't just about meals and snacks. It's about building relationships and maintaining them even when they require a BIG effort and a lot of work. It's about small children who don't understand why they are different and left out of everything. It's about trying to get enough of all the nutrition needed when you're allergic to so much. It's about deciphering an emotional response to an allergic reaction or just plain 3-year-old whining. It is so multidimensional and that is why I see that a daily account is needed. Thank you to everyone who read my first month and decided to click "join this site"and follow me daily. Your comments are always welcome too. This journey has just begun and I appreciate the people who lend an ear and an open mind to learning about life with a severe food allergy. For 3 years I've heard people tell me what I can't expect and make excuses for common ignorance. This is my attempt to change that. I may only change one person's perspective but that is more than I was told I could.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going Global With Food Allergies

Have you ever looked at a map of the world, all laid out in front you, and thought, "hmmm...where to go?" Even if you are an adventurous, free-spirited person, food allergies have a way of paralyzingly our curiosity through fear. The constant need to have to be aware of all of our surroundings, naturally develops into taking less unnecessary trips; Always packing our own food and knowing the specific details of the environments we plan to enter ahead of time. The lack of general knowledge of food allergies in the public can force us into creating our own safety bubble. It's a cause and effect reaction that can force families with very severe food allergies to first, find themselves excluded, and then inevitably, because of their previous absence, not given any consideration.  People and the public, in general, can become a safety hazard. To make matters even more difficult and suspect, food itself becomes a weapon because of cross contamination, poor labeling, and very l...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words?

The Story Behind the Picture    I  worry sometimes that this media sensationalized, ideal sense of "perfection" is vitally harming the younger generations. "Perfection" is a feeling, not an image. Feeling everything is going "perfectly" etc. But, we live in a materialistic, superficial world- where we are innately taught to perceive ourselves by our struggles or shortcomings, instead of searching for our gifts. We all have special gifts, and I hope our new growing generation learns to see beneath the surface enough to notice that in each other. It's not that everyone is the same and everyone deserves a trophy (and that whole plethora of an argument), it's more about appreciating differences and learning to seek the gift of individuality. There's a BIG difference. Our kids are being raised in a global, e-commerce, social media driven, multicultural world. We need to stay current with the changing world when raising kids today, in order to prote...
Post a Comment
Read more

Day 59-65 "What is anaphylaxis"

All parent's of young children living with a life threatening food allergy live in a constant, round the clock state of fear. Fear of the unknown, fear that our children cannot communicate their immediate needs and symptoms, and fear of putting anyone else in charge of managing this extremely dangerous allergy. Releasing control and delegating responsibilities is definitely where I struggle the most because, for me, handing that over to another person can be the biggest mistake I make. I'm not at all worried that a caregiver would not follow our rules and feed my darling junk food or too much sugar, let her watch too much TV, not use her manners, or let her negotiate her way on everything--- like most parent's would be concerned with. I'm worried that they might misread an ingredient, and show up at my house with cow's milk proteins lingering on their body or garments. I'm worried that they are oblivious to the MANY different ways that milk proteins are presen...
Post a Comment
Read more