You dodged a bullet. Here, have a gluten-free dairy-free nut-free soy-free egg-free cookie.

I took Josiah to the allergists office for testing last Tuesday. I had observed some hives when he eats certain foods, so I wanted to get him checked out. Since his sister has anaphylactic allergies, it's always a good idea to have him tested for the allergens she has too. Imagine my surprise when the test shows negative to egg and peanut (Arianna's allergens), but positive to soy, cashew, almond, pecan, and walnut! So, now we carry four Epi-Pen Jr's, Benadryl liquid and I need to get Josiah a medical alert bracelet. They're mild allergens, so if we avoid them he may grow out of them.


When I got home Tuesday evening, I was shocked and horrified to read a post in my allergy mom's group. With her permission, I will share it with you now...

"A 'friend' of mine just casually informed me that an acquaintance of mine doesn't really believe in allergies, thinks it's all hype! Apparently, all six of her kids are healthy without any of these 'crazy, keep those peanuts away from me, life-threatening allergies'... She just thinks it's overly exaggerated and not really real..."

Um, excuse me? My first response was to laugh. Not in a funny ha-ha way. A "did I just read that?" way.


So, Ms. Doesn't Believe, you think it's all hype because all six of your kids are healthy? Isn't that a little closed-minded? All three of my kids have never had leukemia, never broken a bone, never had the chicken pox, or polio, or smallpox. I do, however believe all of these are not "hype". Neither are they overly exaggerated. I know they are really real.

Ms. Believe, I would like for you to spend a day... or maybe just an afternoon... in the life of an allergy mom. Make gluten, dairy, nut, soy, egg free breakfast. Don't forget to double check labels! Plan an outing with a homeschool or scouting group around your child's allergies (and the allergies of five other kids in the scouts group), pick up the Benadryl and Epi Pens from the pharmacy, but make sure not to leave them in the car because if you do, they go bad! Then take the kids to a park, but be sure not to let the kids out of your sight, because their particular allergen could be anywhere!


Now let me tell you why you have to do all of those things. If my daughter gets around peanuts, first her skin itches. She scratches it, she starts to swell, then she starts to cough. That's as far as her allergic reactions have gone because we've taken action fast before she got to an anaphylactic reaction.


I've never had an anaphylactic reaction, but I have witnessed my sister's reactions before. It starts with an itchy tongue usually, followed by your tongue, lips, face swelling up. Then it gets hard to breathe. Really hard to breathe. If you don't use an EpiPen in time, you could DIE. I'm not being overly dramatic. I'm telling the truth.


I had an allergic reaction to something I ate last night. My tongue, lips, and face were going numb and itchy at the same time. I took Benadryl and prayed. I was hoping it didn't get worse than that, because I knew what happened next. I'd get an EpiPen injection, transferred to the hospital via ambulance, and sit for 4 hours in an ER being watched by the doctors for a secondary reaction. Yeah, it's so "not really real" that doctors take it *that* seriously.


So, I'd like to say to Ms. Doesn't Believe, thank God your children don't have food allergies. I thank God every day that my kids have survived so far and that my middle child is allergy free! And try to be a little easier on us allergy moms, mmkay? Because as for me, I'd give anything not to be all "keep those peanuts away from me"!