I have several updates to the Food Allergy page. You know what that means, right? No news is usually good news, so if I have some news it’s probably not the greatest news, and in this case, there is something to share. There are two pages now (see above for the two “Food Allergies” pages) because Elijah’s older sibling has developed a food allergy as well. This certainly is not the direction we wanted to be heading! But it’s an update on both of them.
- Update on Elijah, from 2013 to the present
- Joshua’s story, from 2016 to the present
I just want to add how complicated life gets with more food allergies: more appointments, less food to eat, more diligence, figuring out new ways of eating, and in the case of Elijah- as you’ll read- two EpiPen injections in the span of about 18 months. You can read about one of those incidences right here in the post: Anaphylaxis: It’s Dramatic.”
If your kids gets sick, sometimes it can be a puzzle trying to figure out if the illness is because of food allergies, a virus, or something else. If your child needs medications, you have to find out all the ingredients in the medications, too.
Food labels, while we have to depend on them, may not entirely be reliable.
We’re learning valuable lessons along the way. One of the lessons: we can never, ever leave the house without the EpiPen.
While there are many challenges, God’s grace is also incredibly evident. Being near a hospital on the interstate, being in the clinic while doing a food challenge, and just the grace needed everyday, are ways I know God is there.
I recognize this is not childhood cancer, or another debilitating illness, and both of these teenagers are healthy and lead fully functional lives, so I try to keep a balanced perspective on what it is, and what it isn’t.
But it can be overwhelming at times, and it is challenging in its own ways. Every mom has to hear the question, “What’s for dinner?” And it gets tiresome. I can’t pull out much food on the fly and say “here you go”. We must always be aware of it. There can never be an occasion when I or they skip reading a label, or not ask a cook what they put in the food, or think twice about what they eat. They are living this reality: they have to learn to think twice, they have to learn to stop before eating, they have to learn to read labels. Vigilance is always necessary.
These challenges are teaching them, and me as well. And we aren’t starving, we have so much available to us. So, while there are challenges right now (job loss, various uncertainties, financial uncertainties, and health insurance questions for the future), I can see all that God has provided in the past. I can’t foresee the future, but God isn’t going anywhere.
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