His clinical allergy tests showed positive for Eggs & inconclusive for dairy & peanuts. After venturing to the store & finding out how much dairy & eggs where in products, I was discouraged & catatonic for about 24 hours. I just walked around with a blank stare on my face. By day 2, I was done feeling sorry for myself & decided this was a wonderful opportunity to make my family healthier. B wasn't doing this alone. I started reading up on some whole food recipes & getting ideas for products & recipes to incorporate into his diet so that he wouldn't be lacking in any nutritional area.
I've always been a food person & have always had a good handle on where food comes from & how food is made, but I was sent for a loop when I had to start reading food labels to make sure there where no allergens in them. I was floored how much unnecessary stuff is in the food we eat everyday. For example, I bought some chicken broth & when I got home & flipped the box over out of curiosity...milk. In chicken broth? Why is there milk in chicken broth? It made no sense. I started to get a handle on everything & even did my first grocery shopping trip working towards our whole foods & anti-diary & egg household...then the blood tests came back.
B had been tested for 13 different allergies (I think its 13) & I was more than floored...I think I fell through the floor, but all I could do was laugh, I had no other choice. For those of you who don't know anything about allergy testing, there is a scale from 0 to 6. 0 & 1 classify a person as negative to that allergen, 2 is low, 3 is moderate, 4 is high, 5 is extremely high, & 6 is super high (death high, well maybe that's a bit over exaggerated, but maybe not). B came back as a 2 in dust & peanuts & the allergist thought it best to lump in all nuts because of the how quickly the allergy can develop, 3 in milk & wheat (yes wheat, something that didn't even show up on the first test), and 4 in eggs & dogs.
At this point everything has set in & I have to figure out how to do this. How to have a dairy, egg, wheat, dog, & dust free home without going broke & while still maintaining the health of my husband & I. I often find myself with my face in my hands sighing.
But even now, I refuse to feel sorry for myself, my son, or my home. I've gotten a lot of "oh poor thing" or "that's so sad" & it is. It stinks! But what can you do? Flourish is what we are going to do. I am determined to maintain my holiday traditions even with his allergies. I am determined to incorporate more into our holidays that don't have to do with food. I am determined for my family to be healthy despite our small monthly budget for food. I am determined. Period! Determined!
So where do we go from here? What's the next step? I don't know yet, but I'm going to figure it out & I will be more than happy & willing to share our journey with you. So stay tuned lots to come from this Allergy Mom!
Veggie & Turkey Stirfry with brown rice (recipe to come later)
Sweet B eating up his stirfry....I was amazed at how much he loved that stuff.
This was our first lunch after finding out about the wheat allergy. Left over roasted chicken heated in Organic, Free-Range (non-milk added) broth, mexican mixed beans (recipe to come later), & brown rice toast with honey.
Day 2 lunch: Apple sauce with chicken & beans from yesterday.
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