CONTAMINATED CRUD

"Where do you want me to put this this lemon crud?" I turned around to see Coleman taking groceries out of the sack and saw him holding the jar of lemon CURD. I chose rolling my eyes over correcting him and told him to put it in the cabinet.  I don't particularly like lemon. But …

I’M SCARED TO TAKE A SHOWER

Our peanut allergy research journey. November 19th Tonight has been a marathon of sprints. He finished football practice at 5:30.He was starving but he needed a shower. He also needed to take his dose of peanut powder. He can't dose until one hour after he showers.  He can't sleep for two hours after he doses.  …

PUNCTURED PACKAGES

Last night, I heard the words that I knew would eventually come, "I'm getting tired of this." I figured he would. Eating chocolate pudding mixed with pasty powder for 127 days in a row would make me gag. But the words didn't come out of his mouth, they came out of mine. It wasn't really …

FORGOTTEN

Today’s list of the forgotten: glasses, school clothes, football mouthguard, and epi-pens. I’d like to say it’s unusual for my son to forget that many things in one day. I’d like to say that’s where today’s list will end, but I also like to say, “day ain’t over yet”. If he forgets only one thing …

CRUISE CONTROL

When I was learning to drive, my dad would say, "quit jackrabbiting!" Punching the gas and then the brake is many a young driver's approach to maintaining a steady speed. I did it with the added challenge of a standard shift clutch. Hashtag whiplash.   Sometime in the 70's my grandfather, a lover of luxury sedans, …

HALFWAY

(Our peanut allergy research journey. October 21st.) HALFWAY “C’mon! You’re almost halfway there." When he was a small child, I would urge him to finish a serving of something healthy. We pushed through to the “clean plate marathon trophy” by increments on the other side of the halfway mark. “You’ve already eaten over half of …

WALLS AND HALLS…

(Our peanut allergy research journey. October 7th) WALLS AND HALLS... "Hi, How are you?" Everyone asks. It's seamed into a polite greeting. It's the first thing you learn when studying a foreign language. "Bonjour, ca va". The correct response to that is "ca va". It means "fine". That's what you say. You say, "I'm fine, …

PEANUT PUNISHMENT

Our peanut allergy research journey. August 22, 2018. A year ago I wrote about one bad day in the life of a food allergy parent. That appointment was never planned. It was an afterthought at his annual checkup to start allergy shots for his hay fever. Before we could begin, he had to have an …

HALF EMPTY, HALF FULL

Our peanut allergy research journey. July 16th. HALF EMPTY OR HALF FULL? Here's what I can tell you about my glass... it has been overflowing with struggle in the half empty/half full mentality. For the first food challenge, our Warrior HAD TO react to less than the equivalent of one peanut (300mg). That wasn't a …

SYSTEMIC SYMPTOMS

(Our peanut allergy research journey. May 15.) SYSTEMIC SYMPTOMS. That's what happened to us today. That was the beginning of the end. My son had a very very very small amount of peanut and his tongue began to itch. We were in a controlled environment trying to tightrope a delicate balance that would be life …