It's been several days since the doctor's office called and told us the results of George's allergy blood test. In the days since receiving the news that our house needs to be wheat/gluten, egg and cows milk free I have done the following:
cursed enough to make a sailor blush
laughing hysterically at the timing. Now? Really? Smack in the middle of the holiday season when the entire world is coated in diary, wheat, eggs and sugar? Really? I have to find alternatives for all the holiday goodies RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE?!
Cursed
cried
cursed some more
read and read and read and educated myself and read.... and came out feeling stupider than I had before. I know nothing about this. No.thing.
Okay, well, I do know some things. Useless stuff like how I need to read labels and decide if I am okay with food that "is processed on the same lines as _____" or "made in a facility that also contains _____." I know to prepare George's foods first and that my house needs to be a safe zone for him. All the food- or the majority of it- needs to be safe food for him.
I know alot about nutrition but not alot about what wheat free foods taste good. Many of my friends say that I should just avoid the wheat subs for awhile until we forget the taste of wheat and then go for it. Normally, I would be all down with that advice except for the "smack in the middle of the holiday season" thing. Class parties are next week and OMGOSH that is not enough time to make tasty WF/DF/EF cookies from scratch! If he was younger, I would just keep him home, but he's five and he wants to go to the party and he's not going to eat carrot sticks while his friends have giant frosted cookies.
Oh, and there's snack. I have to provide snack for him and I need filling snacks that cannot include peanuts because there is no PB in the classrooms and WTF am I going to feed him...
BREATHE LAURA. We'll have to deal with this sometime and we might as well jump in with a giant brick tied to be both feet, am I right?
In between moments of freaking the freak out and making snarky comments (the Gospel reading was about John the Baptist eating wild locust and I whispered to Adam, "Hey, a wheat free source of protein!"), I am reminding myself of all that we can eat. We had French Dip the other night and George had his over rice. Tonight we had chili with potatoes or corn chips. I made pumpkin muffins that he liked. We're having tacos (minus the cheese) and will try WF pasta this week. I keep reminding myself I can and will learn to cook from scratch again and that the boxed mixes I use are only for this "I need it NOW!" season.
As for George, he seems to be taking this like a trooper. I think the real test will be in school. He does not want his tummy to hurt so he gamely eats his "gorilla cereal" (an organic version of Kix with a gorilla on the box) and Almond Milk. He seems to also be living on hot dogs and fruit but friends have assured me this is temporary and he will come around. (In addition to the food allergies, he is a selective eater, which makes this that much more tricky.)
The other kids are okay with this turn of events. They are very slowly getting used to the "No food in the living room- I MEAN IT!" and "Please wash your hands after you eat." Joseph is happy as long as he does not have to eat the GF/WF bread we bought (frankly, the dog won't eat it!) and can still go out to eat. Camille is mothering George and Cole... as long as there is "Yoyo bird" (his yellow angry bird) and juice, he's happy.
Adam and I? We're viewing this as temporary until told otherwise. The test he had done has a high false positive rate and we've been advised to see an allergist. George has an appointment at the end of the month and I think more detailed testing, including a skin prick test, is in his future. Meanwhile, our home will be allergen safe and I will be Googling and Googling for more information.
And cursing.
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