It seems so strange that a child born into a family with no known food allergies would himself be allergic to certain foods but such is the case of my little Zachary.
Zachary got his first taste of cake when he was just about to turn 1yr old, after eating it he got real fussy, and started breaking out in a skin rash, we thought that it was the chocolate, because I mean come one who is allergic to cake? Shortly after Zach's 1st birthday I decided to let him try the enjoyment of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Ellie had her first PB&J at that time and since I have been trained in infant rescue I wasn't afraid about him choking since I would be there to help declog any clogging. His first taste of peanut butter was met with great enthusiasm, his second the same, the 3rd not so much. About 5mins after eating his third separate bite (being another time of day) he immediately started breaking out into hives, followed by swelling, and the whites of his eyes turning blood red. I had no car, no benadryl, i gave him a dose of Amoxicillin that he was on for an ear infection and prayed that God would work a miracle, I called a friend and about 30mins later we were at the hospital.
Today he was such a strong, brave little 13month old baby boy, he had a painful allergy test done and he is indeed allergic to peanuts and eggs, and will carry an epi-pen with him. He is also allergic to just about every environmental allergen there is as well as is allergic to cats and dust mites. The allergist said that because he is allergic to so many enviromental (stuff) that he recommend Zachary get allergy shots. Carl and I aren't sure we want him to have to endure shots 1-2 a week but we know we can't afford some of the other basic allergy control recommendations such as leaving the air conditioning on/unit fan on all the time. We're pretty sure medicare would cover his shots though.
As a mom having to hold down her 13month old while he got pricked wasn't very fun. It hurt me to watch him go through it, it hurt me to know that I was also allowing it, participating in his pain but I did so because I knew that we needed solid answers to help treat and prevent his conditions. Thinking about it reminds me a lot of our relationship with God. How sometimes God has to hold us through the difficult things in life, he has to force us to walk the hard paths, ones we wouldn't necessarily choose for ourselves and just as me holding my son through an allergy test does not make me an unloving parent, so as it is with the trials in our own lives do not make God evil.
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