Tuesday, May 1, 2012

"Awesome Opossum..."


We recently discovered that our sweet girl, Payton is extremely allergic to a long list (3 pages worth!) of things food and environmental so we have been making a LOT of dietary changes but also in our home to help with her allergy reactions that have caused an onset of serious respiratory and GI issues. Unfortunately we had to get rid of all of her stuffies (aka stuffed animals) due to her reaction to dust mites. But we did allow her to keep just one because how could anyone say 'No' to this face...




So out of ALL the stuffies she picks this one... 
 

 
Yes, you guessed it -- a Opossum!



But not just ANY Opossum, his name is Jose. Yes, dear readers Jose the Opossum. She does not go to sleep without him or go anywhere without him! Out of all the cute teddy bears, princesses, Care Bears, etc. she wanted the Opossum. She is happy even if we have to look at this rodent so that is all that matters, right?


Last week my dear, sweet friend BrynAnne was so heart broken to hear of Payton's news so she was so thoughtful an bought this amazing cookbook called 'The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook' and a new allergy/asthma free stuffie for Payton. Click here to read about this amazing cookbook. Our sweet girl was beyond elated to get 'Oscar' the monkey. 




We go in a week and a half for more testing with the Allergist at Nemours Hospital in hopes of finding out some more natural alternatives to giving her relief and avoiding these allergens. So Oscar and Jose will help keep her calm when they do the prick test on her but this mama may need a stuffie to keep calm too! 

If you or your children have allergies how do you work with or around them?


Stay tuned...




14 comments:

  1. Oh mama. I know how challenging the food allergy situation can be. For Maren's dairy/soy intolerance, I used a few good websites for learning all the "hidden names" for those things in ingredient lists. After I read every ingredient list and restructured our grocery list, I then went to www.realsimple.com for all my recipes. It's a fabulous website for so many things but their recipes are yummy and usually have only 5 (whole food) ingredients. Maren has outgrown her intolerances but I still use that site for 95% of my recipes because they are so tasty. The biggest thing I think we did right during our 2 1/2 years dealing with allergies was get the whole family on board. We ALL ate the same thing - not just Maren. No one in the family ate at restaurants or other people's home, we all ate dairy/soy free foods and we all made it our family's "normal". I didn't know if Maren would have her issues permanently so it was very important to me that she didn't feel stigmatized by her food problems. The best way I knew how to do that was make it our family's way of doing things - so it was "normal" for us and not an "abnormality" or "sickness" or whatever about her. You didn't mention what Payton is allergic to, so not sure if this is even helpful, but that's what I did for the dairy/soy stuff at our house. Good luck and hang in there!

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  2. Sarah - I remember the struggles with Maren's dairy/soy intolerance. Loved that you guys all changed your diet to help M feel as normal as possible. So glad she out grew them. I pray Payton will out grow these too! It has been so scary and heart breaking watching her suffer. I've been keeping a journal of things so I could pin point what caused an onset of reactions such as GI issues, serious respiratory problems, eczema, etc. I'll definitely check out that website because I will need all the help I can get! The cookbook BrynAnne sent us is 'whole food' recipes for the whole family. We explained to Pay that this does not make her very different from us because we are all different when it comes to our bodies. For example, I told her I can't eat raw Tomatoes since they upset my tummy but she and daddy love to eat them. We plan to change our diet as well. Our journey will begin once we determine with the Allergist how to work around these allergens. As of right now we know she is allergic to the following:

    Cat hair/dander
    Dog Skin cells
    Dust mites
    Crab
    Oysters
    Wheat
    Soy
    Peanuts
    5 different types of grass (Bermuda, Timothy, Johnson, Bahia and Kentucky Blue grass)
    9 different trees (Birch, Oak, Elm, Maple, Hickory, Sycamore, White Mulberry, Sweet Gum and Cedar)
    Ragweed
    Mugwort
    Plantain
    Pigweed
    Sheep Sorrel
    Nettle

    I do believe that she has some sort of Gluten allergy or intolerance but the blood tests could not conclude if she was or not so the Allergist or Endocrinologist will be able to confirm. Eek!

    xo

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  3. so sorry!!! It can be so frustrating. Looking forward to seeing what happens and believing she'll get some relief soon!! I feel your pain!! xoxo

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  4. Last summer one of my twins had to do the stick test - he wasn't even 2 yet. Breaks a mom's heart, but it was over fairly quickly.

    So sorry she lost all her stuffies. I had similar allergies as a kid and my parents had to get rid of my stuffed animals and our pets! The good news is that I outgrew most of the allergies! I hope that Payton will too!

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  5. Sweet girl and your right how can you not say No to a face like that and I think Jose the Opossom is awesome! So glad to see you found a monkey that she can have asell.
    Thank you for linking up huni, love your blog x x x

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  6. shes a gorgeous little princess!

    http://yuliconversations.blogspot.com/

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  7. Oh man. I can't even imagine how challenging that must be. I definitely will be tuning in to your future posts to see how everything goes.

    Jose is pretty cute!

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  8. I would have been devastated to lose all my loveys at that age. She's a brave girl. My little guy has a green giraffe he named Pickle Honey.

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  9. I have a lot of allergies myself, though they have lessened a lot since i was little. I couldn't cuddle with animals or stuffed animals as a kid either. My mom would put my favorite ones in the freezer for a while and that helped. The prick test isn't that bad, and its really helpful to see the results. Good luck!!

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  10. Sweet shots! I'm glad she was able to keep one stuffed animal. And that monkey is so cute too!

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  11. What an awesome little girl you have -- look at that smile, even after having to give up her stuffies.

    And your friend is a sweetie for giving you the cookbook and monkey. Very thoughtful!

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  12. I love your daughter. So gorgeous! Shes your twin!!

    Oh, and I need some recipes for Bill. You got any good ones? Now that he is out of the hospital, he is on a strict diet as well. I don't know anything about cooking healthy..

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  13. Allison, it is so good to "meet you"! You have such a beautiful family. I'm looking forward to reading more!

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    Replies
    1. Courtney, thank you! So glad you stopped by. Can't wait to get to know another fabulous blogger mama. XO

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