Pros and Cons

Back in May I commented about a positive food challenge for Matthew. Unfortunately, that was the last positive challenge he has had. We’ve continued to try different recipes with different bake temperatures, different numbers of eggs and different bake times. But Matthew has reacted every time. Sometimes he reacts to one bite. Sometimes he is fine with one bite but reacts after eating a full serving. The length of time before he reacts differs as well. We had one theory about higher baking temperatures and another about longer bake times. All of them seemed logical and none of them panned out. He even reacted to a recipe he ate with no reaction a couple months back. We don’t want to give up on baked goods with eggs, but honestly, we had no idea what to do next.

On the other hand, he is eating eggs in waffles with no problem. We eat waffles at least once a week and he gets first dibs on any leftovers. It has been really fun because we’ve tried a myriad of different flavors of waffles and have discovered about a dozen different recipes that we love. It keeps weekly waffle eating interesting. Matthew has even gotten comfortable enough to feel safe reheating waffles in the toaster. That’s a big deal for him. It means he isn’t concerned about cross contact with the egg in waffles and the other things he toasts.

As I’m sure you can imagine, those juxtaposed experiences have led to a good deal of confusion. With a spreadsheet full of data and no idea how to proceed, we figured it was time for some bloodwork and a visit to the allergist. His appointment was today, and we got the guidance we were looking for. Allergies are a finicky thing, which we already knew, but his doc gave us an idea of what to do next. The egg white is where his allergy currently resides so we can start using just the yolks. After a bit, we can introduce the egg whites a little at a time. The hope is that with a slowly increasing amount of whites, his body will learn to accept them without reacting. It’s the same idea behind oral immunotherapies.

We will start doing that at some point, but honestly, now that we have the info, I think we’re going to just stick with waffles for a bit. Mentally, he’s not ready to go back to weekly food challenges. It is scary and stressful. And it’s not like his entire life is stress filled right now. He’s been a trooper and has learned to deal calmly with the reactions, but it has been difficult and disappointing to have so few positive results. Add to that the huge challenges Covid has thrown at us and he has a lot to deal with right now. As do we all.

On the upside, we did have some very heartening news. Matthew has always had a really high IgE. High enough that his first allergist used him as an example of a “highly allergic individual” when she was training new medical workers. Today his doc told us that it is completely normal for IgE to go up at his age and to continue to climb until about age 20 when it generally plateaus. It makes perfect sense. He is growing rapidly at this age and will reach his adult size and stop growing around age 20. The interesting thing is that Matthew’s IgE is actually going down. The lowering IgE is why he’s been able to introduce some new foods to his diet. If his reactivity were still as high as it has been in the past, there would be no way he could tolerate eggs in any form. But it’s dropping. Unexpectedly.

I call it a little bit of a miracle. Matthew calls it a big miracle. I think he’s right.

Fighting for Freedom

Our 4th of July celebration happened in a different order this year. Instead of starting with breakfast and ending with fireworks, we did things in reverse order. We ate our celebratory dinner and set off our fireworks on July 3rd because Nathan was scheduled to work the evening of the 4th. Then we did our patriotic pancakes and tri-colored beverages for lunch on the 4th because Daniel worked that morning. Having grown up children means things are changing in our little world, but it is good change. It means our children are growing up to be well adjusted, responsible people who are not only willing to work, but want to work. Guess Kev and I must have done something right.

Parenting assessment aside, this year’s celebration was different than normal. That will come as no surprise at all. This whole year has been different than normal. Nevertheless, and despite the many struggles in which our country is currently drowning, I’m incredibly grateful to live where I do. But the many freedoms we enjoy don’t come without effort or cost. Our forebearers in many generations have struggled, fought, worked, and even died to ensure the freedoms we have. And often, I think we take these freedoms for granted. A few weeks ago, Elder David A. Bednar spoke at the BYU Law School Religious Freedoms Annual Review. He spoke about religious freedom in relation to the crisis of Covid-19 and it was eye opening. He addressed the fact that in an instant, the government took away our freedom to gather as religious groups. It was for good reason, but none of us even questioned it. He spoke of the need for us to be aware of what is happening and to be willing to act to protect our religious freedom. It is one of the essential building blocks of our country’s government and we can’t let it slip away due to negligence on the part of all of us.

Elder Bednar made me think. So much so that we used his address as the topic of one Sunday’s SCONES lesson. We are living in perilous times, in the last days, and I suspect things are going to get harder in the future. So what am I willing to do to maintain my right to practice my religion, to gather with others who share my faith, and to live according to my own conscience? I think that’s a question we must all ask ourselves. Church leaders have counseled often of late that the time to straddle the line is passed. We have to choose a side. We have to take a stand. What then, am I going to stand for? Am I willing to fight to preserve my religious freedom? It seems like a daunting task if I’m standing alone, but when we all stand together, we can be a powerful voice for good. That, in fact, is one of the many reasons we, and those of every faith, must be allowed to gather with others of our religion. It is an essential freedom we must be willing to work to preserve.

O Say Can You See

This won’t come as a surprise to anyone, but I love creating fun food for holidays. Independence Day is coming up and there is a specific patriotic cake I’ve been wanting to create for the past few years, so I decided this was the year to make it happen. I created my masterpiece last Friday when Kevin, Matthew and Malia were camping so it would be a fun surprise when we cut into it. Then I tucked it in the freezer to stay fresh for a few days. This evening we ate my creation for Family Home Evening. I love how it turned out! All it was missing was some white star sprinkles (which I could not find in a Matthew friendly version).

I’m already making plans for next year. 😉

They’ve Got Cabin Fever

I’m not a huge fan of camping. I used to enjoy it, but my tendency to get migraines from the heat and the grapefruit size swollen, itchy spots that I get when bug bitten kind of takes the fun out of it. As a result, I generally stay home when Kev takes the kids camping. After having been cooped up at home for the past three months, Matthew and Malia were getting pretty stir crazy. Kevin arranged an overnight trip with his brother and his family, and all involved in the adventure were super excited. I think Matthew and Malia had a wonderful time. Not only did they get out of the house, but they got to spend some socially distanced time with cousins and sleep in the great outdoors. As for me, I was perfectly content to spend a quiet night at home watching a chick flick. It was a win for all of us.

Giving Tie Dye Another Try

While life has not been normal of late, we have tried to find some sense of normalcy whenever we can. One of our normal summer traditions is creating a patriotic t-shirt to celebrate Independence Day. We tried tie dye about nine years ago and the dye ran together and ended up creating purplish t-shirts. I’ve learned some things since then and so we decided to make another attempt at creating a tricolor design. The kids all had a great time. Daniel and Nathan both spent a considerable amount of time getting the dye just where they wanted it. We’ll have to wait a day or two to see the final outcome, but it was a fun way to spend an afternoon.

Leader of the (Online) Pack

Our elementary school has done the best they can to try to provide some kind of school connection for the kids. While all their classes are online, a lot of the additional school programs and activities are just cancelled for now. However, they have continued their tradition of selecting a leader of the month from each class every month and have celebrated those kids’ accomplishment by compiling a slide show featuring several pictures of each child and sharing it with everyone. This month we were delighted to be notified that Malia was selected as this month’s leader in her class! She was very excited and when we picked up her award and her prize package from the school, we discovered that her teacher selected her because she has been proactive in the switch to online learning. Malia has definitely done that. While there have been hard days, most of the time she has been ready and willing to get her schoolwork done. She has not hesitated to reach out to her teacher via email, chat, instant message and video chat open hours in order to ask questions and receive guidance and individualized learning. She is in the habit of turning everything in on time and while she would much rather be in the classroom, she is still learning and progressing.

This was just a little bit of normalcy for Malia and a chance to celebrate some of the good that is to be found in our present circumstances. She has risen to the challenge and is working hard to continue to be a great student.

A Pleasant Surprise

Today is Nathan’s 17th birthday. He was gone most of the day, so we didn’t actually see him all that much, but I’m ok with that. It’s not that I didn’t want to spend time with him, it just means that he actually had places to go and people to see which is like a small miracle in our current circumstances.

He started off his day by gathering with a small group of friends for breakfast at Denny’s. Breakfast turned into elevensies which turned into brunch and nearly became lunch, so he was too full to eat his previously selected birthday lunch. (We did lunch instead of dinner this time since he works this evening.) He was perfectly content saving his tuna melts for lunch tomorrow but was perfectly pleased to eat his apple spice birthday cake and Tillamook ice cream for a midafternoon snack today. Afterwards, he headed off to work and while most people would not think of going to work an especially wonderful birthday activity, Nathan really enjoys his job. He likes having a focus and a purpose to his days. He enjoys the environment and the opportunity to meet and converse with so many different people. And, of course, he likes the paychecks. The whole thing helps him feel like he’s making good use of the many empty hours each day has held for him since everything shut down in March.

In terms of birthday presents, we have given Nathan the Scooby Do expansion pack for Betrayal at House on the Hill, a board game he got for Christmas and really enjoys. He has always been a Scooby Do fan, so it is a wonderful, campy addition to the game. He will have to wait for it since it won’t be released until July, but he’s super excited!

As previously mentioned on multiple occasions, this shutdown has been hard for my kids. Nathan assumed that having a birthday in the midst of Covid would be terrible. But I feel very blessed to say that he actually had a super day! He admits that despite his earlier feelings, it turned out to be a good birthday. Thank goodness for the multitude of tender mercies that made it so!

 

 

Teeter Totter

 Matthew did another food challenge today. He has been a trooper in terms of these weekly events. He has shown so much courage and I’m so proud of him for being able to take these steps forward in spite of his fears. Unfortunately, today was yet another disappointment. He tested a full-size cake baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and while he didn’t react to one bite, he did react to a full piece.

There was been a lot of back and forth with these challenges. Sometimes he reacts and sometimes he doesn’t. We’re not sure why but we’re hoping by continuing the process we can get a better idea of what his reaction threshold is so that he can continue to add some new things to his diet. But it is a slow process and it’s definitely taking longer than any of us want.