Trials and Tributations

So the last week or so Lucas has been having EE flare ups. Only a couple but enough to be frustrating. I'm quickly learning that not only do the food allergens play a role but also environmental as well. Oh yay! Case in point, (reminder: he's allergic to cats/dogs/dust mites/oak trees) on Sunday he and I visited with my parents. We have 2 cats that he's around 24/7 and they have 2 dogs. He's been around them since birth and LOVES them. Throughout the visit he sneezed a lot and had a runny nose. Nothing too out of the ordinary for him and nothing to really be concerned about at that point. As we went to leave, he was rubbing his eyes. I thought due to the time of evening, he was getting sleepy. Oh no! I was sadly mistaken. His right eye was irritated, red and rashy. He generally didn't feel great. Poor buddy. Got him home, gave him a bath and changed his clothes. Promptly gave him the Flovent and Zyrtec and we cuddled on the couch until night night time. The following morning, he was brand new!! All the irritation was gone.

Tonight I fixed dinner and this particular meal he doesn't usually eat. He usually tells me that he doesn't like it even though he's never tried it. Well it figures, the one time he was to try it, during the first bite he throws up. *Smack forehead* I look at the ingredients...yep...his 2 food allergens. Awesome.

The more I learn and experience EE the more complex and confusing it gets to me. When I feel like he is doing better, then these flare ups happen. When the flare ups subside I feel like things are on the up and up. As human beings we all get caught up in whatever is going on in our lives. We say things and do things without much consideration on what is -really- going on. Something as minor as a flare up makes you stop and look at your life and what things are taken for granted. Once that episode is over, you go about your life again forgetting (or maybe not forgetting but it gets pushed into the background of your life).

A fellow EE mom put the following in her FB status that she copied from another mom: a good way to explain EE...Lucas has a rare white blood cell disorder where his body thinks food (and environmental allergies) are poison and there is currently no cure.