Chicken

Excuse me? Chicken? Yep, chicken.

Those of you that have known me for a while are familiar with one of my favorite stories to tell.

I got married believing that I knew how to cook; Bake chicken in the oven with a little salt and pepper. Open a can of little green peas and and a can of corn, heat on stove. Put a serving of each on a plate and Ta Da, dinner is served. About a month into our marriage, Michael very nicely informed me that if we were going to eat chicken every night I needed to learn a few different ways in which to cook it.

I'm proud to say that in 20 years of marriage I have learned many different ways to serve me up some chicken. However, chicken is still ~98% of our diet.

So what's the point? I have one more rabbit trial, then the point.

When Kevin was eight and nine, I had him in public school. The teachers became concerned with some of his behavior. This began a long journey of test and IEP's and many a discussion with lots of people. When Kevin was ten we moved to North Carolina, where I attempted to home school. During this time my Home Schooling efforts allowed my path to cross with many different people. One group introduced me to the idea of allergies causing behavior concerns. So I set my cap to checking this out. I did get Kevin in to see an allergist, who straight away informed me that if he was having no obvious signs of an allergy reaction, then there was no need to test him for food allergies. However, since I was there he would do some testing for dust and grasses. I was a bit irritated to say the least. If the kid was showing obvious signs of a reaction I wouldn't need the Dr to test him! Guess what? Kevin did test positive to grasses and dust. My response? No duh, who doesn't test positive to those things. I never took him back to the allergist.

Through the years Kevin frequently spent his midnight hour at the toilet throwing up. One of the reasons why I was so quick to bite off on the whole allergy idea, and yes I did share that with the Dr. So let's progress forward to age 17 &18. I recently shared with you that Kevin was having trouble swallowing and actually has had food stuck twice now. He biopsied positive for esinophil esophagitis. A real true honest to goodness, took a sample of tissue and tested it and that was the result. This time I had a diagnosis that caused the allergist to take me serious when I requested food allergy testing. When I went on line to read about the esinophil esophagitis I was amazed. Most likely a good bit of Kevin's throwing up could be attributed to this diagnosis, unknown to us at the time.

Now the point, if you haven't already figured it out; Kevin is allergic to CHICKEN.

Is that not weird?!

Yes, he tested positive to allergies for every weed that grows here in the desert and three different kinds of trees. Dogs and cats--ouch. Pistachio nuts and chicken.

This Dr. recommended allergy shots, some medication and elimination of all nuts and chicken. He did tell Kevin that it would be wise to eliminate the foods and see how he feels, if he can't tell any difference then don't worry about trying to eliminate those foods altogether. The Dr believes that the weeds, grasses and dusts are the main culprits to his esinophil esophagitis.

As I stated earlier, I have learned to cook chicken in many different ways, however it is still ~98% of our diet. Kevin and I agreed that it would be wise to stop all chicken for a while and see what happens. He is now eating LOTS of hamburgers. (home made)

I am struggling really hard to keep my mind from traveling down the "what if" highway!!

It's best to just live in the facts of the here and now and know that I did all I knew how to do in the past.

In the present, all chicken is being avoided, as well as p-nut butter. The dogs have been moved to my end of the house and lots of hand washing is happening.