Like the famous phoenix, like the south, like patient zero in any good zombie movie...
I rise once again.
TG doesn't want to be TG anymore. She says it's embarrassing, and that she isn't that tough anyway. So despite my reservations, we're going by her actual name now, which is Rebeccah or Becki... Sunshine remains Sunshine until further notice.
SO.
What can happen in a month, to one family?
How about...
one little puppy
two trips to Utah
three viewings of Bolt
four doctor's visits
five fresh family traditions
six chewed up sneakers
seven trips to target
eight well meaning relatives
nine strings of lights
ten new recipes
eleven temper tantrums
twelve (or more) hugs from my kids

Tough Girl is going to a new doctor Friday, an allergist that I hope can help her out.

I have so much love and respect for her current doctor, but it seems like he never has any answers, just "That's the way it is." If that's the way it is, fine, but I need to hear that from someone else too. The new allergist wants new bloodwork, scratch testing for her environmental allergies, the whole nine yards. Of course, insurance isn't going to cover the new RAST (they only cover it once a year) so we're paying for it out of pocket (!!!!)

Whatever, we have the money saved for just this kind of occasion (why else would we live in a lousy apartment when my husband makes foreman wages in a good union job?) If it gets her better, it's worth our entire life savings. I planned to sit her down on Wednesday and talk to her about it, but Isaac (who is grounded until 40 right now) decided to tell her himself. I'm not sure how he even knew, but he blurted it out last night and she's been crying ever since.

It seems like therapy (or her “art class” as she calls it) really is helping. I know, I just said she fell apart, but believe me. There has been progress. I don't expect miracles. it’s funny to see exactly how mentally alike we are. In trying to get her to deal better with some of her irrational fears, I confessed to TG that in fact, I too, am scared of some things that seem silly... she thought that was hilarious.

“Nah, you are only scared of my allergies and sticking your fingers with the epi-pen.” True that, kiddo, but you don't know yet that getting jabbed in the finger can make it fall off...a reasonable thing to fear, in my mind.

She was shocked when I told her I was scared of water (I nearly drowned as a kid), which was funny because I thought it was pretty obvious. Because I didn't want to freak her out, I gave her the sanitized version of what happened....mommy got in an accident when she was little, and it made her afraid to get in the water.

She gave me a disgusted look and said “You gotta take baths, or you are gonna smell really bad by the time you’re old.”

Uh, thanks for the info. I’ll keep it in mind.
So TG and I struck a deal. Tomorrow afternoon while her dad is home from work, we are taking her to the pool.
And I am actually going to get in the water.

I can’t promise I will go in past my waist and I can’t promise I won’t (secretly) throw up from anxiety beforehand, but baby steps first. If I do that, she'll at least try to get through the doctor's visit without falling apart. Baby steps. We're both getting there.

Fake allergies are the bane of waitresses and line cooks everywhere. I worked for a long time in high school as a waitress/hostess/runner, and I can only say for the love of God, please please please don't fake an allergy because you're too timid to say you just plain don't like something.

When a patron claims he has an allergy, say, to oranges (my daughter actually is allergic to oranges) this means the offending food cannot be NEAR their food.
It cannot touch it or sit near it, it cannot even touch the same cooking surface.
New, obsessively cleaned utensils have to be used. Separate pots and pans will have to be brought down to use. A separate area for cooking might even have to be set aside. Orders are piling up, Pietro the line chef is falling into the weeds, one of those steaks just burned and that other allergy customer, the one who said she was (and actually is) allergic to nuts...did he put nuts in there? He's trying to do this thing with the oranges at the same time, so his mind isn't 100 percent focused on the other customer, who really does need extra attention.

Meanwhile, your waitress is getting gray hairs running back to the kitchen to go "PEITRO! NO ORANGES, RIGHT? YOU CHECKED? YOU CHECKED? NO ORANGES!! ALERGIA!"

This is quite a bit of work and stress, especially during a dinner rush, but one most restaurants will happily take on to please a customer.

However, in the case of someone who just doesn't like the texture of oranges (but then chows on her friends' orange sherbet after dinner) a good deal of time has been wasted, when the oranges could have simply been left off. Pots and pans were needlessly scrubbed, cooking surfaces needlessly segregated. It slows down other orders, wastes the kitchens' time, and time is something kitchens don't have a lot of.

If the allergy faking patron had simply said "I really hate oranges, can I possibly get apple slices instead" the restaurant should be happy to accommodate. If the chef's ego is so big that he can't handle such a small request, well, then one should probably look to eat elsewhere anyway, they don't deserve repeat customers.

Basically I am saying it's a two way street. Dining out carries with it an unspoken trust. It says "I'm trusting you're not going to poison me or make me sick with your food." As long as a restaurant does its' best to fulfill their side of the obligation, it's only respect to give them the same honesty in return. Your waitress has enough gray hairs as it is.

I am sorry.

I've been reading blogs, but I've been hibernating. The change in weather always puts me in a funny mood, and things have been so amazingly, wonderfully dull around here that there hasn’t been much to report.

Halloween was a non-event. I never celebrated it as a kid, so I guess I can't properly get into it. The ghosts and witches scare Sunshine so she never participates, TG trick or treated at about three houses before got cold/bored and she wanted to come home.

I know it's not Saturday, but I can't seem to find any of the memes themed for other days of the week.

Saturday 9

1. Think of all your exes. Would you take any of them back?

Umm...already done, I'm living with him right now.

2. What was the first car you drove? What happened to it?

It was a used red Camaro, and one day at a red light, it caught on fire.

3. What’s the longest amount of time you have driven a car non-stop?

About four hours.

4. Have you ever been stood up on a date? If yes, when?

Actually, no. Maybe I just didn't go on enough dates.

5. What TV network do you watch the most?

Nick Jr (the girls) or spikeTV (the guys), both are equally depressing answers.

6. Pick out a song you like that has special meaning to you. Share with us what song is it, and what’s the meaning to you.

Strawberry Roan, a dinky little old country song. It’s one of the first songs I ever learned. I sang it to the girls when they were babies, and I sang it to them in the hospital.

7. Who was your first celebrity crush on?

Neil Patrick Harris.

8. What is your favorite romantic comedy movie?

I wish they made more romantic comedies that weren’t awful, then I could answer this question better.

9. It has been said, "First Loves Are Never Over." Is this true for you?

Apparently.

TG had a great time with her dad, and came home ready for a bath and bed, just like I was hoping. She asked about the party the day after, but when I told her I didn’t know anything more than she did, she lost interest and hasn’t brought it up since.

I spent the weekend changing the rooms around, moving me and Mika’s stuff into the smaller bedroom *shifty eyes* and all three kids into the big one. Yes, I am giving up my beloved “big room”. All three of them won’t fit in the smaller one!

I also did some serious spring (fall?) cleaning, trimmed my hair, AND got to spend some alone time with Isaac, so all in all, it turned out to be a pretty positive thing. Still a little mad about Joey’s party, but keeping myself busy all weekend helped. She called this morning, I didn’t pick it up so she called my cell phone. I did pick that up, but she must have chickened out because she hung up. Mika says I am too aggressive and I scared her, LOL, little old me? ;]

This upcoming weekend, we’re going to the ren faire. Augh, food and crowds and latex possibly hiding everywhere, but I’m determined to make it work somehow. Thank god for the cooler weather, long pants and long sleeves make such a difference in the amount of nasty rash/contact reaction stuff TG gets.

The weekend after that, I’m going to sleep in. I don't care what it takes, it's going to happen.

Unfortunately, TG won't be attending her cousin's party this year. Joey said it just couldn't be done, even after Mika tried to work his brother magic on her.
Long in the past we tried to do the party thing and be like everyone else, but she is not that kid anymore, she is too allergic and sensitive right now to risk it.

So not to focus on the negative this all means--
TG and her dad get to have their own fun day on Saturday! He is going to take her and only her up to play in the dirt at Mt. Charleston. TG adores her dad, and he is good about carrying the epi-pen, I am not too worried...okay, maybe a little, but it will be good for them and for me. Dirt and trees worry me a lot less than crowded shopping malls or restaurants :| I know, crazy, right?

Sunshine keeps thriving in her classes. They want to do another hearing test on her, they think she might have more hearing loss than we thought, but despite that, she is doing good. They have her trying to get her gait better, and she has been hopping on one foot and back and forth in therapy.
She has started doing it at home on her own (yay!), which has been funny and painful at the same time. So far she's broken two plates (by losing her balance and crashing into me while I was washing dishes) and a picture frame (not sure how) plus she has gotten her share of bruises, one right on her head where she hit the coffee table. And still, she keeps trying, I am having a hard time trying to tell her to stop because I don't want to discourage her.

For now, I am off to go pack breakfast and lunch for Mika and kiddo's special day, plus check the dates on the epi-pens. Oh the joys of being an allergy mom... 9_9

a day in the life- latex allergy, long post

The girls cousins (by their dad) are in town and her cousin Dani's birthday is this weekend. TG was so excited she jumped up on her chair and started dancing right there in the kitchen. I wish Joey (same Auntie Joey who got told off by TG for saying she didn't think food allergies were that serious) had asked me first .
Joey's side of the family feels the need to celebrate everything with balloons. They love to bring them out at birthday parties, weddings, I am not sure why but they just can't live without them. And that's a problem for my latex allergic girl.

"Oh yeah, both the girls can come!" Joey said. "There's going to be swimming, and afterward we were gonna go to a movie."
"And...you know I gotta ask, Joey. No balloons at the party, right?"
Long, painful silence.
"I mean, it wouldn't be that big a deal, would it?"
I got the Sigh. The one that says oh boy, here comes crazy mom. And with that, I guess we were unofficially uninvited. Joey said she would "see what she could do" which in Joey-speak means she has no intention of changing her plans to accommodate anyone. I know it's her kid's birthday but jeez, is just not buying balloons that big a deal?
TG was mad when I told her.
First she was mad at me, then after a while, she re-directed her anger at Auntie Joey. I was also pretty mad. I felt like putting TG on the phone and saying "Joey, YOU explain to her why a few party decorations are so important to you that you would rather my kids miss out." But that would be manipulating TG against her aunt, and it wouldn't be fair, so instead I just let her go to her room and cry it out for a while...after twenty minutes she appeared again, wiping her eyes and said "All done, can me and Isaac go to the pool?"

The current plan is that I am gonna call Joey up the day of and see "what she could do" and if in the doubtful case that she decided to forgo the death spheres-I mean, latex balloons- we will go.
TG was satisfied with this answer. As much as it hurts me to say, she's pretty used to missing birthday parties, trips places, fun outings with her friends and classmates. I do my best to make up other activities she can take part in, and just hope it doesn't get to her.

Talked to the PA from her allergist's office over the phone. Allergist doesn't think it's necessary to do any tests (I thought they would do scratch testing for environmental stuff but I am so glad not) , her hives and itching are just her standard skin reaction to latex. If she's not having her breathing/eyes/nose affected, there's nothing we can do.
Latex is everywhere, the great rubbery Satan. Since her last ana, TG's little immune system has been on edge, ready to snap at the smallest thing or most innocuous particle hanging in the air.
In conclusion- Auntie Joey is a bit of a jerk, but we knew this. Mika said he will try and reason with her. Fingers crossed, it would make TG's week to be included for once.