FIVE YEARS!!! It has been exactly five years since my last anaphylactic allergic reaction. This is HUGE for someone who is deathly allergic to egg, seafood, nuts, moldy cheeses, and possibly Vitamin E. Someone who has had around 42 hospitalizations due to anaphylaxis for the first 23 years of life, and seems to have new…
Yesterday I read a tragic article about a 13-year old girl, Natalie, who died from anaphylactic shock due to accidentally ingesting peanut butter. After reading the first few sentences of the article, I grew angry with several questions racing through my mind. Why the hell didn’t they have an EpiPen on hand? Why did she…
Owning a dog seemed impossible to a girl with severe asthma, allergies, eczema — and not just a little anxiety. After all, I’d almost died several times from asthma attacks and anaphylaxis from food allergies. Doctors joked that I should live in a bubble or on a sterile boat in the middle of the ocean,…
As the wheels of our plane touched down in North Carolina at the end of our honeymoon, I gave myself a mental high-five and said “you did it!!!!” I didn’t learn to surf. I didn’t learn to hula dance. I didn’t even go snorkeling in the tropical freezing cold Hawaiian waters. No, I was proud…
Last night, I doused my hands in moisturizer, slid a pair of cotton socks over them, and went downstairs to watch a movie with my fiance. It wasn’t until I was comfortably snuggled on the couch and resting my face on one of my sock-puppet hands that I realized how normal this was to me/us.…
Amanda over at Celiac and Allergy Adventures asked me to write a guest post for her blog, and I was honored and excited to take on the task! She asked me to write about my experience with anaphylaxis and how it can take a mental and emotional toll on you. It was therapeutic to write about my…
There are not many questions that I hate to be asked. I am pretty much an open book, as you’ve probably noticed if you read my blog regularly. I can sit down with a complete stranger and talk about my childhood, my biggest insecurities, my most embarrassing moments, and my life goals and aspirations. After…
Today marks the 127th day (4 months) that I have been gluten-free. I have cheated a few times, giving in to Mellow Mushroom pizza twice and Wheat Thins a few other times, but overall have been really careful about not ingesting it. The funny part is, I wasn’t completely on board with the whole gluten…
For the past few months, Isaac and I have been trying to figure out where we should go on our Honeymoon in March. Friends, strangers, family members, and coworkers have been urging us to go to Europe, Belize, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Grand Cayman, you name it! Alaska and Colorado were even briefly talked…
One of the reasons I enjoy my part-time waitressing gig so much is because I get to talk to strangers all night. For the most part, I truly love hearing about the lives of so many different types of people. It is amazing what you can learn about a person in between serving him tomato…
The Other Courtney 