Small and Simple acts.

Sorry I haven't been on in so long! Life is VERY busy as a collage student. This post has nothing to do with allergy's but I figure you can never go wrong with stories like this!

There's a website where people can post anonymous "Thank you's" to people who randomly touched their lives, this is one that I came across while I was reading them!
 
Two days ago I walked to the grocery store to get some food. I wanted to get in and out fast. I came out of an underground tunnel that exits to the grocery store and saw a middle aged man coming toward the door. I stayed for a couple of seconds and held the door open for him and said hello.

He looked tired and beat up and muttered, “no one ever does that for someone like me.” I was startled. Whether he thought of himself as someone that didn’t merit courtesy or perceived himself as invisible because of his social status, he seemed overwhelmed by the gesture.

I didn’t hold the door open for any other reason than to be courteous. I’m not sharing this because I think my actions where heroic in any way. I’m sharing this because my actions were not heroic and if something so small can overwhelm someone, what other things can we do that are small but will have big impacts?

I left this in the comments.

Thanks for sharing! I can't believe how small acts can impact someone so much! It's stories like these that remind us that taking a few extra seconds to help someone when it literally doesn't mean anything to us, can change someones life or effect someones whole day for the better.
A few weeks ago we found some cans of fruit cocktail in our house that had expired, there was nothing wrong with them, we just had some that hadn't expired so why would we keep them? We were going to throw them away but my sweet sister suggested we put them on the sidewalk with a "Free" sign to see if anyone would take them. When I woke up the next morning and looked outside they were gone and someone had left a small box of candy and wrote on it, "Thank you!" It greatly touched me that someone would want/need food so bad for their family that they would do that. It reminded me that their are people out there that need our simple acts of kindness. It's so easy to forget that.

Next time you go out look for some way to touch someone else life! You never know what will happen, and you may even find that your life is touched too! :) Have fun!

P.S. Here's a link to the website! http://anonymousthankyous.com/

1 Year...Celebration?

So theres this Facebook App. It's called On This Day. If you've never heard of it, it shows you your previous posts for as long as you've been on Facebook for a specific day. Well I logged on today and saw this...

It's been 1 year. Words can't express everything I'm feeling right now. 

Dole Whip

Today I'm going to talk to you all about Ice Cream. Two days ago I went to my friends house to help plan a wedding. Now I never expect people to remember that I'm allergic to milk, especially because even my sisters forget sometimes, so when she asked me if I wanted Ice Cream and Popcorn it didn't bother me at all. Anyways we were sitting there planning and my friend brings out a huge bowl full of delicious Ice Cream, and a huge bowl of popcorn. The popcorn didn't really bother me but good gracious her ice cream looked freaking delicious. I watched her eat the whole thing, silently wishing with my whole heart that all the sudden I wouldn't be allergic to milk any more, and then I went home. And when I get home my family is eating ice cream. I really don't expect my family to stop eating ice cream because, honestly, who can ask someone to stop eating ice cream and still be a human being, but sometimes I'm just jealous. Some days I don't ever think about Ice cream at all, and then there are days when it seems like EVERYBODY is eating it in front of me and I would kill just to have one taste of it again. You're probably wondering why I don't just eat some? Just take one bite. And honestly sometimes I think that too, but then I remember the pain. And I remember that it is SOOO not worth it. Don't worry this isnt all depressing. Now let me just tell you about one of Gods best creations:

THIS IS DOLE WHIP!

It even looks beautiful! If you don't know what Dole Whip is then you have not yet lived. Whether you are milk free or not, this is heaven! This is sold in Disneyland (AKA Happiest Place on Earth) and I love LOVE LOVE it!!!  Its made out of Pineapple. It's completely Vegan (Milk Free) and it is seriously the best treat ever. This is what saves me on days when I want Ice Cream. It is also sold at a frozen yogurt place called "Farrs Fresh Ice Cream" If you live in the Orem, Provo area there is one by the University Mall in Orem by Cinemark. Here's their website http://farrsfresh.com/. Let me warn you though, I have never tasted one as good as in Disneyland. I don't know what it is but they just do something different with it. Even if you try it anywhere else and don't like it, make sure you try it at Disney and then if you still don't like it, then I will believe you. Hahaha. Bottom line if you haven't tried it you definitely should. (Unless you're allergic to pineapple, then I would suggest not trying it).

Goodbye for now!! (I'm going to go eat some Dole Whip)

P.S. I have also seen it popping up at different theaters in my area so keep your eyes out! Tell me in the comments if you like it and where you have seen it sold.

Venting.

Okay today I just need to vent.

I get on Facebook this morning and I see this post from one of my friends...

"As I sit here pumping, with my throat still burning from my sickness. I wanted to send out a friendly reminder to my friends and family. I have 3 very wonderful kids, my youngest is only 6 months and if she gets sick could end up in the hospital, which none of us want. So PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, if you are sick, as much as I love you please keep my babies life in mind and stay away from us or let me know so we can stay away from you. I know its hard, but I will be a mommy bear if I find out you knew you were sick and came near my baby anyways! Thanks in advance and a special thank you to those who already still do this!"

Which honestly, I thought was said very well. Her daughter has many health problems, including problems breathing and problems with her heart, and could very easily be sent to the hospital just from catching a simple cold. So I respect that she said this, and even think it was very appropriate for her situation.

But then in the comments people say this....

"I hate when ppl say, "it s just allergies..." . Uhhhh.. noooo.  If you have any kind of cough , sniffles, or drippy-ness please stay away."

"Do you know how many times in the past somebody's "just allergies" has turned into bronchitis?

It just makes me crazy when ppl are drippy and sneezy and come around. I have caught too many ppls allergies in the past.  I think it is fair to ask those who have any type of sniffle, drip, cough, etc, to stay away. If they have a problem with it, thats their problem.   It is too risky to your baby's health...  and when you have a special needs baby it s too risky to YOUR health...

Here's the thing, 

I would just like to point out that I have the worst allergies anyone has ever seen. I take 5 allergy pills everyday, yes year round, and there are very VERY few days in my lifetime when I haven't had a runny and drippy nose, coughing, and/or sneezing. 

Ever think that sometimes it really is JUST ALLERGIES! So according to all of these people, I either have had a cold, that let me just tell you, should be in the record books for "The Longest Cold EVER" , or I just have allergies. 

But just to be safe I just won't go around anyone or any kids EVER AGAIN!

And yes I HAVE seen ALMOST every specialist out there and have taken all the tests.... I've been on so many different medications throughout my lifetime always looking for anything to help control them so that I can simply live somewhat normally. Do you have any idea what it feels like to be drugged ALL THE TIME?!?

No you obviously don't because anyone who has ever had allergies bad enough to take meds would not say these things.

And just by the way, I have gone to the Doctors so many times I can't count, for what I thought was a Cold or Strep, and have been told 9 out of 10 times that "It's just allergies."

EVERYBODY the mystery of how colds are spread has been solved. It's just all of us poor souls out there that can't seem to get rid of "a cold" to save our lives.

Learning to be a different person...

Stoping was on of the hardest things I have ever done. I stopped cold turkey too. April will be a year since I ate anything that had any kind of dairy in it at all. Let me tell you what this entitles. Its A LOT harder than you would have thought it to be. First of all, me and milk, we were in a very serious relationship, I was completely in love with it, apparently it didn't feel the same way. My life completely changed that day, milk is in EVERYTHING!! You always have to be checking and double checking because a lot of things people don't think of or don't even realize would indeed have milk in it. Butter for one. We have to make sure that people don't cook their steaks, hamburgers, buns, vegetables, etc are not cooked in butter. The other main one is bread. Everywhere I go, everything I eat I have to make sure that the bread does not have milk in it. Or that the batter the chicken nuggets are dipped in does not. Mayonnaise, this one may seem kind of weird but their are mayonnaise out there that are actually made with a butter milk, I have to ask every time. Almost all seasoning packets will have milk in them. Italian food is 98% of the time really nasty without cheese or some kind of cream in them. Sweets are another story altogether, I have yet to find a doughnut that doesn't have milk in it, cookies are impossible, ditto cakes and pies, and then there's CHOCOLATE!!!! I have found very few chocolates that don't have milk in them. I can eat most brownies which is nice and Oreos are the best invention ever. That's right Oreos don't have milk in them. And were not even gonna mention Ice cream. Anyways I have to go to class, I'll talk to you all later!

Hello.

Hey Everyone,
I don't really have any idea how to do this sort of thing but I love writing and thought it would be fun to share my story and maybe be able to vent a little (or a lot) here and there, so here goes.

You see, the thing is, sometimes being allergic to milk can be VERY lonely, so I hoping that maybe, just maybe someone else who feels this way will be able to read my blog and realize that really they aren't so lonely after all. I guess I'm kind of hoping this blog will help me feel that way too. Don't get me wrong, I am a very happy person who has been blessed with a lot of very loving people in my life,  with that being said I think that EVERYONE will feel lonely at least once in their life no matter how many people are surrounding them. And I think that the chances of feeling lonely increase a lot when you're allergic to something that EVERYBODY else eats and drinks with every meal. The other reason I think I feel kinda lonely is because nobody I know, is actually allergic to milk either.

Maybe I should start from the beginning, well probably not the very beginning because that would take a while...hum. Okay so first I should probably tell you all a little about myself. I will be turning 19 on April 19th this year (2015). I still live with my parents and I will finish my first (and with the way things are going right now, possibly my last) semester of college this April. Hahaha.

You should know that I have been sick my entire life. For as long as I can remember I have never felt quite right. It got worse the older I got. I didn't really notice it until I one day realized that its not exactly normal to catch every, and I mean EVERY, sickness you ever come in contact with. I really started noticing something was wrong right after I got my first job working at a local restaurant when I turned 16. The restaurant I worked at is very well known for the ahhhmazing ice cream shakes so you can imagine that of course I ate one every night that I worked. This is when things started going bad. I started getting super weak and tired all the time, which you would almost expect for someone eating ice cream all the time, but here was the weird part, I would get very sever stomach pains. They got worse and worse the longer time went on. At first they were just kind of an annoyance but by the end I could barely move. I remember coming home from school and just laying on the floor right inside the door for the rest of the night because it hurt so bad. I could hardly move at work and would come home early, or not even go in, way too often. The only way I could really describe the pain was that I used to have nightmares every night that a guy was stabbing me in the stomach with knifes covered in acid. We went to every doctor we could possibly think of that was close enough to drive to. I even remember going to the ER on three separate occasions. They all told me the same thing, over and over, that I was perfectly fine and that nothing was wrong with me. I would cry for days. I couldn't understand why someone would tell me that nothing was wrong, obviously there was something very wrong with me.

Finally we did the only thing we could come up with which was cut everything out of my diet. And when I say everything I mean everything. I lived off of plain salad for probably 3 months. During these three months I lost about 20 pounds. I wasn't allowed to eat anything but salad, not even the dressing. We gradually started adding more and more things to my diet. It seemed to help a little but it definitely wasn't solving any problems. I forgot to mention earlier that I also have had eczema my entire life and at this point it started to get really horrible. I had it everywhere but the back of my legs were the worst. It got so bad I couldn't wear anything but sweats and loose PJs for a while.

One day my Grandma told me about her dermatologist, this is when things started to look up. The dermatologist couldn't believe how bad I was and she was the first one who actually believed that there was something wrong with me. I remember on my first appointment with her, she looked me in the eye and promised me that no matter what it took, she was going to help me and she was going to heal me. I will never forget that. She referred me to her friend, who is an allergist and we met with her soon after. Thankfully we have great insurance so she was able to do an allergy blood test on me that originally costs $5,000, we got it for free. When we got the results I was absolutely relieved and devastated to learn that I was off the charts allergic to milk. That's how my story begins, I'm going to bed now but will continue with this later on in another post. Thanks for reading. :)