Cook the fruit please...

March and the Midwest mean tornado sirens. So it was no surprise as I left out the door at 830am to retrieve M from school --as sirens blared in the background--for a doctor appointment that I headed out hoping I wouldn't be swept away to Oz.

Swept to Oz we were not; instead swept away in a most unusual timely doctor office fashion to an examination closest. After a chat with the doc, a nurse entered the room with her science kit of mixtures. Before long M's skin was welting up till she almost morphed into a toad like figure.

I believe as the doc recommended M do a science fair project on her newly diagnosed condition she roared in a laughter that resembled a sound only Dr. Frankenstein could produce--we knew then it as time to escape the laboratory and return to middle school.

The condition you ask, what is it, well...Oral Allergy Syndrome. Which means Maddi isn't allergic to the fruits that cause her to stop breathing instead she is having a reaction to cross-reactivity between plant proteins from pollen and fruits.

I am told M can eat, and in fact she has and does, these fruits (that are her enemy) in a cooked form without reaction... strawberry picking season means learning to make jam, apple and peach picking season means baking pies and cobblers, churning out apple sauce. I may have to think about taking up State Fair visits with my creations.

Wow, I may really become "Little Suzy Homemaker" after all.