Awareness...

Last night we took our sweet kiddos and Chaun to Red Robin to celebrate Ty's closing a project at work.  I received what I call the "Restaurant Snub".  The waitress was nice and friendly at the begining , she took the time to be sure to write down Cristine's allergies, and talk to the Chef to be sure her meal was safe. Then came the inevitable question... "I see two kids meals, but three kids... What does she want?" (pointing to Brooklyn)  I answer that she can't eat anything. For the remainder of the evening I got nothing but the evil glare from our waitress who was sure we were punishing her or that we were rude and insensitive for eating out when she can't. In my defense, I didn't have a chance to explain, we were in a 6 person booth in a loud restaurant and she was at the opposite and of the table.  I think she may have spit in my drink... at least I never got a refill, and when I asked for coctail sauce, she plopped it down in front of me along with a fork I had also not gotten earlier, glared at me, and walked off. 
This same senario happens more often than you might think.  But the truth is... Brooklyn really can't eat anything.  That's right.. not a single morsel or crumb of regular food.  She is sustained with the help of a feeding tube that feeds her a special Amino Acid formula during the night and she drink the same formula during the day. 
Brooklyn has Eosinophilic Gastroenteritis.  Her body reacts with an overactive immune response to food protiens/  When she eats food, her body attacks it with white blood cells called eosinophils.  The cells cary toxins with them ready to fight... much like a parsitic infection.  It causes inflamation, lots and lots of pain, and more damage along her esophogus, stomach , and intestines.  Why am I telling you all this? This last week has been Eosinophilic Awareness Week. 
One of the hardest parts with this disease is that it is invisable to others.  I can't explain to everyone why my daughter doesn't eat food for lunch at school, can't participate in food related activities, and doesn't like to be in a crowd of people eating.  But I do think we should all be more tolerant of eachother and give someone the benefit of the doubt when you may feel quick to judge.  Before you think something mean about somebody else, please remember to stop and remind yourself that you don't  know the whole story.  If we all carried around little signs telling our stories, we would be less quick to judge the man who just lost a job, or the Mom who has been sick, or the child who needs attention.
 To the waitress at Red Robin, my sign would say... "For my child , Food = Pain, but going out to eat is a fun experience for her. She gets to color on her menu and get a special cup of ice water with a straw that she gets to take home.  They have balloons she can also take home.  We are trying to focus on the event and not the food itself, please be be nice."

So in honor of my sweet girls who have so much to deal with, and never complain.  Spend the rest of the awareness week to be patient with others and give someone else a little service.  You never know just how much it might mean to them :)