The Kearney Family: Denver - 3rd Time is the Charm!

Man, I'm a little Morgan posting heavy, but I swear Aidan is still around doing great! Morgan had some food allergy blood work done in the fall and we quickly sent the results to National Jewish to see if there were any more foods she could food challenge. Food challenges are basically where you sit in a room, with a whole bunch of medical people watch you eat foods that you were previously allergic to. If that doesn't sound fun enough, it gets better! You get to see there for 4ish hours per food and progressively eat a whole bunch of food you kind of hate because it's made you so sick in the past. But let me tell you, the results were worth it. So, so, so worth it. Morgan ate and passed to peanuts (I KNOW!!! PEANUTS!), eggs (I KNOW!), a whole bunch of nuts, some fish (but important fish because now she can have french fries in restaurants!!!), garbanzo beans (random, but okay). She is now only officially allergic to sesame seeds, cashew/pistachio, salmon/tuna. I'm getting a little teary just typing this. Truly a life changer.

Remember that late night concert, yeah, my puffy eyes don't lie. An early morning flight to Denver.

Asian pear styrofoam on your face, ok.

If you have to spend spring break in a hospital, you get a bit spoiled in the sugar and shopping departments.

And then we sit. And sit. And sit. Thank you to the creators of the show Friends. Yes, she did watch EVERY episode.

Shockingly, this skin testing is much improved. But still some pretty big ones.

So excited to eat nuts. SO EXCITED (kidding).

We celebrated a successful first day of challenging with a movie at Alamo Drafthouse. (Truly my favorite way to watch a movie!)

And then we sit.

And do some testing type stuff.

And then eat. Lots of eating.

And lots of coloring and watching Friends.

And play kiddie games.

After the biggest day, we had to go and get some groceries. This was the day she passed eggs and peanuts. Did I start crying in the grocery store looking at the ALL of the foods she can eat. You bet I did. I used to cry (regularly, sorry people of Boise, that sobbing mess was me) in the grocery store trying to figure out what in the heck I was going to feed her. So it was a bit emotional to be on the other side of that.

Since it was another day of challenging, I limited my celebration.

And since National Jewish is the #1 respiratory hospital in the country, of course more lung function testing.

Cod for breakfast, sure!

She could have challenged hazelnuts, but she'd had enough and we settled on nutella. Unfortunately, that she means she's not cleared to eat actual hazelnuts, but nutella will do until the next trip.

Tuna and ketchup, coming right up.

I wonder sometimes if the staff miss seeing us sitting in this same spot for 11 hours a day for a week, coloring and watching Friends? Likely, someone else is filling our spots. But I bet they don't color nearly as well as we do.