A Matter of Perspective

I

f Life is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? ~Erma Bombeck

I am allergic to cherries!

Cherries!

I love cherries. I wait all year so I can have fresh cherries. But two times this past month I have woke up with a swollen lip because apparently I cannot tolerate cherries anymore!

I am so sad about this.

There is a diagnosis for this condition, it is called Oral Allergy Syndrome.

According to acaai.org, “Although not everyone with a pollen allergy experiences oral allergy syndrome when eating the following foods, they are commonly associated with these allergens:

• Birch pollen: apple, almond, carrot, celery, cherry, hazelnut, kiwi, peach, pear, plum.

• Grass pollen: celery, melons, oranges, peaches, tomato.”

What?!?

Those are all foods that I can eat as a diabetic. Now some of them, maybe even all of them are becoming off-limits!

I am personally recommending not turning 50 years old. It is like a switch turns on that says, “Okay, time to start aching everywhere. Let’s throw in some arthritis and trigger thumbs. Add in a couple of knees that click and pop and a shoulder (sometimes both) that snaps all the time. And now start being allergic to your favorite foods and have a swollen lip and throat to ‘mouth off’ about!”

I guess things could be worse, but without cherries... I don’t know. I keep wondering what will be next. I guess I better start counting the things that are going well in my life, because there are quite a few of them, too, although without cherries, they may not be as sweet!