When I was 10, I had a mystery allergic reaction.

It was an incident that never made sense. It may have been tree nut cross contact. Or possibly it was a “perfect storm” of factors that all needed each other to cause a bad reaction. But in any case, it made us afraid that I’d developed a new allergy to peanuts.

I’d shown a mild sensitivity to peanuts at my one and only skin test (at age 6,) but I ate peanut butter almost daily. This reaction, though, made us worry that I’d crossed the line into being allergic, and our doctor decided to do a food challenge.

My parents recently brought over some keepsakes from my childhood. Among them was a journal my 5th grade teacher made us keep every day that year. Within its pages, I found an entry I wrote after that reaction, and in anticipation of my peanut food challenge. This provides a window into my 10-year-old mind as I went through the experience. I thought I’d share.

This first journal entry was from the first day back to school after the mystery reaction. (It happened at the end of Spring Break.)

Read more from my 5th grade artifact on our main blog here!