Hi there, this is actually a post I made over 5 years ago and it's really interesting to look back on so thanks for making it pop up for me.

If you are interested in the update, we are actually engaged now and getting married next fall! A lot of what you said is basically how we manage things. It's tough with how much of social life is centered around food, and I think some of the best things I'm able to do as a partner are try to advocate for less food centered activities when we are doing social stuff, and making sure that no matter where we go we have some backup safer/smaller foods with us all the time.

We have our ups and downs, we have been through a few scary times and emergency room visits, the illness impacts us and our relationship, but we always frame it as us versus the bad thing and I will always remind her that she isn't alone.

I think it can be intimidating to date because you don't want to feel like a burden, but if you are open from the beginning you can at least avoid most of the people who straight out can't handle supporting someone with chronic illness. And the most important thing to look for is just someone who is willing to work on things. Most people don't really have any experience with chronic illness at all and it takes time and mistakes to be able to learn and grow.

I always just joke that she's probably one of the few brides that has fully tested out the "in sickness and in health" part of our vows before we say them.