The March preschool calendar

Today I got the March calendar for Nathan's preschool and I instantly felt my stomach sink. They are doing all these cute themes for Dr. Seuss, St. Patty's day and Easter - that include food. Ugh!!

The first week they have a "Special Snack" for Dr. Seuss and making the "cat's hat". I will have to find out what that is and try to copy it in a allergy friendly way.

For St. Patty's Day, they will be making and eating a "Rainbow Bread" - not sure what that is but I am sure it has wheat. Don't know how to copy that unless I get the recipe and copy it with no eggs and wheat free flour. Then for St. Patty's day they will hunt for the "Pot of Gold" which they will find gold chocolate coins and eat some. Well, I can't easily make gold coins but I am going to look for a place online and try to order some if they make them with dairy free chocolate. I am sure they will be expensive.

Then there is Easter......the children are to bring in 2 hard boiled eggs to dye. Nathan is very allergic to eggs but in past he has colored eggs and had no problem so I will let him dye eggs again this year, he just can't eat them. His egg allergy is deadly.

FAST and CHEAP

I ran to the grocery store after work to find something to feed my allergic son something to eat that is quick because it is after 5pm and I didn't want him to eat at 8pm.

I saw this other mom pushing a cart at the grocery store (in a hurry) filled all kinds of boxed kids foods that she will probably go home and feed her children. She had TV dinners, Kraft Mac N Cheese, Tyson Chicken Tenders, Frozen Pizza's, Breaded Fish sticks, etc. All those foods that are FAST and CHEAP and kids like. I was so envious of her!! I wanted fast and cheap meals that I could feed my child allergic child and he would eat.

Yes, I know I should feel good that my child eats very healthy now and most of the food are organic but sometimes a child just needs to eat kid friendly foods.

It seems as he is getting older he isn't liking the allergy free foods that I make anymore. He used to eat his Corn noodles, Soy milk and Rice cheese -Mac N Cheese, I would make him - but not so much anymore. I have tried the Ian's Natural foods that are marketed towards children and have many products that are allergy free but my child is smart. He know those taste as good as the "real thing".

The wheat again

I tried one more time on the wheat product just in case there was something funny tasting to him in the cookie. I tried giving him licorice which has wheat and he took a bite and didn't like it. Then I tried a few other things he wouldn't try. I think he just knows that there is something in there that he doesn't want or he is so used to his few foods that he gets on a regular basis that if I give him something that is unusual to him he doesn't want it.

The wheat is put on hold, I am going to continue the wheat free diet.

We SOLD our condo...

I don't know if I mentioned that we had our condo up for sale for a very long time. It finally sold and we need to be out by the end of the this month. We don't have a house picked out so we need to move into an apartment for a while until we find something.

We found an apartment really close to where we are living now and they do a 3 month lease with month to month after. We went to look at the apartments today and then my question came up....did the previous owners have pets? With all of Nathan's night time coughing, all I needed was to live some where that the previous people had pets and Nathan would have a hard time living there. They said the apartment was dog free and would check the previous owners file. They were so nice to us - they found us an apartment where the previous owners had NO pets and they just put in brand NEW carpet and floors. I was relieved.

The night cough again

Back to the doctor for the cough again, his pediatrician. He is even on a steroid now and still is coughing. I am at wits end with the coughing. He seems good all weekend then Mondays after being at school he is coughing again. I wonder if he is allergic to something there. It could be anything!!

She gave me some options for him such as trying a reflux medication, having more environmental allergies checked (mold, dust, chemicals, etc.) or I suggested even getting some lung x-rays and seeing a pulmonary specialist. I said we will try the reflux medicine first and see if that will help and I took the name of a children's pulmonary specialist.

I then told her about the allergist we saw last week (see post on Feb. 3rd) and she said she has heard of him and that he was known to be a good doctor. She also didn't believe his statement kids not having wheat allergies. She told me that his partner is really good and she recommends patients to him all the time.

I tried a wheat product

I tried a cookie made with wheat and no other ingredients that Nathan is allergic too - I didn't like what I saw. Nathan ate it and then started crying and trying to gag him self. He said it was "stuck in his teeth" to a 3.5 year old this could mean anything. I was freaking out, was he having a reaction??? There was no salt, why was he doing this?? I rushed to give him some Benadryl and he was fine. This was scary, I didn't like what I saw.

Another New Allergist

I am on this mission to find an allergy doctor that I can relate too, that I feel I trust and will really help us. We love our pediatrician, wish we could clone her to an allergist too.

I have heard about this allergist in the area and had also seen him on a news story so I thought we could try him and see what he has to say, he had been an allergist for more then 15 years so I thought he would be experienced. I made an appointment and today was that day.

When we got to the office it, was very basic, nothing fancy or high tech - I am not sure they used computers, everything was hand written and I think they used a book for appointments. The receptionist was also the nurse. She weighed Nathan, checked his height and then took us into the exam room.

The doctor came in and asked about Nathan's history and I told him. Then he examined Nathan and listened t his lungs and said Nathan was wheezing which didn't surprise me since he has Asthma and has had a cold. He gave us an RX for a liquid steroid. I told the doctor that we already know he has allergies to Dairy, Eggs, Wheat and Nuts. He then said "Wheat" I said yes. Then he asked what happened when/if Nathan ever had wheat and I told him I have never noticed a reaction but I also maybe given him wheat a few times. He then tells me "that in the 20 years of being an allergist he has only seen 1 wheat allergy and that patient was so allergic that he couldn't even be in the same room as wheat products." What?? is what I was thinking, so my child has been told that he has a wheat allergy for all these years and really isn't. He then tells me that the only way to tell if there is a wheat allergy is to be exposed and see if there is a reaction. The tests are usually not accurate. This I can agree with but as he is telling me that there are really no wheat allergies out there I am thinking and naming about 5 people in my head that I think have wheat allergies.

He tells me that we could do a wheat challenge now in his office, he told me to run to the grocery store and get a few food items with wheat and come back. I rush out of the office with Nathan to the grocery store. I have a million thoughts going through my head. What if this is it and we can finally give him wheat, this will open a new door of foods he can eat. I was excited but also nervous at the same time.

At the store I picked out 3 things, I got a loaf of wheat bread, a bag of pretzel sticks and some Ritz crackers. Checked the ingredients and the only ingredients that they had that he was allergic too is the wheat.

When we got back to the office the doctor came in and told me to start feeding him the food and he will be back. Ok, so I gave Nathan a Ritz cracker and he was fine. Then I tried the wheat bread but because it was soft and mushy (he usually eats toasted bread) he wouldn't try it. Then I tried the pretzel stick which had tons of salt and Nathan usually doesn't like salt. He started crying a bit and saying it was salty (not a choice of product on my part), so he didn't eat it. I didn't notice any reactions and we waited for the doctor to return.

The doctor came back and asked if there were any problems or reactions and I said no, just the pretzel with salt he didn't like and he agreed most kids don't like salt. He then tells us that Nathan is fine we can start feeding him wheat and see him in 6 months and we were on our way.

I didn't know what to think. I mean could Nathan really eat wheat now. I was shocked that the doctor didn't even check Nathan out after eating the wheat. He didn't check for hives, or his breathing or anything. He could just look at him and say, he is fine. Fed him wheat. I wasn't comfortable and the rest of the afternoon I was uneasy. I was afraid of a reaction later in the day or something.

Nathan and I went out to lunch and I ordered his food the same as I always to, wheat free - out of habit.

I never noticed a reaction later in the day.

The night time cough

Well the night time cough started again and Nathan coughed every five seconds until 5am when he finally fell asleep and my alarm for work went off.

I don't know if it is his Asthma, I know he has a little cold or something. He did have a slight fever a few days ago and runny nose. We tried everything last night to get him to stop coughing. Breathing treatments, cough medicine, Benadryl steam shower, vaporizer, elevating his head, Vicks on his chest. He would sometimes cough so bad he would gag and then vomit. That happened at 2am.

My husband and I are so tired of the coughing, it is always bad at night, I start to wonder if he has lung disease or something. It seems to happen at least once a month. If it was Asthma I would think the medicines would work.

I took him to see the pediatrician today since daycare needs a note saying he doesn't have Strep because that is going around. I didn't think he was that sick anymore, just the cough. They tested him fro Strep and he was negative and she said he has a sinus infection that causes him to cough. She said if he is not better in a week bring him back.