Close Call

Today, I was eating a sour cream chip dip and set the cover was on the table behind me, Nathan can't reach so not a big deal. But today he did reach the table and he took the cover of dip and started licking the dip!! As soon as I realized what he was doing I took it away from him. My first thought was get the Epi-Pen and Benadryl but then I decided to wait and see, I realy didn't notice anything!! I mean his hand was blotchy but it could be chapped. I don't know how much he really did eat but it had Dairy and Soy in it. Very close call.

Soy Challenge Rescheduled

We had so much snow today, they closed everything. The allergy clinic called and wanted to cancel the appointment and we said "no", we will still come in the snow. Then they told us to come eariler because they were closing. So we got there ASAP. We told them about Nathan's asthma and coughing alot at night and then they told us they were not going to do the Soy challenge. I think they just wanted to go home and used the asthma as an excuse not to do it. I knew we should've waited until after the appointment to tell them about his attacks. So no challege, just alot more asthma meds. The challenge is rescheduled for Wed. 2/20.

We did have a woman come from Birth to 3 program to evaluate Nathan today, she should have some results for us next week. We are mostly concerened about his speech or lack of it.


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Who would have thought?

As I was looking at the children's Valentine cards at the store today, I noticed that they have these cute little containers of playdough that you can give to other kids as an alternative to papercards. Nathan won't be able to play with a can of playdough because it has Wheat as an ingredient. I do have a recipe of a wheat-free playdough that I will have to make him, just not the same.

Food allergies just don't stop at the food that he eats but also food that he touches.

Follow-up to allergy appointment

The allergy nursed called and said his blood work came back and his numbers are down for soy and oats so we scheduled a "challenge" for both of them in February. I really wish we could challenge wheat since this is a hard one to avoid. Anyways, this is great news. If he passes the challenges, he would no longer be allergic to these foods.

Each challenge is scheduled two weeks apart and I need to bring soy and oat food items to the appointment. They will test the food on his skin then his lips and if no reaction, then they let him eat it. We will be at each appointment for 3 hours.

Mealtime Stress

When it comes to mealtimes, I try to be creative. I want to give Nathan a balanced meal, including a fruit and/or veggie, a meat and a carb. such as rice, potato or corn noodles. I try to space out the food choices as best as I can so he isn't eating the same item all the time and even though there isn't that much of a variety of foods he can have. He is getting to be more of a pickier eater than he ever was which makes mealtimes even more stressful.

Today at lunch, my plan was to give him a cucumber and as I started to cut it, I noticed it was rotten. This usually is not a big deal, but to me on this particular day it was. I seriously lost it and I broke out into tears. I didn't have a back-up plan - I didn't have another vegetable in the plan - what was I going to give him - I am the only one who cares about what he eats and if I didn't, who would. I am the solely responsible for his growth and nutrition. All the weight is on my shoulders and today it just got too heavy.

He just ended up eating his ham and bread with some fruit and no vegetable.

Nathan's 18 month appointment

Today was Nathan's 18 month appointment. His stats are as follows:
Weight: 20lbs. 13 1/2oz.
Length: 31 inches
His weight is so low he is off the chart and height is ok, he is growing, so that is good. His head is growing fine and he is in the normal range. Brain growth is good, he will be a smart boy.

Allergy Appointment

Today Nathan is 18 months old.

This week we had a follow-up on Nathan's allergy's. The nurse weighed Nathan and he weighs about 19lbs. They Dr. is concerned about his weight, he is 18 1/2 months old and only weighs 19lbs. I told her he had a bad cold recently and because of that he didn't eat as much as normal. He probably lost a little. The Allergist suggested we come back in a month for a follow-up, if he doesn't gain then she wanted to refer us to a GI specialist.

They also asked all the usual questions such as "Has he been exposed to any allergens?". He has, I accidentally gave him some corm pops cereal that had wheat and some fries that had soy and gluten. Who would think?? The good thing is that we didn't notice any kind of reaction. The reaction he would normally have from wheat and soy is breaking out in hives or a rash. We didn't see any skin reactions. That is great! The allergist decided to do a skin test but then after asking if Nathan has taken his Zyrtec lately, which he had, they decided a blood test would be the most accurate. So off to the lab we went and I watched again as they stuck needles into Nathan's arm to get vials of blood. It is so heart wrenching to watch, how can that much blood come out of a baby's arm.

They told us the results would be available in a week and we need to call. It is going to be a long week of waiting.

I just think "what if", what if he didn't have allergies or his allergies just magically went away one day. Like some kind of miracle.

I pray and hope.