The Allergic Boy

I took the boy for allergy tests a few weeks after his honeydew incident, and the allergist suggested only testing for the honeydew, cantaloupe and strawberries. He had no reaction to any of the fruit, but I wanted a second opinion. I made an appointment with another pediatric allergist, and she re-did those tests, but also tested for peanuts, tree nuts and other allergens. He was all clear for the fruit and peanuts, but it appears as though he is allergic to tree nuts, as he had a slight reaction from the skin test. So what does this mean? Since he’s never been exposed to an actual tree-nut (cashew, pistachio, almond etc…), we have to go back in a year, re-test, and also stay away from them until then.

Everyone handles “bad news” differently, but for some reason I was not surprised by this. I was told that given the family history, he has a significantly higher chance of developing an allergy. I have been carrying an Epipen Jr. and a bottle of Benadryl since the fruit incident. The only thing that is hard to handle is the fact that I now have this additional responsibility towards the boy that most parents don’t have. I recognize the impact an allergy can have on day-to-day life, and until I have the all-clear, I plan to live life as though he is allergic. For me, this is not a transition because this is how I live my own life. For parents with no history of allergies I can imagine the difficulty assosciated in managing this. The responsibility of becoming a parent is overwhelming enough, but to be told that your child has an allergy can make life scary. For us, in the meantime, while waiting to determine if he is in fact allergic, I will bring his own cupcake to birthday parties, brown bag his lunch at play dates, and like his mom he won’t be able to eat at Ben and Jerry’s or Baskin & Robbins. I’ll have to teach him that sharing food is a no, and that he can’t go around kissing the girls in his class! My mother and mother in law both keep peanut/nut free homes as it is, so the educational piece for family members is simple.

I always try to keep things in perspective, and in the grand scheme of things this is not so terrible. On another note, since the all-clear on strawberries, honeydew and cantaloupe the boy is loooving his new fruit choices!

:)

J.

The Allergic Mom-Redefined

I recently posted about the boy not having any allergies, however I was slightly premature in publicizing that statement. Two days before his actual birthday he was eating honeydew for the first time and immediately after he developed hives all over his legs. I gave him Benadryl (I highly recommend every parent keeps a bottle for situations like this). Aside from the hives he appeared to be fine, but I trusted my instincts and threw him in the car and off we went to the hospital. They took him in immediately, found that his breathing was compromised, so they hooked him up to wires and gave him meds and we stayed for a few hours until we got the all clear to go home. It could be the honeydew, but it could also be the strawberries he ate during dinner (even though it was his 6th day on strawberries). We will be seeing an allergist soon and hopefully we will figure out exactly what happened and whether this is in fact an allergy. I am just hoping that it was an isolated incident, and that I won’t have to start a new blog titled “The Allergic Boy”!

Since then, we have officially become a honeydew, strawberry and peanut free home. The ER doctor prescribed an Epipen which we carry everywhere we go and we were told to avoid strawberries and honeydew. I spoke with the daycare teacher at length about this, and she seemed to understand the situation (no sharing food, spoons, epipen use etc..).

For obvious reasons, I was not ready to post about this sooner. For so many parents this is their reality, and having to let their child go off to daycare, school, camp, activities, playdates etc, is frightening. It’s one thing to be in this peanut allergy friendly society, but for the kids and adults allergic to eggs, fish, fruits and so on, there are no egg free, fish free or fruit free establishments. Probably because I am so vigilant about my own allergy, avoiding honeydew and strawberries has taken on a whole life of it’s own. While I do think it’s easier to avoid fruits than peanuts, I think it is easier to avoid peanuts than eggs. I am wondering if you were told that you had an allergy, if given a choice, what you would choose to be allergic to? Please share.

:)

J.