"I won't get sick, Mommy. I won't!" he said with courage.

I don't think anything could have prepared me for the overwhelming feelings I have right now. I guess I should start at where this all started.

Since our Year in Review, The Mister and I have noticed that reactions are few & far between. Our largest offense is the seasonal sniffles and the contact milk reactions have all but disappeared.

I belong to an online community of mothers. They are a great group of women whom I've been lucky to be a part of since The Mister & I became engaged. We've all gotten married together, been through births, milestones, illness and death. Needless to say we've formed a very special bond. Some of us have stronger bonds than others based solely on our personal experiences as mothers. A few of us have been blessed with food allergic children. Those trials, that constant fear of the worst, and those victories have brought us all closer.

One of these fine women mentioned that her milk allergic daughter caught a sneaky bite of her FroYo and hours later showed no signs of reaction. The hope that this chance encounter sparked, grew and grew over the next several weeks.

As I mentioned previously, we had been foiled by illness when we had last planned to have Mason's allergies tested by the lab. I had been meaning to follow up and get that rescheduled, but this new found hope took me in a different direction.

Instead of asking to reschedule the tests, I asked Dr. H if a food challenge would be unheard of. The Mister & I had some Stay-cation time set aside and what could be a more perfect time to challenge the milk allergy, than mid-week when the doctor is readily available. To further my hope, I had devised a plan of attack and with the doctors blessing, convinced The Mister we should go for it.

Why not start with the very thing that led us to this journey that is Food Allergies? We purchased one single Organic Vanilla Yogurt cup. I swabbed a bit on Mason's inner elbow with explicit instructions not to lick it or rub it in, and then set the timer for an hour. Benedryl at the ready and Dr. H on speed dial, the waiting began. We all tried to busy ourselves, to avoid causing panic with the obessive checking of the arm, his eyes, mouth and skin for any signs of reaction. Each time we checked we were met with disappointment - nothing was happening. We were all expecting something to happen, and in a strange way, missed the call to action. There was nothing to do. We had never experienced nothing before. This was new territory for us all.

So the hour passed and we all breathed a sigh of relief. We dodged a bullet. Surely this was a jinx, a hoax. Did I really buy the dairy blend or did I, out of habit, reach for the soy. Nope, it's cows milk, says so right on the label. What's the next logical step when laughing in the face of danger? Get closer to it, of course!

"Mason? Would you like to try some Cow's Milk yogurt?" I said, trying not to sound scared out of my head.
"You mean, Daddy's yogurt?" with a bright eyed smile. The kid will do anything to be like his Daddy.
"Yes. Like Daddy's yogurt, but there are some rules. If you start to feel sick in your tummy, or itchy on your skin or in your mouth, we have to stop eating - take medicine - and call Dr. H. We don't want you to eat this if it makes you sick. Do you understand?"
"I won't get sick, Mommy. I won't!" he said with courage.

And so we served him half of the yogurt cup, with a gulp, some prayer and many crossed finger & toe. Luckily, we had plenty of things to distract us this day. Only when Mason reached for a cheek to brush off some new-bit, or scratched at his head, or sniffled once too often did we barrage him with questions. Every time we were answered with, "I not sick. I not."

The challenge was a success. But I was not yet ready to claim a full victory. I still cannot quite release all my worry. Even after corresponding with Dr. H, where he said he doesn't often call an allergy "outgrown" until a child is 4 or 5, but given the severity of past reactions and the lack of any such reaction for this challenge he's willing to declare Mason "outgrown". The best way to describe how both The Mister and I are feeling is Cautiously Elated.

We continued testing the waters two days later with more yogurt. Nothing. We tested again with cheese on his pizza tonight (placing this order was strange, both for us and the staff). Nothing.

The possibilities for our family are endless. I'm excited for all that Mason will get to participate in now, but mourning that he hasn't gotten to before now. I feel like we've deprived him, even though all we were doing was protecting him from harm.

So we will continue trialing new dairy foods. Dr. H said it wouldn't be necessary for us to really trial anything, but if it made us feel better it was fine to do so. After all, Mason is. . .

OUTGROWN!!!

A year in review

It's been almost a year since that last post.

I haven't forgotten this blog. I think about it often, but life seems to get in the way. A topic I want to discuss comes & goes and then we're on to the next phase of life.

Since that post, Mason has changed childcare providers to a more structured Preschool environment. When considering enrollment there, both Mark & I visited several times and had several meetings and discussions about how to handle Mason, his food, any reactions, and teaching the other kids that sharing toys is great, but food - not so much.

I keep waiting for the honeymoon period at his school to end. If that's any indication as to how well they are managing his food allergies, I don't know what is.

Spring is here once again, and we are in full swing of the daily nose sniffle battle. Earlier in the season Mason had a cold, which again settled in his chest. The wheezing, coughing fits and gasps in the middle of the night started up again. Terrifying. As soon as I recognized the whistle of the wheeze we took him in. His regular MD diagnosed Reactive Airway Disease, first step to asthma.

We were prescribed an inhaler to manage the attacks. Mason calls it his Airplane mask and is eager and willing when it comes time to adminsiter.

We still get flare ups from cross exposures like milk or cheese kisses from loved ones, but they are few & far between.

We are definately overdue for a visit to the allergist for some current records. Quite a lot has changed in Mason's developement over the last year, and I imagine it's not any different for his allergies, both seasonal and food related.

I commit to posting here more often. At least more than once a year.

Who knew?

**warning, the photo at the end of the post is of a sensitive nature, proceed with caution**

I know it's been quite some time since my last update.

A little follow up first. The FAAN walk last year was quite the experience and so worthwhile. I'm hoping to get an even larger group together for this coming September when the walk is back in San Francisco.

Mason's food allergies seem to be managed between home and daycare well enough. There's an occassional slip up, but we know what to look for and how to treat it, so it's managed. We have not done any food trials since our accidental experiment over Thanksgiving and I'm in no rush to try.

Now's the time of year that seasonal allergies are on the rise. About this time last year it seemed we were constantly fighting a stuffy runny nose, a wet cough and sneezes abounded. Speaking with his allergist on several occassions we both suspected seasonal allergies (Hay Fever), but since he was so young, just over a year, it wasn't commonly seen and we were dealing with it as any other cold. For a child his age, there's not much you can do to offer relief in the stuffy, coughey, sneezy department.

Well, seems the seasonal stuff is back in full swing. Not only are we constantly battling a cough and runny nose, but his eczema on his legs is a constant battle to keep under control. It doesn't seem to bother him too terribly bad, but I just hate seeing those little red welts and scaley patches. Dealing with it myself is bad enough, but I just ache seeing that he has to deal with it too.

So there were plans put into place to do a blood screening for allergies (RAST). The environmental SPT didn't really come back with any strong hits, and we are all well aware of his food restrictions, but there might just be something more we're missing or wasn't included on the first round of SPT's.

We had arranged to do this on Friday, tomorrow, but as always, plans with a toddler are never permanent. Last night, on my way to pick up Mason from childcare, I get a call from the provider. She's just changed Mason's diaper and there's a palm sized welt on his left hip/buttock - what should she do. Mind you, we've never had a hive that large before and there weren't any others popping up. I was only 15 min away and asked that she keep him isolated until I arrived to inspect.

No joke, it was the size of an adults hand. I quickly stripped him down to inspect every inch of him & found no other spots. Curious. Normally with a reaction there's a cluster of spots. Some I would call large, but nothing like this. I'd never seen anything on this scale before, so I wasn't sold that it was a hive.

Next step, temperature read. It was a digital underarm read and by the time it pinged 100 I dropped it, said a quick good-bye to daycare and called the advice nurse. It didn't seem to be an emergency, he was breathing fine, no swelling, but of concern and worth an office visit the next day.

Which brings us to today. The welt is gone, temp is still fluctuating, but it's manageable with regular doses of Tylenol.

We managed to get a pretty good photo of the welt before it vanished & I emailed that along to his Dr. before our appointment. His assessment? It was a hive! It's not unheard of for a child to develop an allergic reaction when their body is fighting off a virus. Instead of just flushing out the bad guys, they hung around, so his body went into agressive fight mode and there you have a hive. Now this is in the most simplest terms, but essentially Mason is allergic to his cold.

It's now, as I mentioned previously, vanished. It could come back in a completely different area and we shouldn't be surprised if another one pops up with his next cold. Unless it's bothersome to him or being irritated by his clothing, we are to ignore them. Otherwise, we treat him with his anti-histamine and it should fade away swiftly.

Now's the time for those who are sensitive to look away. This is a hive, if you can believe it.