Dodging a Bullet

In the world of a child that has severe allergies, every situation and scenario has the potential to be deadly. Itchy, my (ALMOST) 6 year old, has blessed me with the NEED to learn more, find more, be more aggressive and assertive in our endeavor of....well life.

A little backgrounder info on Itchy. Ever since he was born, he has had AWFUL skin. I mean look at this - who wants their baby looking like THIS?! The dermatologists were baffled at why his skin was THIS bad.
At about 6-7 months old, he had finished eating some of those yummy gerber green beans and I gave him a biter biscuit while I was washing the spoon. He gnawed on it and seemed to be enjoying it....until....I looked over and he had a FLAMING RED (yes even more red than that)circle around his mouth that almost went all the way over to his ears and up to his eyes.

We of course had him tested and based on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being the absolute worst, possible anaphylactic reaction, he had more 4's than he did 1's. 4's mean that the skin has inflammed, gotten red and gotten larger than a normal body reaction (H or histamine) to something 'undesired' by your system. One thing I am VERY proud of is the fact that I have taken pictures at EVERY allergist appt. I don't have them all on this puter, but here are a few to show you the 'damage'. This has helped PROVE to well intentioned family/friends that say 'just a little can't hurt him'....yyyyyeeeeah, and that big 'ole whallop on his back was less than a little and only on his skin, imagine what it'd do to him if he swallowed it!
2004-1.5 years old (2nd year year tested)

2005- 2.5 years old (third year tested)

2007-4.5 years old, we did the full shebang to check some that we'd waited a few years on. (5th year tested)


"Mrs. Nik, I hate to tell you this but he is fatally allergic to wheat, oat, barley, rye, peanuts, treenuts, and eggs....I repeat FATALLY" How do you respond to that? Thanks? Ok, have a good day? F-off?Nice to meet you? An allergists job is to tell you WHAT your allergens are with a general "avoid this, that or the other". Most environmental allergens get allergy medicine to help block, inhalers to help during rough patches and in some of the most severe cases, an epi-pen. They may even start a schedule of allergy shots or immunotherapy. Food allergies are a bit different, you either eat them or you don't. Have Benedryl and Epi-pens at the ready for when they consume something they shouldn't. HOWEVER, when they are THAT severe, coming in contact with them through touch brings a whole new awareness to the table (allergen free table of course). The only other thing you can do is pray and hope that your child outgrows SOMETHING. I'm asked a lot about the possibility of Itchy outgrowing these allergies. However the problem we have is a lot of his numbers (I'm talking skin AND blood test) are getting higher as he's aging, not dropping off the list. Regular stats show a child has an 80% chance to outgrow their food allergies (peanut excluded) by the time they are 5.

Itchy is REALLY good about letting others know he can't eat just anything...he'll say "that's not good for me" or "I don't KNOW if that's good for me". He always asks before he eats or drinks something and won't open anything (say for instance at the school) until I can check it for him. He's very understanding that he can go trick or treating - but when he gets home, he gets to open a candy gift (usually a box filled with candy he CAN have) and we just hand off his ToT winnings to his brother.

Yesterday was one of those days that something snuck up on us and I was glad to see he was a little 'scared' but also it broke my heart. He is SO good that contamination of his food or his area are so RARE. Yesterday we picked up some friends and did some fun things with them while their Jeep was getting fixed. We all went to Wendy's to eat because they DO have baked potatoes and that's the ONLY thing we are comfortable with Itchy getting outside of our house (fast food wise). He came over and said "Mommy, I'm still thirsty" and handed me an empty cup. The counter had given us an extra drink (sprite is the only thing he can have/like) so I just took his straw and stuck it in the big sprite. When he came back over with another empty cup - I noticed it was the same size as his FIRST cup. Turns out - he obliviously had picked up his friends drink and finished it off as the first cup. When I noticed there was brown juice on the lid of his first cup, my throat fell. Caramel coloring can be considered a wheat derivitive depending on origin, so we avoid 'brown' stuff as much as possible. "How much had he drank? Did he drink it at all? What was 'on' the straw when he drank it?" I pulled out the 'blue med bag" and HIS throat fell. He got a worried look on his face and realized the mistake he made. There was no need for me to give him the lecture, I knew he knew it...we'd probably have a small discussion at bedtime during story and prayer. With having so many unknowns, I immediately gave him some benedryl and hoped for the best. It was slightly a stressful afternoon because you just had this 'doom' lingering wondering if his body was going to take it to another level. THANKFULLY, everything went well and he just got a little glazed over and crabby while we were bowling.

Needless to say...WHEW! We dodged a bullet on THAT one!