Tuesday, January 27, 2009

What's going on, in the nut and egg free home, lately.

Thought I would share a little about, what is going on, around here lately. Our new found egg free life, mixed with our normally nut free living, is working well. My little guy has been feeling well. The transition has really not been that bad for us.

We are completely egg free, and it has seriously cleared all the problems, we had been having up. We did have one episode last night, we ate out, immediately after dinner, he had diarrhea. He had grilled cheese and french fries, which usually is safe for him. Not sure,however, he felt fine after that.

One other interesting thing did happen yesterday though. We were sitting in the lobby, of my daughters dance class, waiting for her to get done. In walks a Dad, eating a granola bar, sure enough, he sits down next to us. Immediately, I smell the peanut butter. Instant fear runs through me. I think I can smell it from a mile away now. Needless to say, I got up and stood near her door. I bet he thought I was rude. I wonder if he should have been eating it himself, with the recall and all.

On another note, this weekend is my daughters birthday. I will be making my first egg free cake. Oh, how I miss buying those beautiful, already decorated cakes. I will be practicing my frosting techniques today. Pray for me, she wants this lovely tiara cake. I sure hope I can pull it off.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Acceptance was the answer

I am back, and in a much better mood, for that matter. My last post was really not how I usually am. I just felt like it was a big blow, to have to eliminate, yet another set of foods.

Without going into much detail, of the last few days, I have recovered my usually optimistic outlook.

The reality is, nothing I can do, is going to change the situation. I have accepted what we can, and can't eat, and am now looking at how we accomplish daily living, without certain foods.

Interestingly enough, my little guy has not complained once, of a stomach ache, since eliminating everything with egg in it. His bowel movements are back to normal also. Acceptance, and action, really was our answer.

Now, I am looking for answers from all you egg allergic individuals. We have the whole nut-free living under control, now we move into uncovering the facts about egg-free life.

What do you use to replace mayonnaise in things? Have a good pancake recipe? What about a yummy birthday cake, since we are celebrating my daughters birthday soon. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

It really does stink to have allergies.

Sorry I am in such a sour mood. I just want the whole allergy thing to go away. Sorry it has taken me so long to get a post about this up. I think I am just still processing all of the information.

The little guy had another RAST done, just under a year after our first. One, the allergist wanted to see where we were with the nuts, and two, the little guy was and is having many GI difficulties.

Long story short, simply because it still pains me to talk about it, he is allergic to everything, it seems. Somethings not as much, others off the charts.

The most disturbing is, his peanut levels actually went up, quite a bit for that matter. He also tested positive for Wheat, Soy, and Eggs. The levels of his wheat and soy are low, which are probably not the cause of his discomfort. The big problem is eggs. His levels, are concurrent with, a 70% chance of having a physical reaction.

This is what we are going to start with eliminating. Part of me, is kind of glad, that it might me eggs, and not wheat. I am not sure how I really feel about any of it, if I am really being honest.

For now, I just want my little guy to feel better.

Monday, January 12, 2009

So we wait

Just walked in from a few errands. Missed a call from the doctor. Of course, I call back, he is at lunch. So the story goes, we wait.

On a good note...I had the epi-pens refilled this morning and there was no co-pay for them. This has never happened. I just kept asking, are you sure. I keep thinking I am going to get a bill in the mail, or something.

Hopefully, I will be back with some news.

Friday, January 9, 2009

No news update

We have not heard back on the blood work yet. I imagine early next week we will. We continue to eliminate wheat around here. It is not very much fun.

Just a few things that have come up around here. My daughter says that she likes our old bread better. The only reason she is even eating the rice bread, is because, it broke my heart when I made them separate sandwiches, and my little man cried for a bite of sissy's.

The kids have asked for pancakes everyday, and do not like the frozen wheat free waffles. Rice cereal, has not been very well recieved, in the mornings. We have a new hot cereal to try tomorrow morning.

We have a birthday party to go to tomorrow. While I know it will be nut-free, we are not the only peanut/tree nut allergic child going, they are serving pizza for lunch. I really just want to skip out on the whole thing. I wonder how the rice bread, and seed butter and jelly will go over, when the rest of the kids are eating their pizza.

I know we will adjust, if this ends up what we need to eliminate. We have all had a lot of fun snacking on rice cakes this week. Unfortunately, I am not sure I am seeing him getting much better yet. Maybe it is milk?

We will see, just wanted to post a little update. I will post again when we know more.

Have a blessed weekend.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Calling all wheat free families, and a little update.

This is the little guy, when got home, after today's appointment. Mind you, we only live ten minutes from the office. Notice the two suckers still in his hands. He was beat.

What you can not see in this picture, are his arms, wrapped from blood being drawn from them. Yes, they took from both arms. Poor little guy, it took three people to hold him down. All he kept saying was, "it hurts Mommy, it hurts."

The allergist feels like his symptoms are presenting like a food allergy. Since we know he is not being exposed to nuts, it is likely another source.

When we first got the news he was allergic to peanut and tree nuts, we were also told he had a minor allergy to wheat. It was so low, at the time, that they thought it was still okay for him to eat, unless he were to develop other symptoms.

So, here we are with other symptoms, classic of a food allergy, as the doctor put it. Which way do we go now. We are not sure what food is causing it? Well, that is where the blood work came in. We will see how all that comes back in a couple of days.

In the mean time, we need to start the process of elimination, to see if anything relieves his current symptoms. Doc, said first thing to go should be wheat..... We will see how this goes. I bought some of that rice bread today and made lunch on it. The kids liked it, however, about an hour after lunch, little Rooney came walking down the hall with a bag of crackers...

Oh, how fun our world has just become. Adding wheat, to what we already eliminate, is going to be a tough transition.

Thank you all so much for your prayers today, I certainly felt them as I had to help restrain my young son today.

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Tummy Troubles

We are having, horrible tummy troubles, the last few days. My poor little man is complaining of his tummy hurting often. He is also crying in pain and has a large amount of gas. The little guys stool color and consistency is different too.

We have an early afternoon Allergist appointment tomorrow. I just pray we get some answers. Even if the answers are tough, I just want to know how to make my little guy feel better.

Hopefully, I will be able to update tomorrow with what we discover.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

A Great Givewaway

I just love this giveaway, that I came across today. I really think, you allergy mom's might like it too.

The Mom Jen, at Therapeutic Reviews and Giveaways, has a Label Daddy giveaway. I went to the Label Daddy site, and they have great allergy labels.

Go check out the Mom Jen ,and enter this giveaway.

Friday, January 2, 2009

A Happy New Year to you all.

Happy New Year to you all. I hope you all made it through the holidays, and are enjoying the first few days of the new year.

I am looking forward to this new year, we have the ball rolling on all kinds of things around here.

Even though we made it through the holidays incident free, I still have a few little concerns. We have an allergist appointment set for Monday. My understanding, is that we will get his blood levels tested, to see what direction his allergy is going in.... We also will be tested for a few things that he may or may not be allergic too.

The poor little guy had something happen last night, that has not happened since he was a baby. I awoke to him screaming.... He was screaming and crying in his sleep. He was thrashing around, and drawing his legs to his chest. I picked him up to hold him, after he was at it for quite sometime. He was semi awake and said his tummy hurt.

I held him for awhile. He cried and cried, then he started expelling gas. Poor guy this lasted a couple of hours. He was in so much pain.

He seems fine today, a little tired, from his mostly restless sleep last night.

Not much else going on around here. Remember to check our other site, Matters of the Heart, I often update over there first...