Over the course of the last year, we have been questioning allergies for Lincoln. There were so many red flags that we sort of lost count. It all started with his persistent spitting up. We dismissed it mostly because the girls were also labeled "spitters" at this age. But as the months went on, there were patterns of increase spitting after I had eaten certain foods. And then there was the skin rashes after touching utensils with certain foods on them, the eczema, and more red flags. Late last fall, one particular doctor raised the same question of allergies, mentioning that Lincoln's medical history of ear infections and persistent colds (which just gave him more ear infections) could be signs of allergies. He gave us a "try this antibiotic and if it doesn't work, we'll test him for allergies". That particular antibiotic cleared up his 4 week cold and we thought we dodged a bullet. Until last week.
There was a tipping point and I felt myself frantically calling the pediatricians office for an allergy consult as his frozen breast milk supply was fading fast. We got in fairly quickly and the pediatrician felt, based on medical history, that he needed to at least do the blood work. He suggested since we were concerned about a milk allergy, we might as well test the other most common food allergies. Within 2 days, I had a message back from the doctor that Lincoln has not one, but three of the most common food allergies: cow's milk, peanut and egg.
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I sort of felt my heart sink a little. In the grand scheme of life, this is not a big deal. And I know that. But like one friend said, any sort of detour on this road of life is hard to swallow. She felt my pain and sensed my worry. How was I going to make meals now? What about other dairy products? How do I work an Epi Pen? Do they make Benadryl for kids his age? Will I remember not to dip the knife from the peanut butter into the jelly? Will those that care for him take the same precautions? I just wanted to cry. My head still spins because we don't have answers to so many questions.
The doctor told me the testing that was done puts an allergy on a scale, and Lincoln's came back severe for both milk and peanut, and slightly less severe for egg. Considering he's eaten breads and other foods baked with egg, we are probably okay to continue. Apparently baking items changes the chemical make up. But for right now, we are eliminating eggs (as in scrambled or other), cow's milk (including most products made with it) and not introducing peanuts. In fact, those peanut products are staying far away from him.
We are blessed that the girls are old enough to understand. That Regan has several friends with allergies and she really gets it. She's already busy reading labels and ensuring that Lincoln remains safe. It's stressful that he is not old enough. That he will see a cookie or sandwich on a plate and grab for it without understanding he can't have it. And the results could be devastating.
I have reached out for help from folks with experience on this topic. And I intend to keep doing so until I learn all that I can. I'm thankful for working in healthcare, where experts are just down the hall: doctors, nurses and dietitians. For now, we have introduced coconut milk as his alternative. Ryan's thought is that we will have to take out a second mortgage for the cost of that stuff; holy moly :) And I know, that he's otherwise healthy. And we thank our lucky stars for this. In my field of work, I see the worst of the worst and I understand that in the big picture, this is really no big deal. That at the end of the day, we are able to help him with this and he will be just fine.
