Where has the time gone?

It's been three months since I posted here last. Mostly things have been good.

My daughter's Kindergarten teacher has been awesome about her food allergies, and another girl with nut allergies joined our Girl Scout troop, so now I'm not alone.

My son's progressive dairy challenge has been going so well that I think by July I will have to close this blog. It's been a wild ride. He finished up his baked dairy trial the last week of January, and we're on to cooked milk.

The end of this week he'll be doing straight melted cheese in a few foods. I have to admit that I'm still pretty scared. So far he's had milk, butter, and even cheese mixed into things baked, or cooked in a recipe. I will own up to the fact that the first time I sat and watched him like a hawk. It is very surreal to see him eating this stuff.

So, we'll be doing this until his 5th birthday in July, and then move on to regular milk, not-melted cheese, yogurt, ice cream, etc. Scary!!!

Movin on up...

DS has completed the first step of his baked dairy challenge- home edition! We're now moving on to 1/2 cup baked dairy per day. What does this mean?

This means he may have cheddar goldfish. *shudder* He may have storebought items where a dairy ingredient is listed in the middle of the ingredients list. He may have up to three servings per day!

So that would be like, a serving of cheddar goldfish and two slices of break with whey in the middle of the ingredient list. Or two servings of cheddar goldfish and two pieces of bread with whey in the bottom 1/4 of the list.

If he does well at this, in FEBRUARY he can try MACARONI AND CHEESE OR PIZZA. (Or doritoes/cheese curls, lol!)

Ok, so I am excited, can you tell?

Cashews- Passed! (and a mini Halloween vent)

I should have posted this a few weeks ago, but it's been hectic!

We trialed both kids with cashews, and it went perfectly!

It seems we're rapidly running out of allergies, but not fast enough. Halloween is right around the corner and I'm gearing up for more tears and frustration and disappointment, especially from my daughter now that she's old enough to care more about what the other kids are doing.

There is a costume party, with food, at Girl Scouts. Plus probably some party at school, and of course traditional trick or treating. I hope those nice elderly people still live in town. Every year they give out apples, chips, and pretzels. Things the kids can eat!!

This is probably the first of several Halloween vents. Tune in next time!

It's HIS dream

So, my son passed his baked in dairy challenge. I have not been here to post about it because he was diagnosed the day before the food challenge with Asperger's Syndrome, and it has been keeping me busy and throwing me for a loop.

Anyhow, now that he's passed he can have up to 1/4 cup of BAKED dairy per day. And he should be able to move up to 1/2 cup in October if everything goes well.

One of the foods that Dr. Wood suggested to us was original (not cheese flavor) Goldfish crackers. I cringed, I made a noise of protest, and Dr Wood looked at my son, then back at me and said "It's HIS dream."

Ok, now I'm a little emotional as I write, because I really shrugged it off and I didn't go out and buy the goldfish right away. I hate the little things. They're ground into waiting room carpets and slimed onto playground equipment in most of the developed world. They've turned my world, and my son's world, into a literal minefield every day for the last three years. And now I'm supposed to feed them to him?

I broke down and bought them yesterday. Dr. Wood's admonishment was tugging at my heart. Are some little fish shaped crackers REALLY my son's dream?

As it turns out, yes. They're his dream. I pulled them out of the cupboard 20 minutes ago and measured out exactly the serving he can eat. As I was doing that he saw them and started screaming "I LOVE THOSE CRACKERS!!!". He was jumping up and down. I served him his lunch with the side of fish-shaped crackers I've learned to hate, and he is in the kitchen right now swimming them through his plate and into his mouth as I sit at my desk listening, crying, and blogging about how my son has finally gotten to have one thing he's always wanted, always watched other kids eat, always wondered about. Tiny fish-shaped crackers.

Excuse me while I find my tissues *sniff*

Almonds- Passed!

This week we went on a search for a tree nut that wasn't contaminated with peanuts. We found one. We'd been putting off this at-home trial for almost two years, and it really needed done.

So while I was in New York City having a good time with my girlfriends, my husband was at home meeting out tiny doses of almonds to both kids and monitoring to signs of an allergy.

As it turned out both kids tolerated those almonds very well. That's not to say we're completely out of the tree nut woods, but it is a start in the right direction.

Baked-in trial on the horizon

So, Dr. Wood has decided that Aaron might be able to pass a baked-in challenge. I get to call and schedule it Monday. Wish us luck.

What is a baked-in challenge, and why is it useful?

A baked-in challenge is when they feed the allergic person a food with the allergen baked in. First with 1/4 cow milk and 3/4 soy milk in the recipe, and then in increasing amounts until they work up to a whole cow milk recipe.

This test is useful because baking (not cooking, but baking) can denature the milk proteins enough that some allergic people can tolerate them. If the baked-in challenge is passed, most allergic people go on to try cooked-in at home. Things start out slowly, just like the baked in test. According to what I understand about what Dr. Wood said about 20% of allergic people who pass the baked in test can also tolerate cooked in dairy such as pancakes.

If the test is passed baked in milk needs to be added to the diet a specific amount of times per week to build some tolerance (hopefully). If the allergic person does not start showing signs of allergic reaction after a certain (long) period of time, a raw dairy challenge (such as cows milk or cheese) can be tried as well.

So, I'm going to call Monday to schedule it. Dr. Wood wants it done during a "healthy" month, like May or June or July. Months with less allergen stuff going on.