No Nut Allergies!

We took Lilah the other week to meet with her Allergen Specialist that we have been waiting 6 months to see. Emmy spent the day with Auntie Lia because the appointment was suppose to last a long time and it was in the city so I really needed to have only one child to concentrate on and to really make the most of our doctor visit.

The doctor laid out a check list in front of us and told us to tick off each thing we'd like to have her tested for. We picked all the nuts, shell fish, tuna, and egg. She took us into another room and pulled out all these little bottles that looked like essential oils and started numbering Lilah's back with a marker and dropping drops of oil on her. Next she pulled out a pile of needles that looked like diabetic blood testing needles and I was so worried of how Lilah was going to handle being pricked all over her back 15 times! After the first one I realized I had nothing to worry about because the needle was so fine that she didn't even feel it. She just sat on my lap and let the doctor do her thing....great! We then waited 15 minutes to read the results. I was so happy when all the nuts were read as NEGATIVE results!!! Meaning NO NUT ALLERGIES!! Egg tested positive but she doesn't have an anaphalactic response to egg so we need to keep her from having it but if by chance she does have some then we need to take immediate action but it's not life threatening. Such good news!

Lia brought Emmy home later on that day and she had such a busy day playing with her cousins they were all asleep by the time they made it to Gawler. Check them out.....

Sleeping in order of age too! Bethany 3 1/2, Emmy 2 1/2, and Jade 23 months.

Egg & Nuts

On Tuesday I took Lilah to the doctors office for the results of her blood test. It came back that she has a moderate to severe allergy to both eggs and nuts. Most of you know that I want to raise the children vegetarian/vegan so it's not been too much of a problem with them being lactose intolerant and staying away from egg if we have to, but it's a little scary now that it's gone from something I choose to not feed them to something that can seriously harm her if she eats it. Also nuts are a great way for vegetarians to get protein so that's a little disheartening to know that she may not ever have that protein source as an option. From all the reading I have done it seems like she'll eventually grow out of the egg allergy, and I'm so happy about that as then she can have that as a source of protein. Our doctor said that we shouldn't carry an epi pin right now because she's so little that the pin can be more harmful that helpful if she truly didn't need it and we had given it to her. He says it's best to call an ambulance and let them administer one. I think it's wise to get a second opinion so next week I think I'll book her into a different clinic and see what they say about it. She was given a prescription of the antihistamine Redipred and that can be given to her at the first signs of a reaction or given before a trip on an airplane in case the peanut dust effects her any.

When I really stop and think about it I can't believe how lucky I was when I was little to never have to worry about things like this. I'll be able to do all the worrying for her and make sure all the things in the house are safe, but you never know what can accidentally happen outside of the house. We just have to be prepared to act fast and not panic.