Paging Dr. Casper

We went for a second opinion yesterday for Calvin's allergies because weren't thrilled that our Pediatrician was giving us better advise than the first allergy doctor. The new practice was recommend to us by a family that has children with food allergies. We met Dr. Casper yesterday and were comforted by his knowledge about allergies. We even impressed him by our knowledge.

Dr. Casper wanted to do is own food testing and also threw in some environmental tests (dog, grass, trees, dust...that sort of thing). It was a huge difference between practices, the new practice put on a movie for Calvin to watch while waiting for the scratch tests to react. Sure enough we saw the very large welts appear and we figured it was the milk and egg reacting. Dr. Casper did not test for every food the old allergy doctor did, but did add in a couple of new ones. Calvin tested positive for milk, egg, peanut, and dog. Soy again showed a negative, but the doctor explained based on the symptoms he gets when he eats soy that it is a very strong intolerance and it should be treated like an allergy. Fish came up as a negative this time, but showed positive in the previous test. It is a 50-50 test so there is a lot of room for false positives. Unfortunately we know first hand that egg, milk, and soy are definite reactions. Peanut is still a mystery but luckily we have not had any contact with peanuts to see if he really is allergic or not.

The end results are hopeful. Doctor Casper said he probably won't ever out grow the dog allergy- so no dogs for us. (Lucy- Nick and Katie's dog did lick him on the face and welts quickly followed, so we knew going into the test it would be positive) The peanut is also one that he may not be able to out grow as well. Eggs is hopefully around age 2-5 to out grow and Dr. Casper hopes the milk and soy are out grown by at 5 or 6. He said if Calvin out grows the milk and soy that it might take longer because of the protein allergy he has with the milk and soy. He hopes Calvin can have his first bowl of ice cream around age 7 if all goes well.

A little venting:
I still left feeling sadden by the results. I think I was secretly hoping they would all become negative overnight and Calvin could eat foods like the other kids. I read on a blog recently the stress that a parent goes through when their child is diagnosed with a food allergy because you find out these results and you think great I have answers. Then you get home and realize I have no clue what to feed my child or how to make them safe around other people/places. As I got teary eyed reading the blog, I realized I also have so much anxiety and at times anger about Calvin's food allergies. For example- We went to Applebee's the other night and Calvin could not have a single thing off their menu because they couldn't guarantee there would not be cross contamination. SERIOUSLY?! In a day that so many people have food allergies you can't take the time to clean or change gloves. I am learning how to make foods that are safe for Calvin and try to be as informed as I can about things. That's all the venting I have time for. Calvin is sleeping and I have a house to clean.