We had a scratch test for 35 items on Wednesday and then followed it up with blood tests for specific food items that didn't showcase well on the scratch test.
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| 35 items on scratch/prick test |
She's still allergic to sesame seeds, peanuts, and hazelnuts. And now we've added almonds and walnuts to the mix too. The numbers for her hazelnut allergy has almost doubled from what it was two years ago (8.25 up to 14.70 based on blood tests).
I will freely admit that these are not the results I was hoping for but it is what it is.
I will admit that for the last two days while we waited for the blood test results I allowed myself to think "what if?"
What if one or more of her food allergies had vanished?
What if Olivia could eat something she hasn't been allowed to eat for the last three years?
What if we could lose the "food allergy" label for at least one of the items.
What. If.
But there is no "what if" today. There's just the reality that the food allergies are still here with two additional offenders added to the list.
The reality is that in the near future we'll likely have to do a food challenge with peanuts so we can know with 100 percent certainty just how dangerous they are. The reality is that for now we continue to avoid all peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame products.
It's hard to explain to someone who doesn't have a child with food allergies how totally helpless and guilty you feel as a parent.
You question things whether you should have fed your kid peanut butter earlier than you did. Or if you missed other "warning signs" of these food allergies. You think about the times your child ate one of the allergens before their diagnosis and how they were sick afterward and you think about all the things that could have happened. And then you force yourself to stop thinking like that.
When I told Olivia about her results she just looked sad.
I think she was hoping for some other news too.
As it is, we continue the "status quo" of avoiding the bad foods, keeping an EpiPen with us at all times, and we keep on keepin' on.
And on the non-food allergy front her numbers weren't so hot either. Her mold allergy is higher than ever before and the trees, pollen, and ragweed are about the same. We were hoping to move to once-a-month allergy shots but based on her numbers and the welts she gets on her arms after almost every shot, we're on the same every-other-week schedule for at least 6 more months.
On the bright side, her allergies to cats and dogs has gone down. ;)
I guess we'll take the small victories where we can find them.
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