The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good news is that Brody was quite happy with the way things turned out at the In-Office Food Challenge today.

The Bad news is that Brody failed the skin prick test and is very much still allergic to almonds.

The Ugly news is that Brody was prescribed yet another medication for his allergies/eczema/asthma. I believe this brings the total of medications in his daily arsenal up to about 12. Ack!! You wouldn't even want to know how much we spend on prescription co-pays every month between both boys and myself!

So why was Brody happy about the outcome today? Because for the past several weeks he has been terrified of the thought of actually eating a nut since his entire life we have driven the fact into his brain that he is deathly allergic to all tree nuts. I honestly really had no idea how we were going to manage to get him to even put a teeny-tiny bit of almond in his mouth today. But it turned out the skin prick test was positive after all, so that was the end of the the IOFC. Dr. Gern actually said it was an "iffy positive" and that Brody probably had a 50/50 chance of having an allergic reaction. I told him I didn't like those odds and he agreed wholeheartedly. He then mentioned that maybe in a year or 2 we could probably try again...to which Brody chimed in and said "how about 5 or 6 years instead"! =)

The only reason I had hoped Brody would pass the almond challenge was because it would have been another good source of protein and healthy fats for him, plus the thought of adding almonds to cookies and other goodies sounds awful tasty to me! Oh well, we've lived 8 years without any nuts. I suppose it really doesn't matter at this point!

Send us some good vibes, please!

Next Tuesday Brody will be undergoing an In-Office Food Challenge (IOFC) for Almonds at the UW Hospital. (For more information read "The Results Are In...", posted on June 11) He's feeling very apprehensive and anxious about the whole situation. Me too!! I keep reassuring Brody that Dr. Gern wouldn't be willing to put him through this if he thought there was any chance that Brody will fail the challenge and have an allergic reaction. I do think the chances of Brody having a panic attack during the challenge is highly probable though, which could easily look like anaphylaxis.

In any case, we could really use some good vibes, thoughts, and prayers coming our way! Stay tuned to find out how it all unfolds next week.

Parade & Fireworks in Pardeeville

Hope everyone had a safe and Happy 4th of July!

Yummy!!

Brody helped me make Strawberry Jam today. He couldn't wait to dig in and was hoping I would just let him eat a huge bowl of the stuff. Who needs toast, right?

Trees, trees, & more trees

Brody seems to be fascinated with climbing trees all of a sudden this summer. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for no broken bones!

Camping

We just got back today from camping at Indian Trails, which is a whole whopping 5 miles from our house! It's a nice little get-away for our family and the fact that the campground has an indoor pool really works well for us since the boys are so sensitive to the bright sunlight.

Some of our campsite cuisine included Hobo Popcorn, Campfire Doughnuts, and S'mores. All free of Brody's allergens of course!

Back To The Allergies

So I thought this blog was supposed to be about our life with allergies?? Enough with the doom and gloom already! =)

Yesterday I had an appointment with an allergist for myself! Why? Well, because for the last 2-3 years I seem to have developed small patches of occasional eczema, asthma that started only with colds but now this spring has become more and more annoying, and also some symptoms to suggest I have developed environmental and/or seasonal allergies. The allergist was very thorough. He did a breathing test, skin prick test, and also an intradermal allergy test which confirmed my suspicions. Turns out I'm allergic to dustmites and tree pollen for sure, and possibly more that hasn't shown up yet. So now of course Shane knows he can totally blame me for all the kids allergies. That's okay, I know they get all their good traits from my side of the family too! =P