progress

We had the muffin challenge this week and it went pretty well.  No serious reaction, he after eating almost all of a mini muffin he started to get stuffy but it was hard to know if it was the milk that did it.  The next day we forgot to leave Grandma a note and she didn't get my text till after breakfast explaining which muffins were dairy and which were soy.  So he probably ate just over 2 mini muffins pretty quickly and didn't have a reaction.  Later that night it seemed like he possibly bothering him with several diaper changes and since then we have slacked on giving him milk muffins.  So, we will be picking that up tomorrow and trying to give him a little bit each day (ideally) but at least 3 - 4 times a week.  Then we will check back in with the doctor in May and possibly try cooked cheese.  Exiting but we're still a little nervous about it.

nutty

Yesterday we had the peanut & tree nut challenge at the dr's office.  We did the skin test first with peanut butter on his skin and he was fine so we were able to smear some on a cracker for him to try.  He really liked it! He was not a fan of the almonds or cashews plain but once we smashed them and put them on little peanut butter cracker sandwiches he was totally fine with it.  We started with just a little bit and waited about 10 minutes or so and gave him more and more each time... and there were no reactions!  He is safe to eat peanuts and tree nuts based on past skin testing and blood work. Still a little frightening to imagine him eating any nut so we plan to watch him closely.  It feels like a nice start, though.  We will go back in a few weeks to try the muffin challenge with milk.  A recent study found that three-fourths of children with milk allergy can tolerate baked milk products.  Hoping Elliot will fall under that group of kids. :)

allergy update

We finally visited with the allergist to check up on Elliot's allergies this week. This time we met with a different doctor in the office, which at first I was a little disappointed about until we actually met with him and I quickly changed my mind.  This doctor spent a lot of time going over things with us and answering our questions and thinking of questions on his own to give us an answer to.  Since Elliot is older and has a better way of communicating with us it allows us to do more than just wait each year to get tested.  But this year the blood work showed that the egg and dairy allergy have improved some and we were able to get a better understanding of where he is with it by comparing the results with last year.  There is a number scale that shows that he was ranging 28 last year for egg and this year it is closer to 26.  For dairy it was around 13 last year and is closer to 7 this year.  So he is more likely to outgrow his dairy allergy sooner than his egg allergy.  These numbers can go down a little more each year, but you never know how quickly it could happen.  The doctor suggested a food challenge in their office with baked or heated dairy (dairy - for now since the levels were much lower).  Some kids can tolerate the food this way as some of the proteins are cooked out. If he can tolerate it baked/heated it could hopefully help speed up the process to help his body tolerate it, completely.  If he does OK, we can slowly keep adding a little more heated/baked dairy to his diet till he can freely eat it. 

But before we start with dairy we are going to try a challenge with nuts.  He has never been positive for peanuts but had small reactions from skin and blood work with other nuts in the past - that they had us avoiding all of them.   On the 30th we will be doing the nut challenge, and hopefully it goes well so we can add some nuts to our meals.  If he can have almonds and cashews we would be happy for now,  we could replace soy milk or some of it with almond milk and he could eat the mac & cheese (cheese made with cashews) at the vegan bakery.   

Praying that we can eat a little more freely.

15 month pics

Our little Ruff Rider



For awhile he kept his drumsticks with him at all times



On the train at the zoo

Although it was months ago - I remember how nice this zoo trip was because we went on an early Wednesday afternoon.  The animals were much more active too which was fun to see.

another trip to the zoo with Gpa & Mimi

a fun "hand me down"  Elliot was a little scared at first when Elmo laughed.

Elliot & Miriam after the allergy walk, they both fell asleep through the dusty walk.  This was the only picture I took that day - oops.  It was fun to participate in and I think we will do it again next year if they do it again.  We had awesome friends there that supported Elliot & we were also able to support Grace and her food allergies!

Allergy Update:
So I don't forget, we had a checkup with the allergist and Elliot was still severely allergic to milk & eggs.  Still allergic to a few tree nuts so it's best to avoid all nuts.  After an allergic reaction to Keegan's dog Gracie a few months ago we also had him tested for dogs and he is also allergic to dogs.  We will check up again next October. 

Celebrating Uncle Joshy & Lola's B-day

no one got burned in the grilling of the corn...

sweet hot dog & Elliot

hot dog watching foot ball - he kept saying football in the strangest accent.  Keegan is such a sweet kid!

 

Uncle Rielly helping get Elliot's new room painted.  Elliot has since moved rooms and Lola is living with us.  I'll have to put up a picture of his new room.



allergy walk

As most of you know Elliot has allergies to Milk, Egg & Tree-Nuts.  I heard about an allergy walk here in slc, and am very excited that we can participate.  It's been difficult dealing with his food allergies, and FAAN has been a great website for information. http://www.foodallergy.org/  I feel like I've been slow at really digging into allergy resources but it's been encouraging to read other peoples stories and find helpful cookbooks and information.
If you're interested in donating to the Food Allergy &Anaphylaxis Network's Walk for Food Allergy: Moving Toward A Cure. The event will raise funds to find a cure for food allergy and to educate others about its impact.  Please go to: http://www.foodallergywalk.org/helbling

Thanks!