Two weeks ago Chris and I went to Tommy's allergist appointment to learn about how things were going to change. Remember when I said Chris doesn't often go to doctor's appointment with me anymore? Well this was different. I had called a few days before the appointment and the nurse quickly gave me a run down of Tommy's allergies. So I knew that the information given at the appointment would probably be something we both needed to hear.
The allergist started by giving us the results. Tommy has a Class 3 milk allergy (Class 3 to the protein in milk called Whey and Class 1 to the protein in milk called Casein) and he has a Class 3 allergy to peanuts. To put it in perspective, Colin had a class 1 milk allergy and it took him until the age of three to outgrow that allergy. While a good number of children outgrow milk allergies, the severity of that allergy can be predictive of whether or not they will outgrow it. And peanut allergies tend to be lifelong. The fact that his allergies are that high at 6 month isn't good.
We got some serious advice and instructions from the allergist. The most important part of keeping Tommy safe is that we are NEVER EVER to leave the house without an epi-pen. If we get to a restaurant and realize we forgot it, Tommy can't eat or we have to go home and get it. If we go out of town and realize we forgot it, we go straight to a pharmacy and have them call our allergist to call one in. We can never leave it in the car and can never let it get too hot or too cold.
The allergist also gave us advice about dealing with parties, etc and a peanut allergy. His advice was very simple "if there are peanuts there, you DO NOT GO." He said "the people who care about Tommy will change for him and the people who don't, you don't care about them." Harsh advice, but obviously something we needed to hear. He told us that if people want to kiss or hold Tommy, we are to ask "have you had dairy or peanuts today?" If they have, they can not touch him.
He went through what we do in case of a serious reaction (epi-pen, 911, ambulance ride, etc). And I walked out of that appointment completely shell-shocked. I do have perspective. It's not the end of the world and we WILL keep Tommy safe. But it's pretty life changing. Just last weekend at the aquarium a little girl walked toward Tommy's stroller with goldfish clutched in her little fingers. When a cute little girl is a threat, you realize how much life is different.
But I've done some things a little bit at a time to make life easier.
1. All nuts are out of the house. Our house will be nut free until Tommy (hopefully!) outgrows the peanut allergy. I packed up all the products in our house that contain nuts (although Tommy only tested positive for a peanut allergy, the allergist wants all nuts out of the house because Tommy is at high risk for developing more food allergies).
2. I got ready to start solids with Tommy! The allergist gave us the order to introduce foods (rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, etc). We have to avoid giving him wheat, eggs, shellfish, all tree nuts, etc until he's 1 to hopefully stop Tommy's body from developing new food allergies. I got him his own set of bowls and spoons and we got to work!
3. I attached a case with two epi-pens to my keychain. I can't leave the house without my car, so I can't leave with out my keys. And with the epi-pens on my keys, no chance of leaving the house without the epi-pens!
So we're figuring it all out.
