Moses turned 16-months old on Sunday. Crazy how time is flying! He's still having his language explosion. He like copying things we say. He also has discovered how to climb up in the dining room chairs.
I took him for his allergy follow-up at Johns Hopkins. He last went back in April. We had blood drawn at the beginning of November. So today was the day we got the allergy results back.
His soy allergy is low enough that we can do an at-home challenge on soy milk. One teaspoon mixed with formula (I'm assuming the morning bottle), for 3 days. Then we can up to 2 teaspoons, continue for 3 days. Then up another teaspoon. He said it may take about 3 weeks to get to a full 6 ounces of soy milk. But if he gets to a full six ounces, without problems, we can stop the formula!
He is also approved for an at-home challenge on wheat. I voted that we do this challenge AFTER the soy (since formula is expensive, we don't want to continue into the new year, with a new deductible, if we don't have to!). With the wheat, we can introduce an 1/8 of a serving of wheat per day for 3 days, (like the soy regimen). Once he gets to a full serving of wheat, with no problems, he should be okay on it.
Since he ate a handful of Cheerios without any problems (he got Grace's bowl), they said he should be fine on oats. And that even Cheerios have some wheat in them. So we'll still stay clear of the Cheerios while we test the soy.
He said to look out for eczema flare ups as a sure-tell sign of an allergic reaction - would typically show up within 3 days of ingestion.
His milk allergy level was the only one that went up. :-( But it's still low enough in-general that he's been approved for an in-clinic challenge on baked milk. And his peanut allergy level is really low. He was approved for an in-clinic challenge on it, but I decided to skip on that one since we're nut-free anyway. Maybe once we start thinking about putting him in daycare, we can do the challenge on peanut.
And Dr. Wood said the kids should be fine if they are in the vicinity of someone eating peanuts. It's the direct contact that could be troublesome. Like if a kid is eating peanuts, touches a railing and then the girls touch that same spot. He said they may break out in hives where the contact occurs, but not much more than that - as long as they don't ingest any of it (aka put their fingers in their mouths). The direct ingestion is much much much more severe.
On a sadder note, Sra. Esther's husband suffered a heart attack over the weekend. The doctors are recommending a bypass surgery. She wants to head back home immediately to be there for her family at this time. I feel so badly for them. In Peru, you have to pay for a lot of medical treatment up front. I don't know how they'll swing it, but I'm praying for them. He had just suffered a stroke in August, which left him with partial facial paralysis.
So right now we're trying to coordinate childcare for the interim. We'll get it figured out. Just wish she didn't have to be going through this -- It's hard emotionally, financially and physically.
