Allergy Update

So Cassie's allergy testing was yesterday. Some of the news was better than I anticipated: her peanut allergy isn't life-threatening and she isn't a candidate for shots (for her tree pollens & mold allergies) b/c of her eczema. The rest of the news was bad beyond my expectations: she is just as allergic to milk as she is to peanuts and she has a life-threatening allergy to tree nuts. We knew she was allergic to peanuts and tree nuts. But to hear her doctor say "A walnut could kill her..." Unless you've been there, you can't possibly imagine the abject fear that strikes into a mother's heart.  Until she is capable of advocating for herself and reading labels, I am what stands between her and an anaphylactic reaction to a seemingly innoculous food, innocently given to her by someone unaware of her allergy. Or a loved one who didn't read a label. Something that simple could kill my kid. I'm a control freak on a good day. At this point, if I could get away with putting her in a bubble to go through the rest of her life, I would. Parents want to protect their children. But I can't put her in a bubble. So we'll learn to manage it as best we can and pray that we never need to use her Epi Pen.

I'm now in the process of learning how to provide her with a diet completely free of dairy, peanuts, and tree nuts. The allergist thinks dairy is the main cause of her eczema. While not life-threatening, it is a constant source of irritation to her. So the obvious way to rid her of that constant irritant is to rid her diet of dairy. I made my first trips to Trader Joes and Whole Foods last night. Trader Joes was disappointing. I did not find the store to be any more tree nut friendly than my local grocery stores. Most of the dairy free stuff was not tree nut safe. Whole Foods was more promising. I bought two types of rice milk (Cassie has already enjoyed the chocolate variety), soy pudding, veggie/vegan cheese, soy yogurt, rice milk yogurt & veggie mac & cheese. I didn't buy a lot of stuff, but I bought enough to sample and figure out what she likes and what is worth the return trip (all 40 miles round trip of it). It is going to be an ongoing process. I have a real level of concern about the effects of soy on her little system. But I have to weigh those concerns against what cow's milk is doing to her body right now. It sucks. I'm doing the best I can with the resources and information I have.