Potentially Exciting News on the Allergy Front

Caleb had an allergy appointment on July 27 where he had a skin test, as well as a blood RAST test. Although he was still very sensitive to the tree nuts (esp. walnuts) and peanuts, he hardly reacted at all to the milk. So we were waiting for the results of his bloodwork. The doctor called, and his levels have dropped from Jan. 08, when he was last tested! His milk RAST score was 1.27 back then, and only 0.54 in July! Since it has dropped and is fairly low (lower than <.35 would be best, though) and since he hardly reacted to the skin test, we are going to do a milk challenge! That's where we bring in a serving of milk to the clinic, he drinks a tiny amount, he is observed, he drinks some more 15 minutes later, he is observed, he drinks some more . . . you get the picture. After he drinks 5 doses of milk (providing he hasn't reacted to any of them), then he is watched for another 2 hours just to make sure he doesn't react later. If not . . . then he passes, and he is considered to have outgrown his allergy!

Now I know he still has a really good chance of reacting--about 50/50 with that RAST score, the doctor said. Frankly, I can't really wrap my mind around the possibility of Caleb not being allergic to milk. That has driven my cooking for 8 years now! With him gone this week, we are having a real "Dairy Fest", making all the recipes I used to make but haven't made in years. I can't imagine being able to cook whatever I want and not having to worry about adapting recipes for him, or taking stuff out, or whatever. If he has outgrown the allergy, he probably still won't like cheese and milk, LOL. Oh well. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it, if we need to.

The more immediate bridge to cross is: how on earth are we going to get to Walter Reed at 8:00 in the morning on Aug. 25?!?! That just seems like an absolute impossibility! Caleb and I will have to leave by 6:00, I think.

So the possibility is there for exciting news. Actually, it is exciting to realize that Caleb's milk allergy has decreased enough that we are even trying this! I'm not sure how his other numbers compare to his previous test, but I don't think they are getting much lower. For the record, this time his walnut number was 10.3, his pecan number was 8.79, and his peanut number was 6.37. That pretty much matches the size of the wheals for his skin test too, as far as comparing the 3 allergies. I'll let you know what happens! Pray for no accidents or bad weather on the morning of Aug. 25!