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| Luke, Jamie, and our oldest son(age 3) at Guadalupe State Park |
Like I was saying in my previous post…we finally had our son tested for allergies when he was ten months old. Why the wait? Apparently they don’t do allergy testing until one year of age. But with my constant nagging…I mean badgering…no that’s not quite right either…requesting!… with my constant requesting of the tests be done they allowed for him to get them at ten months old. They ordered blood testing for 30 different items. I received the results in the mail and immediately called my husband, Jamie.
Blood testing for allergies give each item they tested for a certain class basically 0-6, 6 being ultra, mucca, wayyy big severe. Anything over a 3 his allergist would consider a true allergy. Anything over a 1 the lab company considered a true allergy.
His results looked like this:
Peanut – 4
Egg – 4
Milk – 4
Coconut – 4
Oat – 3
Soy – 3
Dog – 3
Cedar – 3
Green Pea – 2
Wheat – 2
Cat – 2
Barley – 1
Corn – 1
As I read the results it finally sunk in, I started to cry. It really hit me. It was in writing. It wasn’t something that ‘could be’, it wasn’t ‘well try this, it might work’. It was…he’s allergic to this and cannot eat it or be around it.
How could my son thrive on a diet with so many restrictions? How could I ever leave him alone? Not to mention, what do we do with our dog? We had a lab/great dane mix that we had rescued. He was part of our family and made the trip to Texas from New Hampshire (even if he did miss his first flight). He was our oldest son’s buddy since he was a baby. There’s no way he could be an outdoor dog in Texas! I brought the living room rug into the garage, purchased a portable air conditioner and moved Luke (our dog) into the garage until we found a better solution. This was the very beginning of problem solving due to allergies that I had to encounter.
After a week of posting flyer’s looking for a home for Luke, he was adopted. A fantastic couple that knew Luke felt like it was meant to be. They worked at the kennel where I boarded Luke when we went home for visits. They knew him and loved him already. He quickly became part of their family…sleeping in their bed (did I mention he’s a great dane mix?) and having his very own Coach collar and leash (really? this dog had it made).
Now it was time to clean the house, top to bottom and inside and out, to rid it of any dog hair and dander. Lucky for me, I convinced my husband that this was a job for professionals…and all I had to do was watch! 🙂 I had enough on my plate. I was researching foods for my son. This was the very beginning of a long journey.
-Elizabeth
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