Answers to Allergy

It's like nothing every happened, almost. This morning the kids are actively happy and engaged, building their own houses with chairs and stuffed animals and sheer energy. We're leaving to go blueberry picking in a few minutes.

The big kids slept in a play tent in the living room last night together. G wouldn't leave N's side all day and last night, she insisted she be the one giving him the full body wipe-down with hydrocortisone. The green goo-- THE GREEN GOO, people!-- wasn't even fast enough for him. She wiped out the bathtub last night from his oatmeal bath. I haven't seen G this attentive to N's needs since he was "the baby." That alone has been a huge, shining silver lining in this week's cloud.

To answer my friends:

Nick has already had IgE allergy testing, and the only thing he registers as allergic to is milk. He was not tested for pomegranate, so I think that is a safe bet. He is not allergic to milk in challenging, and we will stave off testing for now.

When I looked it up, the pomegranate allergy is strongly co-morbid with pollen allergies, and that we know he reacts harshly to those. (remember his reaction in April?)

Anaphylaxis is an allergic reaction involving more than one system of the body. Full body hives + vomiting + diarrhea = anaphylaxis . He did NOT however, have a drop in blood pressure or in his O2 sats. That means he was not in anaphylactic shock, I saw the numbers myself, he wasn't even close. He was just miserable as all hell. For now, we have a new Epipen prescription, this time in Nick's name.

I will admit to having a whiny lump in my throat just writing that. I have worked and prayed towards our children going into a safety place, not anticipating them to develop new problems. I know this is not the worst problem we could have. I am grateful, truly, for the issues we have to be just and only what they are. We handled it well and efficiently with OTC meds, and he was never in danger. But the might-have-beens are terrifying to me, and I am still reeling that "it's the wrong child."