The Good, The Bad, The Ugly Food Allergies

I received Nathan's latest set of allergy test results in the mail yesterday. There was good news and then a whole lotta bad news. These are the results:

The Good:

Nathan is no longer allergic to MILK!!!! Hooray. This weekend we are going to do a milk challenge with him in our home. Its one thing for a test to say he is not allergic, its another to actually start feeding him milk and all its products. So, we will screw up all our courage and have epi pens and Benedryl on standby and give him a tablespoon or two of milk and see what happens. Fingers crossed. This opens up a HUGE amount of food choices for Nathan. Yogurt, cheese, butter to name the most exciting of the food possibilities.

The Bad:

The amount of foods that Nathan is allergic to, actually increased, alot.

The Ugly:

The top allergen remains dog dander. Its actually so high that the pediatrician circled the results and in bold notation instructed us to avoid all contact. Its in the "V. High" category.

The list of Nathan's current food allergens now includes: sesame seed, rape seed (canola oil), walnut, pumpkin, pistachio, pine nut, macadamia nut, pecan, hazelnut, coconut, chestnut, almond, corn, egg white, peanut, soybean, walnut and wheat. Peanut and soy topped the charts in terms of severity of the food allergens.

The most devastating of these new allergens is the wheat. And the combination of wheat and corn is nearly impossible for baking or cooking anything other than whole foods. And because Im feeling a bit defeated Ive decided that we need to enlist some professional help at this point, a dietitian who specializes in food allergies. Im on the hunt for one now. In the meantime Ive sought out some rice flour and garbanzo bean flour that Im going to start baking and cooking with. And Im doing lots and lots of reading online.