Jonah

Today I met with Jonah's allergist for our consultation. I am a little frustrated right now because I came home with bad news, good news, and no news.
First the bad news. Jonah's egg allergy is as bad or maybe even worse than it ever was. To sum it up, we were sent home with two EPI pens and told to keep them with him at all times. The nut allergy was very minimal, but since Jonah seems predisposed to developing allergies, we are to keep him away from all nuts (guess that cuts out all those family reunions for a while! LOL!!) as well as shellfish for at least one more year.
Now the good news. There is still a possibility that Jonah will outgrow his egg allergy and Jonah is NOT allergic to milk. We can start giving him milk products again immediately. He actually had chocolate milk and cheese tonight. (Not together of course!) He is only allergic to one inhalant, some type of mold that the Dr. said not to even worry about. The Dr. also figured out the crazy discoloration on Jonah's skin. It actually has nothing to do with his severe eczema, but is a genetic disorder called Linear and Whorled Nevoid Hypermelanosis. He will never get over this and will always have "spotted skin" but that is the least of our worries. His "spots" make him special and I love every one of them.
So that is the good and bad news, but basically it leaves us with no news. We have been avoiding all of his known allergens and he still is no better than before. He is still having multiple bouts of diarrhea a week and is digging at his flaky, itchy skin until he is making himself bleed. The doctor is giving him one more round of yet another antibiotic to try and heal his skin, but to be honest, I really do not think it is going to work. I hope I am wrong, and I am willing to try anything...but I am still discouraged. I just want him to feel better and to not hurt so much.
My mind knows that it could be much worse. I could be sitting in a hospital with him or not even have him at all. But while my mind knows that, my Mother's heart just wants him to have the best life possible and wants to "fix" him. Please continue to pray for us as we continue to seek out answers.

Not What I Meant

Jonah saw a new Allergist yesterday morning. I had prayed before the appointment that when they did the allergy test that his egg allergy would be gone...that he had grown out of it or been cured somehow. Guess what happened??? Yep, the egg allergy did not show up on the skin test! Instead they found that he is allergic to milk, peanuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, and pistachios. I don't mean to sound disrespectful, but my answered prayer is sort of a bummer. There is a possibility that the skin test was inaccurate so the Dr. is doing a blood test to confirm the results. We will not get the blood results back until December so until then he is to stay away from eggs, milk, tree nuts and all peanut products. It looks to be a very challenging month for dinner menus.
The allergist has also started him on a rigorous treatment plan to try and calm his severe eczema. That however has already been put on hold this morning due to other issues. Jonah started vomiting about nine last night and is still sick this morning. He has vomited so much that he has burst blood vessels in his eyes. He is napping right now, but even with Tylenol and Motrin, I can't get his fever to come under 100. I have spoken with his pediatrician and he thinks that it is just a virus. Right now we are trying to wait it out. He is miserable, but I am doing my best to keep him comfortable. Please pray for his little body and for the rest of us that we stay well.

Easter Egg Hunt

This afternoon was the annual church Easter egg hunt. I dropped Micah off with my Mom, (I figured he really did not need ANY more sun) and took the older two boys to the ball field for the egg hunt. Of course Noah, being five years old and all, was a pro at hunting eggs. He went off on his own with the "big" kids while I took Jonah with me to the toddler section.
I had the hardest time getting Jonah to even pick up one egg! I kept telling him to pick up the pretty eggs and put them in the basket and he kept looking at me like I was crazy. After a few minutes of him stubbornly refusing to pick up any eggs, I finally realized what the problem was. Jonah is allergic to eggs. Every time he comes near something that has eggs in it, I say, "NO, you can't have that. It has eggs in it." The poor child was afraid that he would get in trouble for touching the plastic Easter eggs. He really got into the competition and had a blast once I told him that it was okay, that these were eggs with candy and he could eat what was inside.
Noah gathered a lot of eggs as well. He also won a plastic motorcycle by playing bingo. (Just what I need, another toy in the house.) After the egg hunt, bingo, hot dogs, and cupcakes, we picked up Micah and headed home. When we got home, I came straight to the computer to blog and then remembered that I should have taken the camera. Oops!

Food Allergies

We finally got Jonah in to see an allergist on Tuesday. It only took him fifteen minutes to determine what has been Jonah's problem all along. It turns out that Jonah is allergic to eggs. Not that he has been eating that many eggs, but I have been eating eggs and he gets it through my breast milk. You would be surprised at how many things contain eggs. We are both on an egg free diet and the doctor is thinking that will not only take care of the stomach problems but will take care of his horrendous eczema.
Jonah also showed slight allergies to other things that we already knew such as soy, watermelon, and peas. Soy and eggs are two of the most common allergies for a child to grow out of and it is a good sign that Jonah is already showing less of a reaction to soy than he used to have. Hopefully he will eventually grow out of the soy and egg allergy. Right now the doctor wants us to come back once a month for testing to monitor his progress.
I can't tell you how relieved I am to finally figure out what has been going on with him. Already we are noticing differences in his skin. Hopefully the worst is behind us now!