Allergy Update

As you may know, our son Jacob has suffered from a handful of food allergies since he was a baby. He was officially diagnosed at 11 months old after going into anaphylactic shock - twice. We learned at that time that he was allergic to milk, wheat, soy and nuts. Pretty restrictive for a little guy. He ate a lot of rice, rice krispies, rice bread and really gross but very nutritional (or so they say) completely synthetic non-milk, non-soy formula. He drank that until he was at least two and a half maybe three years old. He was retested when he was 3 and we got the terrific news that he was no longer allergic to soy - we celebrated with some FRENCH FRIES!! What American child doesn't eat McDonald's fries until he's over 3 years old?! Over the months and years we slowly began introducing small amounts of wheat and milk products into his diet and over the last year or so we've seen a big difference in how his body responds to them - very little eczema, less digestive "issues", etc. Our suspicions were confirmed today when we went for another skin test. Jacob was SO brave - he did such a great job!Jacob's still allergic to a lot of different things, mostly environmental - grasses, trees, weeds, mold, dust mites, etc. All very normal and treatable. He's also still allergic to peanuts. BUT, he has NO OTHER FOOD ALLERGIES!!! He could drink a whole glass of milk right now and be just fine! Of course, we'll have to get him to like it first...

This is such a HUGE answer to years worth of prayers. We've been praying for his healing since we first learned of his allergies. We've also talked about how it's possible that God may choose not to take them away and that's ok - God's knows better than we do. We've often talked about how his allergies have helped make him a very responsible, thoughtful, flexible, patient and considerate kid. Tonight we got to celebrate this answer to our prayers and talk about what we've all learned from him having them. I know I've certainly learned a lot.

We go back on Wednesday of this next week to do a peanut challenge. We know that he's allergic to them, but that doesn't tell us what his potential reaction would be if he's exposed, so that is what this test will tell us. It will help us (and all his caregivers) to understand what could happen and how he should be treated (ie. Benedryl vs. Epipen and 911). Please pray with us for a great report next week also!