Firstly he had his turn at the allergy clinic just before the pig struck us. He had a great reaction to the skin scratch tests and we believe we have found most. He has one moderate allergy, house dust mite, which is probably the cause of the biggest part of his problems. We are doing all that the clinic has suggested to minimize his discomfort, but this is basically something he will have to live with for life.
The rest are all low level food allergies - the plan is to eliminate them for the next year, re-test at age 3 and hope that they have disappeared by then. The allergist seem tho think this is a possibility. So mommy has the task of eliminating the following from his diet:
Yeast - this is a tough one - all breads, biscuits, even the vitamin syrup that they have been drinking, contains yeast. He now has his own special bread and eats matzos and rice cakes for snacks.
Mealies (corn): I hate this one because it is such a healthy food. Here in Africa we love our maize porridge, so that is a bummer.
Avocado pear: Another very healthy thing that we eat a lot of.
Peanuts: This is fine by me - he can eat things made in a peanut factory or containing traces as the allergy is light, so this should be fine.
He is also slightly allergic to mould so we have to check that we have none in the house.
His second was the follow up at the Ear nose and throat specialist. His tonsils look ok for now, but his ears have not completely returned to normal. The recommendation was to remove his tonsils, adenoids (he snores - a lot!) and insert grommets. We have decided to wait and see what the results is of our allergy elimination for a few months. I am so not wanting my baby to be operated on at such an early age. We will wait and see for a bit.
His third was yesterday with the eye specialist: For those of you who are not familiar with his problems, his right eye is almost blind. This is the result of 2 problems -the first being nerve skins having overgrown in utero behind his retina and closing a third of his eye's viewing area and he will forever be completely blind in this part of his eye. The rest of his eye can only see at -6 which means, very very little. The eye specialist confirms that he is indeed with the help of his glasses and us training his "bad" eye to see by blinding his good eye with drops every second weekend, starting to use the section of his eye that is not blind more and more. This is great news - he stated clearly that our little man is exceeding his expectations with every appointment. The possibility of eye surgery later to correct the "seeing" part of his eye to as near as possible to normal is now becoming more and more. This will optimize his eye to the most and ensure as much vision as is humanly possible in that eye. I am not looking forward to an operation, and we know it is a few years in future, but I am so excited that he will have very near to normal sight without glasses one day.
And through all this, off course, he stays a brave as can be. Gosh, he loves all the attention, chats to all and sunder and just enjoys being an "only child" for an hour or two.
You guys have been busy it sounds. Poor little guy but at least, some of your questions have been answered about the allergies and you know what to steer clear of.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that you have gotten some answers. I sure hope the decreasing some of the allergens in his life helps.
ReplyDeleteSuch a cutie.
Holy cow. That's a lot for one little guy to take. I'm glad that it is mostly good news for you - and as Missy said, you have questions answered.
ReplyDeleteKeep us updated! :)
That poor kid!! He sure is brave:-)
ReplyDelete