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| Cass playing outside last week |
My son, Cass had an anaphylactic reaction about a year ago. He had already seen a renowned food allergist, at Hopkins since my older son had food allergies too. Cass tested positive for egg and peanut when he was about 9 months old. The numbers were really low, so the doctor told me to try a small amount of something with baked egg in in at home. Right before his first birthday party, I decided to have him try a little bit of cupcake. He only ate about 1/8 of a teaspoon of it. He seemed fine. I put him down for his nap, and took his baby monitor with me as I took the other kids out to play. I heard him cough and went in to check on him. His crib was covered in puke. I put him in the bath and tried to get a hold of my husband. Then I noticed his feet were blue. I still couldn't reach my husband, but luckily my wonderful neighbor was home. We called the doctor, because I was freaking out about giving him the Epi-pen. By this time he was having trouble breathing and had hives. The nurse told me to give him the shot, which I was pretty sure about, but was pretty panicked. I gave it to him and called 9-1-1. He was mostly better by the time they arrived. By the time we got to the hospital, he was back to his regular happy self
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| Cass at around the time of the reaction |
For the past year I have been vigilant about checking ingredients, cooking our own food, and when we get carryout explaining the severity of the allergy. We only get food from certain chain places that i have deemed trustworthy. I think we have eaten out less than 10 times with Cass in a year, partly due to the fact that dining with a 2 year old and 3 year old isn't fun regardless of food allergies. Birthday parties freak me out. I have had at least 5 friends have egg-free parties, which is ridiculously amazing. I can't expect that people do that though, and we have to live our lives. Cass is far to young to understand, and so when we go to a party with regular cupcakes I am in constant fear that he will pick up a crumb off the floor and we will have another reaction.
Well we made it a year with no reactions. I just got his annual lab work back today, and all year I had had the feeling that he was getting better, and his number would go down. I was wrong... It has gotten worse. It makes me sick with worry ( and I really am not a worrier) that I will see my baby turn blue again. Or that I will forget his Epi-pen. Basically as I see it he has a life threatening condition. I see eggs as poison; everyone else just sees them as food. You see mayo on a burger; I see poison on it. I don't expect other people to get it. It is so weird to be allergic to food. Once you see your little baby struggling to breathe and turning blue you will get it. Trust me.
I hope you don't see this as complaining. I am lucky to be seeing Dr. Robert Wood, one of the best food allergy doctors in the world. I have been able to help a bunch of other people, who are going through the same thing we went through. Also reading food labels has made me way more cognizant of what I am eating , regardless of the food allergies. I am also I am quite happy with my life, and I am glad that otherwise we are all healthy. I just think that it is good to get more awareness out there, so, in short, keep your eggs away from my baby.
