I’ve lightly touched on Carson’s peanut allergy over the past almost three years (here in August 2009 when he was four months old and here when he was 11 months old) but we have reached the end of our peanut allergy saga and I’m so happy!
I’ll start at the beginning. Well, you can start at the beginning by reading that post from August 2009. Then I’ll pick up from there.
In August 2009, Carson had a skin test for peanuts (put peanut serum on his arm, along with a saline solution and a histamine – scratch the skin at all three spots and wait 15-20 minutes see what reacts) – it was negative. But we started to realize that he had really sensitive skin – we could only use Aquafor on him – no Johnson & Johnson lavendar sleep lotion or bath wash; even J&J baby lotion caused a reaction. We could only use J&J Body & Hair wash in the tub and Aquafor on him after. I have semi-sensitive skin too – so this is probably my fault. :-P
In April 2010, when he was one, they did another skin test – also negative. So, he didn’t get to start eating peanut butter at one like Mallory could (not that she ever really ate peanut butter or does now, but whatever). The doctor said that based on what he saw, to just keep him away from peanuts & peanut butter. We didn’t have to read labels, etc., just no peanuts or peanut butter.
Mallory was a good big sister of an allergic kid. Rick’s mom handed Carson a granola bar just after C turned one, and Mallory yelled “DOES IT HAVE PEANUTS IN IT??” (it didn’t, but it was good to see she was on top of things!).
In March 2011, in anticipation of another wasted visit to the allergist (who I really like but I was increasingly believing that Carson’s issue was more sensitive skin than peanut allergy), I called the allergist’s office and asked if they would finally be doing the challenge test. They said no – that no matter the outcome, he’d still not be able to eat peanuts (if the tests came back positive – I guess they do more testing and stuff). I asked to skip the annual visit and try again next year. They said he should go have a blood test done – which we did. Guess what? It was negative! But we were told to keep doing what we’re doing – which is just to keep him away from peanuts and peanut butter.
At some point during this year we were at the grocery store by our house – Mallory calls it the donut grocery store because they have a coffee & donuts station by the front door and the kids always get a donut hole when we go there. One day we walked in and I went to grab them their donut and saw they had cookies in the bowl. Then I realized they were PEANUT BUTTER cookies. I about died. Mallory was just about tall enough to reach the good herself – what if she had grabbed one and given it to Carson? I know I talk this big game that I really didn’t think he had a peanut allergy, but there was a small part of me that was terrified he did and that’s why we followed the rules. Anyway, I asked the customer service desk clerk about them and she said “I just put back in there what they already had out”. We were at the store so I could pick up a prescription and I mentioned to my pharmacist about the peanut butter cookies and she freaked out too. I think that if Carson had real – and severe – food allergies, he would never be eating anything out of the donut bin. But because I only have to worry about peanuts and peanut butter, and because in the 5+ years I’ve shopped at this store, they’ve never had anything BUT donuts in that bowl, I felt it was a little irresponsible to have PEANUT BUTTER cookies out – especially without a sign or a label or something! Anyway, the good thing is that I’ve not seen peanut butter cookies out again since ;-)
In March 2012 I called the office again (in advance of our annual visit). They said that it was really up to the doctor of what happened next (challenge or no challenge), but since we hadn’t been in the year before we should keep the appointment.
So we went in April. They did the skin test – negative. The doctor said that he wanted to do the blood test again and based on that outcome, we could probably do the peanut challenge. The reason they don’t do the challenge test in kids younger than three is that they want them to be able to communicate if things feel funny (their eyes, their tummy, and other classic reaction symptoms). We went across the hall to do Carson’s blood test. I’d promised him McDonalds after because I was sad that he had to have blood drawn. But then we went to the blood draw place and Carson didn’t even flinch when they poked him for the blood draw. It was unbelievable. I thought about reneging on my McDonalds promise since he was so unaffected.
The doctor called later that week and told us the blood test was again negative, and asked if we wanted to do the challenge at home or in the office. I hadn’t gone this long following the rules to try it out at home. So his challenge was scheduled for May 17.
They told us to bring movies and stuff to keep him occupied but princess not-so-bring forgot to make sure all the movie cases had movies in them so we didn’t have Toy Story with us…only Cars 2 – which scared him, and The Incredibles – which also scared him. Oops.
So – on to the challenge process.
They took his vitals and the doctor gave him a full physical. As usual, the nurse thought that his raspy hoarse voice meant he had a cold.
Then they put some peanut butter on his arm and we waited 15 minutes, and then the nurse took his vitals again. All clear.
Then they put peanut butter on his lip and we waited 15 minutes, and then the nurse took his vitals again. All clear.
Then it was 1/8 of a tsp of peanut butter on a graham cracker. It took some cajoling to get him to eat it but he finally did. He didn’t really like the peanut butter. And we waited 15 minutes, and then the nurse took his vitals again. All clear.
1/4 tsp of peanut butter on a graham cracker – he was starting to get grumpy from no nap and a late bedtime the night before. I was practically begging him to eat the stuff. I stupidly said “you better eat this or I’m going to!” because then he kept telling me I could eat all of it. He also kept saying he just wanted to eat peanuts, and I had to keep telling him that he had to do all this before he could eat actual peanuts.
Anyway, he passed the 1/4 tsp test, and it was on to the 1/2 tsp test. The nurse was able to track down some animal crackers (I still say “amimal” in my head because that’s how Mallory used to say it) and I had to pretend like the animal crackers were going to eat the peanut butter. This took FOREVER for Carson to get through, like we had a 10-15 minute standoff before I finally got him to eat the crackers with peanut butter on them. But he passed the 1/2 tsp test.
Finally it was the final 1 tsp. He was a little hesitant at first but then it was really funny – I don’t know if he finally figured out that the sooner he ate it the sooner we could get out of there, or if he started liking the peanut butter, or what, but he had to tell me to hurry up with the next cracker.
Obviously, no reaction after that last dose either. Then we had to wait an hour to make sure nothing else developed and the doctor came back and did another physical, and we got the ALL CLEAR! We ended up being there for over four hours.
I had a whole peanut-fest planned for that night but they said we had to wait another 24 hours to make sure something didn’t develop still. But the doctor said that since Carson never actually ingested peanuts, he probably never really had an allergy. But he said that we should give him some form of peanut 3-4 times a week (they actually tell kids who have outgrown a peanut allergy to eat at least one Reese’s Pieces a few times a week to keep up their resistance!).
On Friday, the nurse called to see how he was doing and to tell us we could start feeding him peanuts and peanut butter. She said we should hold on to the epi-pen until it expired (um, we don’t have an epi-pen) and reminded us to give him peanut stuff a few days a week.
I was so excited to give him a peanut after school – and he was fired up about the Detroit Tigers peanuts I bought him.
I cracked open the shell and that stinker wouldn’t eat it!!!
After dinner that night, I bought the kids peanut butter & chocolate ice cream. Um, he ate a few bites and wouldn’t eat any more (it was a bummer that I had to finish it…).
We ended up getting peanut M&Ms at the store too and he actually ate those. I hope he ends up liking more stuff with peanuts or else I’ll ground him for wasting those four hours of the peanut challenge test.
But really, I am very thankful we don’t have to worry about this.
And it means that next year I can let the kids be that much more unsupervised at tailgates since I don’t have to worry about him grabbing a donut with peanuts on it, or a cookie with peanuts in it.
And I don’t have to tell the story about “well we THINK he has a peanut allergy…when I was nursing…can’t give him peanuts or peanut butter…I think he just has sensitive skin…”.