Tyler the Great!

Tyler has had a food allergy (actually 3 food allergies, milk, eggs, and soy) since he was a new little baby. We found out about his allergy when he was just 10 months old...October 9, 2007. I went off to a Mary Kay meeting, and up until this day had nursed Tyler with no problems, but since I was gone I left some formula for Mike to give to Tyler. I got a phone call from Mike saying that Tyler was throwing up and had red hives all over his face. This is the picture I saw when I got home.

So the next day we called the pediatrician and they wanted us to bring Tyler in to the office. They looked him over and then sent us for a blood test to check him for allergies. The blood test came back negative for milk and soy, and positive for eggs. I thought that was really wierd because the formula had no eggs in it, but it did have milk and soy. So they sent us to Dr. Valet, a pediatric allergist to figure things out. I think we were able to get in there within just a couple weeks of calling. We hiked out to Brockport (he has a closer office, but they had the first opening) and he looked over poor Tyler. They decided to do a skin test. The results of the first blood test were tainted because it was done too soon after a reaction and the results were false. So we scheduled the skin test in his Greece office and waited for the day to find out what the deal was. I thought I took a picture of the skin test, but I can't find it anywhere. His reaction was pretty bad. So Tyler has been off the milk, eggs, and soy and anything containing any of those for a year now. I took him in again this last Monday, NOV 3rd, to be retested, since it has been a year. Here is a photo of his back...after 20 minutes...

#1 was his skin to compare
#2 a histamine (to see a normal reaction)
#3 milk
#4 eggs
#5 soy

So you can see that there was NO reaction to the milk and soy. YEAH! So I had to take Tyler in for a blood test to confirm the results of the skin test. I put off the test for a week, partly because it was a crazy week, and partly because I feel so bad having them poke him. So yesterday morning after I dropped Brooke off at school I finally got up the courage to take him to the blood lab. He sat on my lap and watched the nurse put the needle in his arm, looked at her, looked at his arm and just watched. He didn't flinch, cry, make a peep, nothing. He did AWESOME! I'm so proud of him! I gave him a lollipop when he was done and got a sticker and walked out of there like the biggest boy ever. Here he is showing me his bandage on his arm.

He was telling Brooke "arm" and "poke" showing her the bandage. It was really cute. So now, we just wait. It should be about a week before we hear back from the Dr. with the results. The next step will be a challenge in the office. They will give him some milk and we have to sit and wait to see if there is a reaction. If there isn't, then he's free and clear!