Overall, I think we've been doing great with managing the allergies and life has gone on fairly normally for us. We made it through the holidays without any problems and our families were very gracious to us as we learned how to navigate eating in situations outside of our home.
Last Thursday we had a bit of a close call at school. When I arrived to pick Jacoby up the afternoon teacher expressed concern that Jacoby had napped for 3 hours (very unusual under normal circumstances!) and then was quite lethargic when he woke up and didn't want to participate in the activities or have a snack. I happened to glance up at the board where they post the daily class information and noticed that they served fish sandwiches for lunch. After a few questions, it was clear that Jacoby was served the fish instead of an alternative. Bummer. So, I took him home and we gave him Benadryl just as a precaution. I wasn't angry but instead was so relieved that the reaction hadn't been more than what it was, especially since we weren't really sure how he'd react to fish since that was a surprise allergy. Anyways, I spent most of that night and the following morning trying to figure out how I should respond. Thankfully, Jacoby's lead teacher called me the next morning and she was very upset over what had happened and claimed full responsibility for the miscommunication among the subs. They were taking steps to ensure that everyone who comes into the class be made well aware of the food issues among the students and she had also informed the school directors about the incident. We had a long conversation, and I felt good about their response. I'm going to be more mindful of the menus, and we also agreed that I would provide them with a stash of treats for Jacoby to have when birthday/celebration treats are brought in by other parents. She was generally upset and concerned about Jacoby. They have developed a good relationship, and she actually picked him to observe and use as part of a project she's doing for school this semester (she's getting her degree in early childhood ed).
Today Jacoby and I went in for a follow-up appointment with our allergist. Jacoby was tested for 3 more items: coconut (not technically classified as a tree nut yet, but just wanted to be safe), apricot, and beets. Sure enough, we're adding beets and apricot and other stone fruit (like peaches, cherries, etc.) to the allergy list. We've learned that when environmental allergies are in play like what Jacoby has, there is sometimes a cross-allergy with stone fruit! Wierd. He did great at the appointment, and I was able to ask her a lot of questions. Our next task is to get blood work done to confirm allergies, make sure we haven't missed any, and look for indicators that might suggest he'll be outgrowing some, etc. It also provides a lot of information on what's going on in his system.
I take Morgan in next week to be tested for dairy before we start feeding him those things. So far, he's handled cheese just fine but I haven't braved anything else until we're cleared. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
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