Where's the Beef?

If you didn't know, our youngest ds has many, many food allergies. Among them is beef. Two years ago he was tested and the hope was that at our next visit, we might be able to challenge beef. A in-office food challenge is where we bring the food to be tested and then over a period of usually several hours, he eats slowly increasing amounts of the food. As this is going on, the drs and nurses watch him carefully for any kinds of reactions. Hopefully if all goes well, you can go home and try adding it in to your diet. The test is done in the office in case he has a negative response. That way medical treatment can be given ASAP. If that happens, the challenge is a "fail" and you continue to avoid it.

One of our scary episodes was in the middle of a zoo. We were finished with lunch and Iz was only 13 months old or so. We were avoiding milk at the time and were pretty careful. As we were leaving the cafe, he began vomiting profusely all over his stroller. We had to strip his clothes and wrap him in a Ski's coat. I will never forget the long tram ride holding my limp, grey son in my arms. It was frightening stuff!!! But God sustained our ds and his reaction stopped -- probably helped by the excessive vomiting. So, when word came that we were to trial beef, I got scared. We ended up putting off the challenge so long that he needed to be retested.

This past Nov. we had him tested once again. I just recv'd the results and the scores have increased. This is not the news that I had hoped for. Since beef is an odd allergy, the scores are kind of a guessing game. So, now we must wait and see what the allergist would like us to do. So the wait continues......