Some of you may think I am insane. I may actually be insane, but the fact is, that as exciting as it all may sound to those who have longed for a similar visit to your child's allergist, it scares the heck out of me.
a) I don't want to put him through the oral challenge in fear of a reaction.
b) Call it selfish, but I am in no hurry to introduce nuts back into his diet. This may be an absurd analogy, but it's like having a convicted felon released from prison into your neighborhood after claims of rehabilitation. Would you feel safe? What if the allergy came back? What if I wasn't there when it did? We would have no epi-pen.
c) With school starting and now soccer, I would rather have teachers and parents start the year out on guard then with the assumption that its okay if little Timmy shares a piece of his cashew butter sandwich with A. I know, this is a really terrible excuse!
d) Finally, I've worked so hard at keeping him safe and involving other parents, teachers, family and so on, that I am afraid of the seriousness of food allergies that I drilled into everyone will now be disregarded. What if now, these individuals don't take the next child's food allergies as serious assuming that all kids outgrow them or that A's was never really an issue to begain with.
As crazy as I may be, I do know that it needs to be done. Once we get settled into the new school year and the caos of summer has passed, I will set up an appointment and prepare for our lives to once again be flipped upside down.
I completely understand your fear and reluctance. 2 things to share. 1.) my daughter tested positive to sesame, skin & blood but food challenge went GREAT. Scary-but GREAT. 2) friends son had peanut. tested negative last year. food challenge went GREAT-ate whole bag of Peanut m&ms!! do it in safe environment. U can still request Epi Pen prescript if it makes you feel better but think of opening up A's life...I pray for this day. would quake in my boots doing challenge but cry if negative!! Good luck!!! check out my blog. www.averageallergymom@blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteI have the same fear of an allergy coming back and even though my son outgrew his sesame we still do not plan on giving him anything sesame related. But at least it's one thing less to be overly cautious about and I no longer have a panic attack when I see a sesame bagel.
ReplyDeleteCongrats -nuts is a big one. I hope my son outgrows his peanut allergy one day!! still wouldn't give him PB but at least we wouldn't have to cross the street every time we see a peanut vendor roasting nuts on the city street.