Some Good News?! Could it be?!

Today I took Max to the allergy specialist for his yearly testing. When he was about nine months old he started getting mysterious hives, oral swelling, and horrible itching. It took a while to pin it down, and finally after some blood tests, we discovered he was allergic to eggs and milk proteins.
We were eventually able to re-introduce eggs without a problem, but last year he was still showing a milk allergy. So for three years, he has been on a NO MILK diet.

Until... today!

He passed his scratch test this morning. And we were told that we could start introducing milk back into his diet, very, very slowly! The doctor cautioned me that there is still a 5% chance that the test was inaccurate and he still has the allergy. But if he tolerates the milk with no hives or swelling, this will seriously be life changing for us. Right now, we always have to bring Max's food with us when we go anywhere. Our ability to just go out to dinner is non-existent, and a lot of nights I end up making two versions of dinner. Everyone that watches Max has to be very aware of what he can and cannot eat. We have to watch him like a hawk at family gatherings where food easy accessible. The poor kid has never even had REAL ice cream, pizza or mac-n-cheese.
Of course, a lot of kids with behavioral problems, like autism, have a hard time with certain foods (for whatever reason) and because of that, there is a need to eliminate certain foods from their diet. I get asked frequently about putting Max on a GFCF diet that a lot of parents with autistic children try. This gluten-free, casein-free (milk protein) diet is something you must follow strictly and takes a lot of dedication. If we thought Max would benefit from it, I would do it in a heartbeat. But Max has been casein-free most of his life, and his recent upper endoscopy showed he had no intolerance to gluten in his intestines. These things lead me to believe that GFCF diet wouldn't necessarily benefit Max. Our pediatrician, and gastroenterologist also believe that restricting a child's diet at such a young age can cause future problems. Max is not picky, loves fruits, vegies and meats, so we aren't going to mess with him! However, if the transition back to cow's milk proteins doesn't go well behavior-wise for Max, we'll have to re-think our plan.

Max inhaled the few pieces of shredded cheddar cheese that I gave him at lunch today. Which was a bit of a surprise because he's never had it, and new things don't necessarily go well at our house... but I guess he must know a good thing when he sees it!

So keep your fingers crossed that we have no hives, no lip swelling, or increase in autistic behaviors, or acting out... Hopefully we are soon able to just order pizza for dinner and not make Max something else, or even better, go to Dairy Queen for an evening treat!!

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Remembering October 10th, 2010

A very serious girl playing with a balloon from Max's party... I loved this dress!

Max trying on his Halloween costume... I SO wish we had a picture of the two of them together...