I took the kids to the allergist last week. Wait... let me backtrack. Malachi has been congested/wheezy/rattly since he had RSV (a respiratory virus) in March, and our pediatrician diagnosed him with Reactive Airway Disease, which is basically like saying, "He's too young for us to call it asthma but that's what it appears to be." He said he could outgrow it, but in the meantime, he prescribed a steroid to add to his breathing treatments. The steroids seemed to help some at first, but not entirely. I had talked to the pediatrician about Malachi having a possible peanut allergy, because Josiah is allergic to peanuts, and Malachi's congested seemed to get noticeably worse (much much worse) when I would eat peanut butter. The pediatrician said it was very unlikely that he would be getting the proteins through the breastmilk & he didn't think that was relevant. I just couldn't allow myself to believe what he was telling me. I had read information about peanut protein passing through breastmilk on the internet, and I really felt there was more to the situation. So that, combined with our recent pecan scare a few weeks back, finally helped motivate me to make an appointment with the allergy doctor.
The allergist did testing on all of the kids. I won't get into the whole laundry list, but it turns out Malachi DID react to the peanut.... along with milk & eggs. The allergy doctor suggested cutting out milk, eggs, and all nuts from my diet. He told me to continue the breathing treatments to help with Malachi's "asthma" (he called it asthma- said he didn't agree with the pediatrician's diagnosis) until our next appointment in June. He also prescribed a nasal spray. Well.... It has been exactly ONE week since that appointment, and Malachi is now off of his breathing treatments! I can't stop raving about it- I'm so thrilled! Since I have cut milk & egg out of my diet (I was already avoiding nuts before that appointment, once I realized that I thought he was reacting to them), his lungs have COMPLETELY cleared up! I didn't have to fill his nasal spray prescription! I called both the allergist's office & the pediatrician's office before stopping the breathing treatments, and they both sounded surprised that it is so much better.... almost like they were in disbelief! Well... I don't really care if they believe it or not- I just praise God for this knowledge! I can't wait to go back to the doctor so they can fix his charts to show that he doesn't have asthma, OR R.A.D! It's just so exciting!! I didn't even end up getting his nasal spray filled because there is no need!
Ok. Sorry. I'm excited, if you can't tell. OH... but about the milk & egg free diet. Did you ever realize that there is milk and/or eggs in SO much stuff? I'm hungry!! I really just want a big, cheesy slice of pizza! It's ok though. Malachi's clear lungs serve as good motivation. :)
Speaking of food. I have been meaning to scan this and post it for awhile. Eliana made a list of her favorite foods... see if you can make it out. :)
(The top, left corner folded down when I was scanning. The first letter is an M.)
Ok. I will decipher it for you.
Macaroni
Fish
Strawberries (that spelling what probably my favorite. Apparently she pronounces it Schrawberries.)
Corn on the cob
Pizza
Chocolate
Teriyaki Chicken (that was written in yellow, so you can't see it, but it was a great phonetic spelling! Something like: Tereyockey. Haha.)
Pigs
Cow
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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