Ahh, Allergies

When Kyle was born one of the most frequent questions we got was some variation of "Does he have food allergies."  We can now answer that yes, just like his big brothers he has multiple food allergies.  So far we've identified milk, egg, wheat, peanut, and probably flax.  Since he seems to be reacting to flax (a very rare allergen) I fully expect the list to grow.  In some ways its easier to handle because we've been here and we know what to expect.  In other ways its harder because we've been here and we know what to expect.

Good news on the Eric allergy front, though.  Right before Kyle was born we trialed wheat and he passed! I got so excited about him passing wheat I retrialed a few other foods, all of which he failed.  Avoiding both corn and wheat at the same time is one of the hardest things we do.  When we first encountered the combination I used to pray to get one or the other back for Caden.  For some reason I felt like I could work around all the other restrictions if I could just get one of those key grains back.  Obviously we never did with Caden.  When Eric turned up with the same combination I simply accepted it.  Having him outgrow wheat is one of those tender mercies from the Lord.  I feel its an answer to all those prayers I prayed when trying to figure out how to feed Caden.

As for Caden, he's still tube fed with just a handful of foods he can eat.  Due to the generosity of some family members and perfect strangers, we've been able to add lamb to his diet.  He declares lamburgers as 'the best thing ever' every time he eats them.  I've posted so many times about how well he deals with his lot in life, but this past week he reminded us that he is just 3 years old, living in a world of food.  He was intruged by Eric's new treat (saltine crackers) and wanted to try them out.  So he helped himself to 3 of Eric's crackers, and we found ourselves pumping his stomach (having a tube has got to have some advantages, right?), administering the epi pen, and hanging out in the ER for a few hours.  We've taken him to the ER for allergic reactions before, but this was the first time we've had to use the epi.  There is something alarming about looking at your child and honestly believing that he wouldn't survive the 5 minute ride to the hospital.  I'm happy to report the epi did its job and Caden is no worse for the wear.  In fact the next day he declared he had fun at the hospital and wanted to go back.