A few weeks ago I took all the kids to the pediatrician so he could test them for different allergies. With all the trouble Chris has been having lately, we figured they had probably inherited a few allergies as well. Better to know now than have them suffer needlessly for years. I finally remembered to call today for the results, and boy, am I glad I did.
Nicholas is the lucky one. He is "only" allergic to birch, all grasses and cats. We kind of already knew he had pollen allergies, but the cat allergy is new. Since he doesn't really like cats anyway, he is not too concerned that this will impact his quality of life negatively in any way.
Sarah, my poor darling Sarah, is not allergic to any pollens or animals. But she is highly allergic to eggs, wheat and rye. Upon hearing this news, she immediately cried out "No bread!?!" and burst into tears. Her other favorite food is crepes, also a no go. I did console her with the news that there are egg substitutes out there, and other kinds of grains, so hopefully we could still make crepes once in a while, and have different kinds of breads. Also, she loves rice, so that will hopefully compensate some for the no noodles.
Noah has it the worst of anyone so far. He is highly allergic to milk (yogurt and milk being the few things he will eat, not sure how he will stay alive now), dust mites, celery, carrots and the usual pollens. I have already looked at getting mattress and pillow covers that kill/block out the dust mites, and we have a vaccuum with HEPA filter, I just need to use it more. Chris is allergic to celery, so we had already cut that out of our diet, but raw carrots was one of the few vegetables he would eat. I am quite concerned about this, but perhaps, if I cut out the milk he will have less tummy aches and want to eat more of other kinds of foods. We shall see.
Sophie was so freaked out by the whole blood drawing process that the nurse was unable to get more than a few drops out of her. So she has to go back next Wednesday to try again, so they can test her as well. Then I will have a sit-down with the doctor and he can get me in touch with dieticians, support groups and the like. I also need calcium supplements for Noah.
The positive side to all of this is that I have heard some children's behavior problems are linked to their food allergies. So maybe Sarah's anger issues aren't really Sarah, just her egg allergy. I mean, I know she will always have "spunk" but the outrageous outbursts for no reason might not be entirely her fault. We shall see…
My solution to all these restrictions on foods? We are going to be eating a lot more Asian food. They have almost no milk in any of their recipes, use rice and rice noodles, use cornstarch rather than flour as a thickener for sauces, and what little egg there is can usually be left out with not much problem. So if anyone has any really great Japanese or Thai cookbooks, let me know the titles and authors so I can pick them up. We have a really good Chinese one already, but you can only eat so much of that before you get sick of it. This is going to be a really wild adventure!