Wednesday, October 22, 2008

A Nutty Day

Some of our loyal readers may have picked up on the fact that we have a loose schedule of rotating blog posts among the builders. Well, today is my day, and I have spent most of it in a 10'x6' doctors office with a 3 year old and a baby, so my brain is pretty fried at this point. This is not the post I had planned to write, but I will be happy if I can put together full sentences.

Today we had Dash's "peanut challenge". He had a reaction the first time he ate peanut butter, and tested very positive to a peanut allergy. His last skin test was shockingly negative, so the next step was to have him ingest peanut protein in increasing amounts in a controlled setting while his vital signs were constantly monitored to see if he is in the 15% of kids that do outgrow their peanut allergies. The great news is that he passed! He had absolutely no reaction to the peanut flour.

Here are some reflections on the day:

1. They tell you to bring something that your child will eat to a food challenge to mix with the allergic food. I made one of Dash's favorite desserts, homemade chocolate custard (or pots de creme). As soon as the door closed I realized I might regret bringing something made with both sugar and caffeine as we would be confined to our room for the next 5 hours.

2. However, caffeine for mom is definitely a plus in this situation.

3. It is possible to hold a crying 3 year old while feeding a baby simultaneously.

4. Someone needs to invent blood pressure cuffs for toddlers that work on the first try.

5. I never thought I would even consider a request to color on the baby. Request was denied, but I did consider the ideas merits (namely, distraction for a stir crazy 3 year old) for a moment.

6. Foam stickers shaped like bugs are worth their weight in gold.

7. Ample time to reflect on why my household of 3 small men was sent an American Girl catalog.

8. I have more patience than I thought I did.

9. Upon returning home and (momentarily) having three children sleeping simultaneously, I feel I deserve to eat something made from sugar and caffeine.

7 comments:

Kat said...

Yay Dash! And yes, TM, you certainly deserve a snack with sugar and caffeine, and possibly also a beverage containing the same! Your post was very lucid, considering :)

So, can I bring peanut-laden snacks to your home this weekend? :)

Molly said...

I'm being serious when I say that this was a heroic venture. It is so admirable that you handled this with such grace and humor! Hooray for the non-reaction.

Right Said Red said...

yeah! Now you don't have to stress so much about peanuts! Maybe a celebration at Chick fil-A?

Mary Alice said...

This is a test comment because we have been having some trouble with the comments.

Congratulations TM, and can you stop by my place with some pots de creme sometime?

B-Mama said...

Oh TM, I'm thrilled for the great results and laughed all the way through your comments. I felt like I could be writing some of them myself, particularly your thoughts on the American Girls catalogue (we got one too) and your last one on sugar and caffeine (has anyone else found the beauty of a 3pm cup of java?! Amazing! It's like I'm a mommy on some sort of intense drug! :) Hugs to you and your handsome men--oh and when are we going to get the wedding report??

texas mommy said...

Kat, Bring on the peanuts...can't wait to see you.

I think I need a beverage with something a little stronger than caffeine and sugar...Bailey's anyone?

Anonymous said...

I love your blog... this made me laugh. Thanks, it was needed after a long day with two girls two and 7 mo...

A Sister in Christ, also adhering to all the Church teaches, from Michigan