On Monday Caleb had a follow up appointment with our regular ENT to have his tubes checked again. As our luck would have it, his right tube was clogged...again.
Travis was the one that took him to his appointment so before they left I prepped Travis with questions I had regarding the allergy test results. The nurse that did the allergy test had mentioned that perhaps we could mix a vial with all the airborne allergens that correspond to all the food allergies he has and we could do immunotherapy that way. I was curious what Dr. Blotter thought about this idea.
Dr. Blotter said that any of the allergens he reacted to with a 5 mm size welt or larger he considers to be a good allergic reaction. What he suggested we try is a ONE MONTH period of NO DAIRY. During this month he also wants us to avoid almond, bakers yeast, malt and lettuce. When you consider what Caleb eats regularly, this means that his diet will now consist of chicken nuggets and nothing else.
Caleb is a picky eater to begin with. In fact, the food that he willingly eats includes: a select variety of dry cereal, cheese quesadillas, waffles, pancakes, go-gurt, yogurt, peanut butter sandwiches, ramen, macaroni & cheese (if he's in the mood), chicken nuggets, french fries, strawberries, occasionally fish sticks, anything chocolate, and his all time favorite: pink milk. I have no idea what I am going to feed this child if I have to take dairy, yeast and malt out of his diet. We told him that the dr. wants him to try and not have milk, cheese or go-gurts. He's not happy. Honestly, neither am I. It's not that I cater to his finickiness either. I make one dinner and I dish up a little bit of everything for everyone. I put the plate in front of them and if they choose not to eat it then they are choosing not to eat until breakfast. It's simple...I'm not a fast food restaurant.
I was telling my mom about the recent development and asked what she suggested. She suggested I call the Food Science dept. up on campus and talk to a dietitian I haven't had time to do this yet, but it is on my list to get done asap. I told my mom I figure one of two things is going to happen: 1-he's going to get so hungry that he's going to cave and try new/different foods or 2-he's going to starve to death. Considering he inherited his mother's stubbornness, I'm thinking we're heading for option 2. It could be a really, really long month for both him & me. On the bright side, Halloween is less than a week away so I might have the promise of candy (minus the malt infested chocolate!) to bribe him with! :)
