Today I want to continue sharing Austin's story about his food allergies.
I will pick up where my last post ended.
On Monday, we took Austin to see his pediatrician. She ordered a blood allergy test. She also went into much more detail preparing us for the road we were traveling. At the time Austin did not weigh enough to be able to receive an epi pen injection, in the event of a future reaction. His pediatrician explained that after the blood test results were in, she would be referring Austin to a pediatric allergist.
This blood test was a vein draw, Austin would need to go to a lab to have it done. Very scary for a 10 month old. Feeling very uncomfortable about taking my baby to an adult lab, we drove to St. Louis Children's Hospital to their outpatient lab. My thoughts were that the techs at Childrens are used to sticking young children and would probably get the vein on the first attempt. Meaning - less trauma for my little guy and me.
Austin did cry when he was stuck - so did I. He was very strong and did well. Now we just had to wait for the results. The wait was long - over a week.
Finally the results were in. We were shocked. Not only was he allergic to eggs, but also wheat and peanuts. Doctors use the RAST scale when discussing the severity of food allergies. Austin's results on the RAST scale were:
Eggs - level 3 (severe)
Wheat - level 2 (moderate)
Peanut - level 1 (slight)
An appointment was made with a pediatric allergist at STL Children's for the beginning of January. Yes, 4 months for an appointment. Until then Austin was to stay clear of any foods containing these ingredients. I am now the crazy mom digging through the trash to investigate the ingredients of foods.
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