Will is allergic to...

Dogs and

Milk!

Today we went to the allergist. They did a skin test where the nurse wrote some letters on Will's back with an ink pen to indicate which allergen was tested. So, D__ stood for "dog." I wish we would've brought our camera because his back had a total of like 12 letters. Then the nurse took some plastic toothpick like tools, dipped each one in the allergens and poked it onto Will's skin. The pokes hardly phased Will and they didn't draw blood so that was a relief. Then we waited for 20 minutes to see how the skin reacted to the allergens. Two hives appeared. One hive was next to the W__ and the other hive was next to D__. "W" stood for whole milk. I was shocked when the doctor informed us William had a food allergy to milk. She said that would explain why Will would sometimes get a rash when he hadn't been exposed to dogs. So I, the mother, have to limit my intake of dairy foods so Will doesn't get a reaction. Once I do wean him off of mother's milk, he has to drink soy formula. When I read the list of foods under Milk allergy I thought "Wow I am going to become a creative cook!" Then I was frosting some cupcakes and thought "Wait! What do I bake for Will on his birthday?" That was a sad thought. But the good thing is we have this awesome resource called the Internet that has a butt load of milk-free recipes and information regarding food allergies. Since he does have a food allergy the doctor said no peanuts or tree nuts until he is three years old and no eggs until he is two years old.

I think the hardest thing about discovering Will has allergies to dogs and milk is that I've never had allergies so I don't know what it's like to get a reaction. Tonight our neighbor was telling us that he is allergic to dogs and I asked him what the worst thing about it is. His response was "People never take it seriously. They don't know how miserable you feel when you get a reaction." That was good for me to hear because sometimes as a first time parent I feel like people just think I'm paranoid so I may do something that I'm not comfortable doing just so I don't appear overprotective. The fact is that Will can't communicate how he is feeling so I need to take charge and treat his allergies seriously by doing my best to avoid the things he is allergic to.
They even trained us how to use an Epi-Pen. I have to get one tomorrow at the pharmacy. It's very unlikely he'll ever need one injected, but they always prepare parents just in case. I also asked the doctor if he would outgrow his allergies and she said "It just depends. He probably won't outgrow the dog allergy." So I guess we will have a fish tank for our family pet! I'm also going to make myself like soy milk (in case that allergy hangs around) so we can be soy buddies.