Every once in a while you have that failure as a parent moment. I often will sarcastically say, I am a candidate for mom of the year. Well, after today, I might very well be a front runner…

We recently had a routine visit with our pulmonologist. With the boys being preemies and Landon’s continuing respiratory issues, he is someone we see a few times a year. He noticed Nolan’s eczema. Apparently, eczema is triad and goes hand in hand with allergies and asthma. NEC babies are also prone to food allergies. He decided we should get Nolan tested. I asked, since we were going if he would write the order for both boys. I always schedule their doctor’s appointments in twos, so why should this be any different. He looked at me, thought about it, and just when I thought he was going to say no, he agreed.

A few days later, we were off to the toddler torture chamber aka the blood lab. Getting blood drawn from the elbow of 2 two year olds is not easy, and they don’t even have stickers. Good thing my boys are just as happy with a band aid as they are with a super hero sticker.

A week later the nurse calls with Landon’s test results… He is allergic to MILK, and not just a little allergic. There is a classification rating system and he is moderate to high. She ran down the list of other things that he reacted to like dust mites and mold as well as the most common allergens he was not allergic to. Then we went back to the milk topic, I told her I can’t say I am surprised. He would get blotchy sometimes and this makes sense. I was still processing this new news and expected some sort of instruction but got nothing.

They also couldn’t locate Nolan’s results. She said we will check again on Monday to see if maybe they just needed an additional day or two.

Monday morning the same nurse called me back, Nolan’s “specimen” was missing. She had contacted the lab and they were “trouble shooting”. We would know in the 24 hours if he had to return to the torture chamber or if they located it.
Before we got off the phone she said, on Friday you said Landon got blotchy, can you elaborate? I told her around his ears and neck he would get red flushed spots. She asked if it was raised, I told her no and that it faded away fairly quickly. She said that sounded like a mild anaphylactic reaction. As I am practically tearing up thinking of how much milk I have given him over the last 2 years and 5 months she threw in there, but typically kids out grow milk allergies. Does that mean it use to be worse? So… I have caused my child to have a borderline , possibly life threatening, allergic reaction, a couple times a day, every day for years, but no worries cause he will most likely out grow it…. Mom of the year!

Oh, I can’t wait for Nolan’s results!