Allergy Challenge Accepted and Conquered!

We found out Kallie was allergic to peanuts when she was 18 months old. I gave her a bite of my waffle with peanut butter and her eyes immediately swelled shut. After a call with the Dr. we avoided peanuts until she was a bit older for an allergy skin test. Although we were devastated and scared when the results came back positive (anaphylaxis)we were so happy she was not allergic to anything else. Over the years we have been diligent at checking labels when grocery shopping, informing restaurants when we eat out requesting the wait staff actually look at the label versus just assuming there are no nuts and make sure she was safe at daycare (lucky for us they were nut free).

As Kallie got older and entered Kindergarten life started to get a bit more complicated when it came to her allergies. We found out the hard way she was now also allergic to all tree nuts which was quite a shock to us. Since we were already avoiding peanuts she has had minimal exposure to tree nuts so we didn't have to change our habits all too much. The hardest part about her allergies is when she goes to birthday parties or playdates. She just wants to eat what everyone else is eating so she doesn't feel different. Kallie knows we can't make exceptions and is able to move on but she has shed many tears before birthday parties b/c she has a cupcake and everyone else was eating cake.

Well when her most recent allergy test came back she to our delight she was negative to almonds. So, we decided it was worth taking the "Almond Challenge" at the allergist. Basically it is a 4 hour appointment where they feed her almonds every 30 minutes starting small and ending at 2 TBS worth of almonds. I was terrified and she was too but man she was such a trooper! It was a long appointment but she PASSED!!! We now feed her some sort of almond product (usually almond butter) a few times a week with hopes that it will help her grow out of her other tree nut allergies. Time will tell but for now we will take this a win and celebrate (with frozen yogurt of course). GO KALLIE!