Drum Roll Please......

SURPRISE!!!

I took Ricks in to Dr. T to check out all the green stuff pouring out of his nose. Dr. T checked and for now all the Little Man has is a virus. We are watching him, as we are for Maggie, for the viral infection to turn into a bacterial. I am keeping the prayers, faith and positive thought going for both that they battle the cold and fight the secondary infection.

Now for the AWESOME surprise! I was not expecting Ricks test results to be back for at least another week. When Dr. T's intern/fellow came in and told me they had received them today I was floored. This means an end to my anxiety over what was happening and the options out there for my baby. Here are the results:

Allergies: All allergy results came back negative except cat/dog. This means Ricks' blood works shows he is NOT allergic to egg, fish or seasonal/inhalants. EGG?!?!!! Amazing! The next step is an egg challenge which is a bit difficult because Ricks needs to be healthy. Dr. T advised we wait until July were we have a better chance of him being infection free. We will also do a penicillin challenge in July to answer the question of whether he is allergic to penicillin or not. The allergy testing get a big thumbs up from Mommy : )

Immunity: Dr. T was concerned about how low the IgG numbers had gone this past testing. He had talked about possibly needing to revaccinate twice before we get the numbers where he wanted them. The results show this is not necessary! Ricks' IgG numbers are right where Dr. T wants them to be. Now when he gets a cold (like now) his IgG should work correctly and fight the infection. Plus it should be able to fight off any secondary infection that tries to take hold. WHEW!!! Dr. T is still waiting on 2 results but they will most likely be fine after reading these results. I would be surprised if he got a new diagnosis with the information we got today.

So why so much rejoicing and happiness. On the immunity level, the more of his immune system that works the better. It helps to have one of the big guns in the system up and running so he gets less infections/illnesses. Maggie had the same thing and the revaccinations seems to have pumped up her system. I feel like she has had her concerns but also has fought off a lot of infections. It eases my fears and concerns that we will repeat his six week stint of being sick this past January.

The egg allergy info is a huge weight off my back. I hated the thought of sending Ricks anywhere were he would eat without me there. I struggled with my fears that someone or somehow a mistake would be made and he would eat something with egg. And from there he would go into anaphylatic shock. This anxiety has made it harder to let go. The thought of preschool just made my stomach turn a bit. How would I control what he was eating? I would have trust the school, his teachers and other parents. That felt huge with my little baby!

One of the reasons I was so adamant was the safety issue. I also wanted to do all I could to help him outgrow this allergy asap. I wanted to be able to send him to school minus the fear or epi pen. I wanted the confidence to know that he would be as safe as can normally be expected at school or in the world. On a basic level, I wanted him to experience life as a "normal" kid. I wanted him to be able to have cake and ice cream at birthday parties, a cookie at the grocery store or a treat at a play date. It will be much easier to leave him with a babysitter or friend knowing that he can eat anything with out the fear of death.

This is all still a maybe until we do that egg challenge. We have to get past that before we can let our guard down. Until that test, Ricks is still egg-free. But the blood test does make me feel a bit better that if he does get some egg from somewhere, he hopefully will not go into shock. We thought in the fall that he might have grown out of it until he reacted to the flu shot. So I will try to keep my expectations realistic that there is still a chance he will be egg-free after the challenge.

Both of these items are blessings from God for my Little Blessing. I struggle sometimes with handing my children and their concerns over. My faith, although strong and consistent, is sometimes tested. In the end, God never lets us fall. He surprises us with things like these wonderful test results. The past couple of days I have been sick, tired and cranky. I have forgotten how blessed I am. Our journey is sometimes interesting. We hit bumpy spots, rainy times and every once in a while we get the miracle of a rainbow. Today we got one of those rainbows. I rejoice in that joy and the Power that blessed us with it. Thank you God for Your love, patience and magnificence.