Six little, five little, four little allergies …

For four weeks now, C has been eating a food that was previously off-limits: wheat. Blood tests done in the U.S. last year indicated that he was much less likely to develop a reaction to it. However, there was not enough time to follow those tests with a food challenge. Working through a new contact – and subsequent friend – here in Germany, Katherine made an appointment with an allergist at the children’s hospital run by the German Red Cross in nearby Siegen.

Based on the exam and a review of the test results, the allergist recommended that a food challenge be done. Early last month, the clinic applied a test that didn’t go so well. The poor lad had to drink quite a lot of two not-so-smoothies to get enough wheat (plus a control) into his system. At the end of the testing, he just couldn’t keep it all down.

First wheat cupcake!
First wheat cupcake!

The doctor wasn’t convinced that this reaction was due to an allergy, and she suggested that Katherine give C a little wheat here at home. So Katherine baked him some chocolate cupcakes that included some wheat flour. With little to no coercion, he tried them, liked them, and – more importantly – did not react. We waited one day, two days, and still saw no signs of his body rejecting the new food. The whole family gave up a cautious “Hallelujah!”

Over the next few weeks, Katherine tried additional wheat foods and increased the amount that our very happy boy was eating. There was still no reaction. With four weeks behind us, it seems that the lad is in the clear!

C and his first pretzel!
C and his first pretzel!

Katherine discovered during this time that an area bakery, which is based within a very short walk of our home, keeps a thorough catalog of their products. It lists all of the ingredients for each item. If there’s a possibility that the product contains trace amounts of any of the common allergens, the catalog lists that, too. With that information in hand, Katherine got the boy a treat – his first soft pretzel!

We are ecstatic that our son is free now from an allergy that put some of the most severe restrictions on his diet. Our thanks go to the LORD our God for hearing our prayers – and those of family and friends – over these many years. He has taken soy and wheat off of C’s list now, with only milk, eggs, peanuts, and (most) tree nuts still out-of-bounds.

Praise God with us for this wonderful development! Please keep praying for our boy’s allergies and health, when you think of it. Who knows but that we may soon see more of these allergies fall by the wayside?

Ya gotta love a good plugin

There’s not really much point to this post except to test a plugin that I’ve installed on the site called Scripturizer. It’s supposed to take Bible references and link them out to the text available at BibleGateway, which is a great resource. All I have to do, they say, is write something like John 3:16. That’s it!