I love the passing of time

Annie asked us, the week before Thanksgiving, if she could have hot lunch instead of bringing her lunch to school. She said that her friend, Anna, suggested she ask her mom. So, I’m thinking there were all kinds of conversations at lunch time about how Annie wanted hot lunch.

Anyway, we said she could get it twice a week, for a while (it’s $23.50 for 10 lunch ticket, too expensive to do every day). And, she has been talking, non-stop, about hot lunch ever since. She gets the lunch menu/calendar down from the fridge, pores over it, circles days, then crosses them out & circles others. I’ve never seen someone so excited about hot lunch.

She finally had hot lunch for the first time on Monday this week & told us all about it, in detail - who was in line with her, what she did, what she got, what was said, how it tasted, what she ate, what she didn’t eat, etc.

She’s eating it again, today, so I expect to hear the same report later, when I get home from work.

And, all of that is great.

Except…

Last night, as they were lying in bed, Annie was talking about how she would be getting hot lunch today and I wouldn’t have to make her lunch for her, while I was making the other kids’ lunches. And, then, Shelby said “Mom, when I’m not allergic to milk anymore, the first thing I’m going to have is pizza. Cheese pizza. Every day. I wonder what it tastes like”

:-(

I googled a bit last night, regarding outgrowing milk allergies, because we had kind of started to become resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be outgrowing it. When he was first diagnosed, everyone said “Oh, don’t worry, most kids outgrow it by the time they’re 2 years old.” Then, when he didn’t outgrow it, they said “Most kids outgrow it before they start school”. Then, it was 8 years old… And, he’s almost 9, now. His RAST test did show a slight decrease in IgE antibiodies last July, but, still showed him as allergic. We’d kind of given up on hoping.

But, last night, I found an article from about a year ago ( http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/11/12/milk.allergy/index.html ), talking about a study that says that, actually, ‘most kids’ *don’t* outgrow milk allergies by the time they’re two years old. Only about 20% outgrow it by the time they are 4 years old! And, it goes on - 42% by age 8! Still not ‘most’. Finally, 64% by age 12. At least that’s more than half - still not ‘most’, though. And, finally 79% of the 807 kids in the study outgrew their milk allergy by the time they were 16. OK, that’s ‘most’. Or, close to it, anyway.

Sure, that still leaves 20% that don’t outgrow it, but we are much more hopeful this morning (I emailed Jim w/the article last night -and- told Shelby about it this morning). And, hope is such a nice feeling - much better than ‘resigned’!

I hope that, since this article came out, allergists are giving parents more realistic information, so that they can plan better and keep on hoping!