Today Will had an appointment with the allergist to confirm what we have recently suspected and feared: HE IS ALLERGIC TO PEANUTS.
This is somewhat puzzling since we have been giving him peanut foods for the better part of a year - started when we accidentally gave him some chips that we later found out were fried in peanut oil. When he was fine with that we gave him peanut butter sandwiches - he never ate more than a few bites so we stopped pushing it on him, but it was never an apparent problem until recently. A couple weeks ago he ate 2 peanut M&M's (he peed in the potty at a store so it was necessary to get candy for him). He almost immediately broke out in a rash and had some wheezy breathing problems (treated with Benadryl - no further problems). We had attributed this to the milk chocolate, since he is also allergic to cow's milk. But this weekend when we were barbecuing I gave him a roasted peanut. After eating it he immediately had a similar reaction (similarly treated with Benadryl), so we began to worry and got him in to see the allergist as soon as we could.
I probably don't have to mention that this is a serious allergy, with potentially much more severe consequences than his milk allergy. It is possible and maybe likely that his reactions will get progressively worse with more exposure to peanuts. We have with us at all times an epinephrine injection (EpiPen) which will work as an emergency treatment in case he is inadvertently exposed and has a severe reaction, and will explain how to use it for anyone who might be watching him in the future.
I am not quite sure yet the lengths we need to take to keep him away from peanuts, will let everyone know more when we learn more. I hope this doesn't mean his friends and family can no longer have any peanut products if he is around them but this might very well be a necessary precaution.
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