Porter's goggles.

Porter loves Kyle's Chem lab goggles.
Great fashion statement, don't you think?

Ha Ha, Just Kidding!

Did you really think Porter was allergic to wheat? I sure did! I totally had myself and everyone who has come in contact with this little guy for the past 10 days pretty convinced!
Are you surprised at the depth of the conspiracy? I know that I am. It runs deep I tell you. Deep.
So, we went to a specialist today. He told us that it doesn't seem like Porter's really allergic to wheat. If he was it would cause Porter more stomach upset and normally doesn't present itself in the way of hives, welts and his throat closing off. (I had wondered about that, but when they run a blood test, I seem to think that it's pretty set in stone. We'll talk about how that SO isn't true here in a minute.)
So good news/bad news. Good news, not really allergic to wheat (at least not in a way that we have to worry about it too much). Bad news: still don't know what caused the bad reactions.
They want us to see an allergist and have a scratch test done for different foods. The doctor we saw today thinks Porter will outgrow the wheat allergy, and that the test that was performed isn't really all that accurate.
Here's my question, why run a test if it's really not that accurate. They said that the negative results are more conclusive than the positive results. The positive results mean that he may or may not be allergic to that specific allergen. The negative results mean that he most likely isn't allergic to that allergen, but that he may possibly be allergic to it.

So, for those who are confused, let me sum it all up.

He may be allergic to the things that he was tested against that came back saying he was not allergic to them, but most likely he isn't allergic to those. He is allergic to the things that he was tested against that came back positive, unless he's not.
Do you see where I'm a tad-bit confused as to why this test was taken in the first place? Yeah, me too.

Anyway- here's the low-down.
Porter can have wheat. He isn't on any food restrictions other than formula (which is fine cause he drinks milk) until he sees an allergist or he has a reaction to something new that we give him.
It all comes down to being very good news. Confusing news, but good news all the same!

And the Winner is?

So, the doctor called this morning.

He started into how Porter has a low milk allergy, and since he tolerates milk so well already, he will most likely outgrow that.

(He was prepping me for something worse. I could tell.)

The past several days I have been wondering what it would be like if he was allergic to nuts or eggs. I've tried to imagine how that would change our way of life. Not much. I could totally handle a nut allergy. Eggs, done. No problem. Let me have it Mister Physician.

However, the discussion took a turn I wasn't quite ready for, and hadn't really thought of.


"Your son is allergic to something that is in almost every household. It exists in almost all processed foods. It tastes wonderful. This is not only going to turn Porter's life around, but yours as well. You won't even know what happened to you. He will most likely come in contact with it daily. In fact, I bet you probably have it sitting out right at this moment on your kitchen counter and if it fell off and Porter grabbed some you would have to rush him to the ER immediately. In fact, you've heard of the "bubble boy" right? Well, that's your son. Go out and buy him a large plastic bubble this instant, put him in it and never look back!"

Well, maybe it's not exactly what was said, but it's amazing how one sentence of "Porter's allergic to wheat." can sound like so much more.

I never would have guessed that Porter was allergic to wheat. But, wheat it is.

As of today, Porter is on a gluten free diet. It is possible for Porter to outgrow this allergy (that's what we're hoping for). We know that he's had several wheat products with no reactions. In fact he was eating wheat products today before I got the call. But, until further tests are done and we find out the extent of his allergy, no wheat for Porter.

But, I've decided it's a good thing. It's good to know what it is that causes these trips to the ER at 11:00 at night. I know now how to prevent it. Sure, it will be a big change, but Porter's young enough right now that he won't even know the difference. And, there's a 50% chance that he will grow out of it. All good things.

In the meantime, my boy is happy, healthy and not swollen! And his momma's happy. And his daddy's happy.

Okay, Kari I don't mean to try and one-up you, or Coldplay for that matter. Believe me, I've had Viva la Vida playing on my computer almost 24/7 since you posted about it.
I say almost 24/7 because the rest of the time, I've been listening to this.
Can I just say how much I adore Rob Thomas. I also must apologize, this is an old song that you probably all knew about. Down here in the sticks we don't keep up on the music as well.

But I think this song is just delightful.

Please enjoy.

Benadryl? Anyone? Anyone?

I realize I never posted about Porter's further problems with allergies. It's hard to imagine that the first time was only 6 weeks ago. Luckily for us, that was the worst one, and it seems to be less and less of a reaction each time. However, our sweet little swollen boy has now endured 2 more reactions. The scariest part? We don't know what these past two were caused by.

The second reaction he had was very bad. Both of his eyes swelled up (like in this picture, only much worse) and hives and welts developed all over his body (luckily it didn't get a chance to involve his airway). We rushed him to the doctor and had him shot up with more steroids. Our doctor told us to get out the camera, but I couldn't. I felt horrible photographing something so sad. Now I wish I would have had it documented with some photos. Another week of Benadryl later and we had our non-swollen little guy back.

Then this past week, he gave us the perfect photo-op. Again, not knowing what caused it, Porter's eye started to swell. Kyle caught it quickly and gave him benadryl which quickly stopped the reaction from progressing; allowing it to only affect one eye. Kyle was good enough to snap some shots this time.

When we went to see the doctor this week he decided it was a good time to run some allergy testing on Porter. We should have the results back this week, so we will hopefully know what to avoid from now on.

Porter's been a little under the weather.

So, I had an experience last week and again this week that I think would have qualified for "hazing" in terms of joining the "mom" club. Let me share.

Last week, I had just finished with a LONG night shift and I was VERY tired. I came home and corralled Porter in the front room again so I could get a little sleep.
Porter got more than a little fussy, so I figured he might be tired and I picked him up and laid him on my chest. Sure enough he started to doze off. Then I heard a "Bleccchhhh" (that's how you spell vomit in case you didn't know). I came to a quick realization that curdled milk vomit is quite possibly the most disgusting thing in the world. Just as that realization occured I heard another "Bleccchhhh" only this time, Porter was gracious enough to have scooted his little body further down my body and now I had the curdled milk all over my stomach. Porter had ground his face into my stomach and as I tried to sit him up so that he wouldn't get it all over himself I got one more "Bleccchhh" which was positioned right over my lap.

I was now covered from chest to the top of my legs in the most disgusting wetness that I have ever experienced.

I tried very hard not to get any on my rug or my couch as I picked up Porter to rush him into a bathtub. I also quickly changed my shirt so I wouldn't drag vomit across my house. I got into the bathroom, stripped him down and as I removed his diaper there was this explosion. There was poop everywhere and Porter, thinking it was great, grabbed a handful.

I quickly picked him up and rushed him over to the sink to wash off his hand before his poop-filled grasp could make it's way onto my walls, floor or even worse... his mouth. Without thinking, I propped him up between the counter and myself to wash his hand at the sink. It was at this point that poop joined the mix on the front of me. I can't really complain, I was the one that put his soiled little hiney against my stomach, but I have to say it was at this point that I just about cried.

After getting his hand sanitized and his little bottom wiped off, I tossed him in a tub to scrub him down and he started giggling. As I was sitting at the side of the tub with him laughing and giggling at me I smiled. I knew that I was happy to be a mom. The work isn't always the most glamorous, but it's so rewarding. The darling little boy in front of me made it all so worth it...

...and then he smiled and peed all down the front of me.

Miss Sophie Camps Out!

Here you go Angie! This is my favorite photo this weekend of little Miss Sophie. So here's one, at least, that will document that she went camping and survived the snow and the rain. I will post more from this weekend, but just so you know that at least one of the three cameras shooting away caught a shot of your little one.

Porter's New Do

Porter got his first haircut on Monday. He did very good and held very still for the nice lady cutting his hair. I didn't feel like my skills are adequate for cutting such a young child's hair. However, if I had known how she was going to do it, I easily would have cut it myself. She grabbed chunks and just cut here and there, no rhyme or reason to it, and 5 minutes later we had this:

A very clean cut Porter, who (by the way) is totally working it in this picture.

Over the weekend we had so much fun spending time with my family in the high Uinta's camping. (pictures to come)

What happened?

A whole week has gone by since my last post. It has been such a crazy/hectic week that I totally forgot!

Well, let's do another catch up for the past week.

Last Thursday morning Porter had another allergic reaction. This time it wasn't as bad. Porter woke up and started playing around. I had worked a night shift, so I corralled Porter into the front room and I tried to nap while he played. He started acting really funny, couldn't hold still and was being a little clingy, so I pulled him up onto my chest at about 8:30 to let him fall asleep. I had when I pulled him up that there was a little bump on his right eye, but I didn't think much about it.

About an hour later he hadn't fallen asleep and he was just tossing and turning on top of me. I sat up to hold him and I noticed his eyelids were swelling. They had looked slightly swollen before that, but sometimes when he wakes up his eyes are puffy. I didn't think anything of it. By 9:45 his eyelids were swollen to the size of ping-pong balls.

I called Kyle at school to get home ASAP and I called the doctor to get him an appointment. While I was waiting to see when I could bring him in, Kyle got home and started changing his diaper. Porter wears long sleeves and long pants to bed, so he was fully covered at the time. That is what was hiding the hives all over his poor body. I had changed his bottom at 9:00 and there was nothing there.

More than half of his body was hives and welts. I couldn't believe it, here we go again. I quickly gave him a dose of Benadryl and off to the Dr.'s office we went. They gave him some steroids and told us to give him yet another week of Benadryl.

Within 2 hours he was back to normal and you wouldn't have ever guessed that he had had a reaction again. The worst part about this experience is that we have no idea what triggered it this time. So, lucky us and lucky Porter, we get to carry an epi-pen with us wherever we go from now on. I think we'll just duct tape it to his back!

I didn't take pictures, he just looked so pitiful. But, he was still acting himself. The doctor commented while he was evaluating Porter that he was so calm for having more hive than little boy present on his body. It looked so itchy and yet Porter sat still for his exam. He smiled, waved and said "hi" to everyone who came within his sight. He is such a darling little boy, I feel so bad about his allergies.

The next day we headed to Moab for a really really quick trip! We hit the ground running and hiked to Corona and Bowtie Arch after we got there Friday night. (Corona Arch)

About 1/8 of the way back, I rolled my ankle. I heard and felt a loud "POP" and collapsed. I then had to opportunity to hobble the rest of the way out with the help of Kyle, Carri and Dave.

Since I ruined the rest of the weekend for hiking, we decided to take a ride out on Poison Spider and out to Little Arch. It was a beautiful view of Moab from the top of Poison Spider. It was a fun drive and I only had to walk when I was too terrified to ride! There were some places that got pretty steep! I stayed in the car for this part, but I wished I had stepped out to get a shot too.

(Thanks for the shot Carri!)

(Dave and Carri over Little Arch)
It was a great weekend, really fast and we both wished we could have stayed longer, but work was calling me home on Sunday.

My ankle is quite a bit better. It was a bad sprain and although the tendon on the side of my ankle still hurts, I can now walk without looking like a gimp!

It's a week later and it's just flown by, I don't know what happened with all of the time I thought I was going to have on my hands this week.