Ozzy's New Allergist

As we think you all know, we've pretty much decided to quit the peanut study. In light of the hazelnut/pistachio situation, 'curing' Oz of the peanut thing adds nothing more. That being said, our pediatrician strongly suggested that we establish a relationship with a local allergist for Oz. We were very reluctant to do it, as we feel an allergist would bring almost nothing to the table in our situation. Hey, our pediatrician can order any future blood tests and can also write prescriptions for EpiPens. Whatever.

We decided to try this doctor- Dr. Kalik- on referal from Oz's regular doc. Honestly, going in the appointment seemed like a huge waste of time. All this new guy could possibly do that was helpful is be willing to administer a food challenge for the hazelnuts, and I was pretty sure he'd look at Oz's numbers and just say 'no way'.

The doctor was nice- he spent some real time with us understanding what we'd been through and actually put some thought into what we needed. Austin's hazelnut RAST is 10.8 (again 2+ is considered allergic). It was a crazy long shot asking for the food challenge... but the guy said that we could try IF Austin first passes a hazelnut skin test!!

This is a pretty big deal. We can learn a lot about this new allergy, but this was the only way to do it. Hopefully the reaction is mild if any- but no matter what, at least we'll have an idea what Austin's really facing.

Appointment is set for Oct 26th.



**Just as a side note, the folks in Little Rock said that not only would they NOT consider doing a food challenge on the hazelnuts for Oz, they also wouldn't advocate for him to have it done elsewhere. In other words, they pretty much said that they would not help him at all here. Austin continues his 13 m&m's a day, sometimes with mouth itching. While we have decided against continuing with LR, they don't officially know it yet.