The Gnome King

As a child of the 80's, the cult classic, "Return to Oz", inspired both fascination and fear. The scene where the villainous Gnome King is defeated by swallowing a chicken egg (which are deadly poisonous to gnomes) now resonates on a whole new level for me.

These days I find myself living in fear of eggs. Panic stricken by even having them in my refrigerator (double wrapped in plastic bags and hidden in the back in case one of the children decides that raw eggs would be such a great snack!)  Just the mention of French Toast at daycare sent me into frenzy. Why?

When W was 3 months old I was making a quiche for dinner.  Just as I was finishing up my prep, W started to get fussy and by the time I had the quiche in the oven, he was screaming.  In a hurry to get him, I washed my hands quickly (not carefully) and picked him up. Within minutes hives started to appear all over his face, arms, and torso.  Just a bit later, one eye began to swell.

After a dose of Benadryl we rushed him to the pediatrician who told us that it looked very much like an allergic reaction.  A visit with the allergist a few days later confirmed that W was allergic to eggs and that his reaction was brought on through contact with the egg.

The level of allergies is measured by IgE, Immunoglobulin E, which is a type of antibody that goes into action when a allergen is present.  In order for W to be labeled as allergic to eggs his level needed to be 2 or higher when egg is present (this is for children under the age of 5). His first testing at 3 months resulted in a 2.  At 7 months, his level was a 14 and at his last test at 9 months, it was 30.

How sensitive is he?
He has reacted by touch twice, and has broken out into rashes twice when eggs were being cooked around him. He cannot have the white or the yolk (the white is usually the more allergy provoking part anyways).  From what we can tell, he doesn't react to baked goods when he touches them, but he can obviously not eat them.

Will he grow out of his allergy?
80% of children grow out of an egg allergy.  This being said, his testing shows increases of IgE not decreases.  Out of all of his allergies, the egg is the worst for now, and Eggs Benedict will likely be off the menu for life, but I have every hope that he will one day be able to eat piece of cake or a brownie.

So that was how our allergy story began and why I can never look at Fairuza Balk the same again.