To try to make this as short as possible, I will just say that we are dealing with two different issues on the immunities and digestion. They were trying to figure out if they were related and in what way, and have figured out that they are not related. So, there are two underlying issues with our little man.
The first, the digestion, is basically food sensitivities and intolerances. He is not "allergic" (as in typical food allergy swelling, hives, etc) to any foods. However, he cannot tolerate milk, eggs, soy or gluten. Upon eliminating these from his diet, our little man eats like a champ, and rarely has any vomiting or effects of eating. We will keep these out of his diet for a period of time, then slowly reintroduce them one at a time to see if his body can build a tolerance for them.
On the second issue, his immunities, we have had some mixed information, but for the most part, it has been confirmed that he has an immune deficiency. The immune system is extremely complex, but for the simple explanation, his IgA and IgG antibodies are "extremely low" but not "deficient". The IgG antibodies have 14 subcategories, and he is low in 11 of the 14. Test results against his immunizations have shown that his body has not responded to his Prevnar immunization. However, when given an pneumococcial vaccine booster, it DID boost his subcategories to where he was ok in 8 of the 14 (greater than 50% which is what they look for).
All of this to say that we have now been told that with the results of the booster test, and being on a preventative antibiotic and a probiotic, C.J. has been cleared to attend preschool in the fall for 2 days. The only stipulation to this is to keep track of any infections and to withdraw him immediately upon any major infections, pneumonia or something causing hospitalization.
They will retest his antibodies in 6 months when he is 2 years old to see if there is any change in them. They are optimistic that the numbers will go up. That would be great since it means that his body is just "slower than normal" at developing his immune system. If they do not go up or if they go down, they will begin infusion treatments to try to boost the immune system.
In the midst of all of this testing, in the allergy panel, we did find out that C.J. does have some indoor allergies. These would be that he is allergic to dog, cat and dust. The major allergy is to cats. The Dr said if we had a cat, she would say it must go immediately. We do not. However, we do have our bloved dog, Cher, who is not going anywhere! The Dr said just to keep Cher out of C.J.'s room as in she can NEVER go in there again. And, after Cher is gone, no more dogs. Basically she just said that C.J. can never sleep anywhere that a dog or especially cat has been.
As for the dust, I did ask ... "how do I get rid of the dust?" Thinking I would find out some ingenious information to share with housewives all over the world, I was highly disappointed with her answer ... "you can never get rid of all of the dust." So, there you have it ladies. As much as you clean, you can never get rid of the dust. That's my story, and I am sticking to it!!!!
She did give us some precautions to take and some cleaning tips and preventative measures (such as changing the air filter once a month, dusting his room "often", keeping his door closed, using allergen covers on mattresses and pillows, etc).
We'll finish this post up with a pic of our beloved Cher-Bear. So glad that she can stay!!!!
1 comment:
good to hear you finally have some answers. he's such a cutie!
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