Our Son Finally Goes A Little Nuts

on our way up to the doctors
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“I’m not going to eat it! You can’t make me!” snapped Master9 at the doctor’s rooms today. 

We were sitting with an allergy specialist and he’d just conducted prick tests on our little man and discovered the peanut, and to a lesser degree fish, allergies we’d been eating around for the past seven years are no more.

Despite our normally well behaved boy turning into an almost unrecognizable frowning, foot stomping, arm crossing, angry kid, we persisted to try entice him to taste the bit of peanut butter on the spoon the doctor was holding out.

“Think. If you try this and nothing happens you can eat the birthday cakes kids bring into class,” said Tracey.

“I don’t like cake,” he lied. He pointed at the spoon. “I am not eating that!”

“If you try it,” said Tracey, “we’ll buy you a lolly downstairs. Or a softdrink.”

I couldn’t blame Tracey for resorting to bribery. She’s a big fan of peanut butter and the last seven years have been particularly hard on her.

“Or a Minecraft mod?” I offered. I miss satay chicken.

“I can’t enjoy any of that if I’m dead,” Master9 countered.

I couldn’t blame him, really. The last seven years have been spent programming him to check the ingredients of anything he intends putting into his mouth. He was such a good study he wouldn’t even touch a fish to feed it to a dolphin when we were holidaying at Tin Can Bay.

This wonderful news has us in a bit of a spin. We’d been expecting, at best, to be offered a chance to desensitize Master9 to peanuts, not to have him declared ‘cured’. Apparently there’s a 20% chance of this happening and he just happened to be the one in five. I’m not ashamed to say I’ve shed a couple of tears today. In fact, I’m rather happy to report it.

in the lift having been told the good news
See how happy we look 🙂 that’s because we sense a change of menu.

Prior to this episode at the doctor’s, Master9 thought the whole thing was a bit of a laugh.

“I’m getting my peanuts checked,” he was joking with his cousins only a day earlier. Boys being boys, they weren’t talking about legumes. “Peanuts. Get it, Dad?”

“Yep,” I told him. “So no need to show me. Pull your pants up.”

“They shouldn’t be called peanuts,” the doctor told us when we first entered the surgery today. “They’re not nuts at all. They’re part of the bean family. It’d be more correct to call them nutpeas.”

“You hear that,” said Master9, still on a roll. “He said my nuts are like peas.” The kid was on fire right up until the doctor produced the jar of peanut butter and the spoon.

Not that it was an easily won battle either. The doctor took another patient in while we sat in the waiting room trying to convince Master9 to sample this previously forbidden ‘fruit’.

And even then, it seems the whole thing has been for nothing.

At least according to Master9.

“I don’t know why anyone would want to eat this stuff,” he complained when we finally convinced him to sample a smidgen of peanut butter off the spoon. He held out for a $30 Pokemon card box set and the promise of sleepovers at Grandma’s and Nanny’s.  “It’s disgusting.” Apparently he has no intention of changing his diet.

But that’s not the important thing here, is it? No, the important thing is Tracey and I can change ours! 🙂

proud owner of a new Pokemon Box set of cards

🙂 please share 🙂

“Raising a family on little more than laughs.”

12 Comments

  • What a relief that must be! Both being able to relax about food ingredients and the fact that you didn’t have to bribe the kid with a dirt bike.
    I mean, pokemon cards!? Kids are soo cheap 😉

  • Oh, you have given me immense hope! My Miss 9 also has a nut allergy and her last test came back at 20% improvement rate. And personally, I don’t care if she doesn’t ever want to eat nuts if she loses her allergy, I just want to be able to have roasted cashews on my phad thai again! I’m with you and Tracey!

  • Snickers! Peanut M&M’s! The world is our oyster! Plus we found out today we’ve been avoiding peanut oil for no good reason – Doc told us it doesn’t effect those with the allergy. Not sure why. He went on to explain but after his initial comment my head was filled with deafeningly loud thoughts of “What the hell? Why wasn’t I told?”

  • That’s fantastic! My master 3.5 was allergic to peanuts for two of his three short years and oh I missed them! So I can SO relate to the joy of bringing them back into your diet 🙂 Congrats!

  • Yay, it is so great to be freed up from restrictions isn’t it, while knowing your little guy is absolutely safe.
    I have to do the gluten free , lactose free thing for my son but it’s a sensitivity (instant trots) not an allergy. The former is annoying the latter is terrifying.

  • Now if we can just cure a few of the kids of their ‘pick up after themselves’ allergies that would be perfect

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