It flopped :-(

So, our little home style allergy test didn't work so well, at least we don't think it did.  As of 9:00 tonight, Allie had her cream corn bandage on for 48 hours.  I was going to take it off last night but she didn't want us to so we kept it on.  Basically all that happened was the corn dried on the band-aid and she had no reaction at all.  Her back was very itchy from the adhesive on the band-aid and it actually was red and a bit swollen.  So, I would say she is a little allergic to whatever is in the adhesive, but no results from the corn.  We give up - no more home style testing for Allie Rae.  I do have to say, I am happy we tried because otherwise I would have always been wondering if it would work. 

When we meet with the ENT Specialist the end of January, I'm going to ask if they can retest her for the corn allergy. I just want to make sure we didn't get a false positive reading.  Removing corn and all products of corn from her diet is challenging so we would hate to make her go corn free if she really doesn't have to be. I'm not sure if Dr. Edmonson will retest her for us or not but I figure it's working asking.

Our Dietician was back in the office today so I was able to chat with her for a bit about Allie's new formula.  As some of you might remember, the first ingredient in her Neocate Junior formula is "corn syrup solids". Our Dietician told me again today that since the ingredients are so refined, there should be no corn protein left, just corn carbohydrates.  However, she cannot guarantee that.  Tammi our Dietician contacted Dr. Edmonson herself this afternoon since Dr. Edmonson is the one who requested Allie not be on the formula.  I guess after they chatted, Dr. Edmonson agreed the formula is okay for now but they may have to change the formula in the near future - it will depend on how Allie does on it.  In my opinion, she is doing good on the new formula.  She is handing all of her feeds much better than before, however she is now back on the night time pump so that is a huge difference also.  We are no longer trying to get 1000 calories into her in 12 hours - it's now happening over 24 hours, so her volume at each feeding is much lower.  Overall the feedings are going well, however we are not moving in the right direction to possibility wean her off the tube one day.  Our first goal in the wean process is getting her off the night time pump and now our Dietician wants to increase the night time rate so she gets fed more volume during the night.  At this point, I need to just focus on Allie being able to tolerate her feedings and not think about how far away we are from weaning her.

I was driving in my van the other day and all of sudden I felt this huge cloud over me.  I realized Allie has been tube fed for a full year now.  I'm thankful for her feeding tube because it's saving her life daily, however it's a heavy feeling realizing it's been a whole year.  This past year has been very challenging, especially for poor little Allie but overall, she is advancing well and meeting all of her milestones except for her speech and of course weight and height!  (I'm still concerned that she is so short).  Hopefully one of these doctors will listen to me and address my concern!

We went out to eat tonight at a restaurant called "Grazies".  It's in Stevens Point and they make all of their own food.  We called them ahead of time and they confirmed they have stuff we could order that was gluten and corn free.  We ordered Allie rice pasta with marinara sauce.  We figured this would work great but it turned into another huge failure when going out to eat.  Chloe ordered mac & cheese and of course Allie wanted some of it.  Allie didn't even touch her rice pasta.  The minute she saw it, she started to cry and kept pointing to the mac & cheese.  The whole eating out thing is proving to be nothing more than a disaster.  Looks like we will be eating in for a while.  We are pretty bummed about this because we enjoy eating out and this mom doesn't like to cook a lot.  I don't mind making meals every couple nights but every night????  Hmmmm....looks like I am going to have to take up a new hobby called "cooking"!

My friends little boy named Eli is currently in the hospital for and infection, dehydration and now his motility is extremely slow.  He needs prayers as the doctors are trying to figure out how to treat him.  He is in a lot of pain and they are trying to stabilize him enough for possible surgery.  Please say an extra prayer for Eli and his parents tonight.  You can check out his blog at: http://ejbamommy.blogspot.com/

Here are a couple pictures from tonight....

Allie back after removing the cream corn band-aid tonight.  You really cannot see anything in this picture.

Close up of her back.  You can see the redness starting where the bandage adhesive was, however no reaction from the cream corn :(

Pink hand from coloring in the bathtub.

Look mom, I have blue hands

Just chillaxin

Allie eating her 2nd bowl of pudding tonight after her bath.  Granted there wasn't much in either bowl but at least she's eating!!!  She likes pudding and I finally found one that is gluten and corn free.

Good night!

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Our allergy test results

At 9:00 pm Allie had her band-aid with corn syrup on it for 48 hours.  We took the bandage off right before her bath and there was no irritation from the corn syrup at all.  So normal results once again.  10 minutes after taking the bandage off, her skin was very red and irritated from the bandage itself, but nothing from the corn. 

So, we are thinking the corn syrup wasn't potent enough.  I have decided we will try this once again (Matt didn't agree with me).  This time,  I put cream corn on her band-aid.  Not real sure if the bandage will even stick because it was pretty slimy, but we will see.  We will check her bandage tomorrow morning and see if anything is happening.  I have to be honest, I don't think our little home experiment is going to work - it's kind of a long shot - lol.

Besides her home style allergy test, things in the Berndt house are going pretty smoothly.  Allie is still doing well with her night time feeds.  She isn't sleeping the best but I know it's just taking her some time getting used to being hooked up to the pump again.  She always seems to get tangled in the tubing and it pulls on her button.  Of course, every time she makes a sound during the night, I run into her room because I'm nervous with all the tubing.  Her daytime bolus feeds are going well also.  She is accepting her feeds pretty well and for the most part she is keeping them down.  Her oral intake has stayed about the same but it does fluctuate a little bit more than normal.  The other day she ate a whole beef hot dog however that was the last time she really ate anything.  Last night we had homemade gluten and corn free pizza.  She only ate 3 small bites but it's better than nothing.

Tonight we went out to eat at Denny's.  It was a corn & gluten disaster.  We looked at the allergy information they provided us and basically Allie could get applesauce, fruit, bacon, hamburger patty or sausage.  Since Allie really doesn't eat meat (her chewing skills are still lacking some) she picked the applesauce and grapes.  Unfortunately, Chloe ordered golf fish crackers and Matt ordered onion rings.  Well, of course Allie wanted both of those once she seen them.  It's nearly impossible to tell a 2 1/2 year old she cannot eat something and then convince her not to have a meltdown in the restaurant.  We tried telling her no gold fish crackers but the cries and tantrum started right away.  Same thing happened with Matt's onion rings.  Of course Allie didn't each more than a few bites of each but still - we didn't keep her away from corn and gluten like we planned.  In reality, this corn and gluten free diet is proving to be harder than we though.  It's even affecting Chloe because there are certain things that she cannot eat in front of Allie.  I know we will get the hang of this diet change but in the meantime, it sucks!!!!

Time to go check Allie's corn bandage because I see her night gown is wet on the back.  My guess is the corn is leaking through - oh the drama.

Hope everyone had a safe night last night and Happy New Year everyone.  Praying everyone stays healthy and happy in 2011. 

Nothing too exciting here - this is what Allie's back looked like tonight

Too much cream corn on the band-aid - I think so.  Oh poor Allie - the things we put her through!

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