I got hoodwinked

Upon our return to SC, I immediately made all those doctor and dentist appointments that we'd put off until we got home. One of the appointments we all had been dreading the most was the trip to Mac's allergist. Mac did the skin test in October and he wanted to scratch his arm off after that, so when the doctor said we needed to do an "open food challenge" for nuts whenever we got back home, Mac has panicked about that for the last 8 months.

I made the open food challenge appointment for yesterday morning and was told to bring in nuts for Mac to eat. Well I misunderstood the doctor's email from last October and thought we were going to test for cashews and pistachios which scored the highest on the skin test. Turns out we're not going to test for those at all because Mac just has to completely avoid those nuts entirely.

But when Mac saw the two jars of nuts that he (and I) thought he was going to have to eat, he freaked out and so I did what any desperate mother would do.

I bribed him.

I told him if he'd eat the nuts and get through the appointment, I'd go buy him this Nintendo DSi game system because he's apparently the only school-aged child left in America without one. That perked him up considerably and so we were off to the doctor's office.

We got there and I handed over all our nuts and then we were called back to start. The doctor then told me that we weren't going to test for pistachios and cashews and that since peanuts are the #1 allergen, we were going to test for that.

I asserted that Mac eats peanut butter all the time (contrary to the doctor's orders from October) and that I was pretty sure he didn't have an allergy to peanuts. All I could think was that I'd promised what ended up being a $300 expense (by the time we bought the system, 2 games, and the "starter kit" with the case, car charger, etc) for MAC TO EAT ONE OF HIS FAVORITE FOODS???? They had to be kidding.

But alas, they were not.

We spent 2 hours at the allergist's doing an open food challenge where Mac ate more and more peanut butter so that we could prove what I, Dr. Mom, already knew. He's been certified peanut allergy-free.

Now we have to schedule pecan and walnut challenges and I told Mac if he doesn't go through with those tests as nicely as he did the peanut butter, he loses the DSi. Right.

The only positive news is that I have 2 jars of my favorite nuts that I get to eat as part of my own open food challenge. I want to make sure I don't have an unknown allergy.

Last night when we said prayers, Mac thanked God for "the best day of his whole life, for the DSi, and for his Mom spending $300 on him." We've come a long way from a few weeks ago at his friend's weekend house when he told me I ruined everything good in his life. I like days like yesterday much better even if they cost $300.