One of a kind

That's us. We met with the new doc again. (I call him Dr. Books, and I really do heart him). Here's the scoop. After all of his research and reaching out to all of the other allergy type minded docs he knows and even ones he doesn't, searching high and low for guidance on how to proceed with Cason, guess what? They can't find another baby who, at 4 months, had this kind of reaction to the vaccines. Not a one. Cason is in a world occupied by uno, him and him alone. Normally, I am all about unique and being your own individual but I gotta say, here, I would have liked some reassurance that this has happened before and here's how we handled it. That would have been useful. But, not me, not my child, not my life.

That being said, at least my doc has made it so that we don't feel as though we are all alone. He plans to see us through this even if our plan is, we don't have a plan. Which feels so much better than what the other doc, little Doogie Howser, whose mantra was, "lets just rush into this the same way we would any other allergy and start sticking Cason with things we think might trigger a reaction" wanted to do.

So for now, our plan is do nothing. No shots, no tests, nada. Cason is helathy. My elimination diet (now down to no dairy and no nuts with wheat and eggs back in) has really helped clear his skin up and settle his belly. He is healthy and developmentally on schedule. Dr. Books feels after conferring with a conference full of allergists and other immunoligists, which has to be a rip roaring good time, that waiting until Cason has a more established immune system and is older(maybe 2) and better able to communicate with us, IF we test him, is the best course of action. He doesn't feel any sense of urgency. The vaccines, while important, do not have to be given at this young age. It is unlikely(yes, let's all laugh as I type that) that he will be exposed to any of the diseases in the shots. We aren't big travelers(thank you fear of flying) and he won't be in daycare(thank you overpriced and sorely underused education ) so why not wait until we can more reliably test his immune system. The only hiccup in the plan is that we are waiting for the federal investigation to be completed. This is being headed up by a doctor at Joh.ns...Hop.kins and is part of a C>D>C Adverse Event investigation, that is looking into what happened with Cason. They will make a recommendation to us and it probably will include a particular blood test for one of the ingredients in one of the vaccines. The recommendation will allow Doctor Books to order the test which is not commercially available to him. This test he wants to do. It's 'only' a blood test so there is no risk that comes with it. Unless, of course, they screw it up and use a dirty needle or rip his vein out, but I won't go there.

So for now, we wait. I drink wine, in moderation...there's a term I rarely use in connection with alcohol, and skip the cheese. And Cason, he just eats, drinks and stays healthy. I hope. He is after all, one of a kind.