Yes, I realize the world at large will not flock to this blog post, but it serves us well as a means of sharing this update with friends and family who come in contact with Anna Zane on a more regular basis. It's my one-spot stop to explain . . . . We all know the written word is the way I process and best communicate. So here goes.
Long story short: Anna Zane suffered an exposure to sesame at school in May. One fact of that incident is concerning to us: There was no visible trace of sesame anywhere to be seen. Like I said, it is a long story about how she was exposed; for the purposes of this blog, we will focus on the fact she reacted in hefty fashion to an invisible trace of sesame on her finger . . . that landed in her eye. Whiz. Bang. Boom. Swollen eye and cheek and lips. Epi pen, hospital, the whole nine yards.
That landed us in the allergist office. Since the end of May, Anna had a blood test and a skin test. Today, we received the verdict on all of it.
Here's what we discovered:
1. Anna is severely allergic to sesame. This is not news, obviously. She is still bi-phasic anaphylactic. The only new bit of info to come along is her increased sensitivity. Her reaction has moved from "ingestion only" to "contact," meaning she will react in some form or fashion if she touches sesame. This also points to the likelihood of her sensitivity to her allergy increasing every time she has an exposure. We pray to God that she never enters the "air borne" phase of this.
2. Blood work confirmed an "impressive" allergy to mountain cedar. This explains why her eyes swelled and were blood red when visiting family surrounded by freshly chopped mountain cedar. Hello, Zyrtec.
3. To me the next development seemed out of the blue, however, her doctor was not surprised. Tree nuts, specifically Brazil nut, pecans, and walnuts also posted "impressive" results with almonds, cashew, and pistachios coming in at "mild." It appears that she now has cross-reactivity issues with some tree nuts . . . well, varying degrees with tree nuts. What in the world is cross-reactivity? Ah, I'm so glad you asked. First, know that science doesn't know WHY or HOW allergic food reactions first occur . . . like why one person has it and another doesn't . . . or even why sometimes it escalates and sometimes it doesn't . . . . why some grow out of it, etc. But it does know this: In most instances, the antibody created to "fight" when she ingests sesame is coded super specifically: It will only start fighting when it identifies the sesame protein that triggers her allergy. However, in instances of cross-reactivity, that antibody gets a faulty signal. There is something about the protein make-up that is similar to these tree nuts that causes a percentage of those antibodies to think it's sesame, and thus, start to fight. This explains why her tummy hurts, tongues tickles, and ears burn when she eats pecans. So the tricky part is this: Can she continue to eat tree nuts -- even tree nuts she consumed many, many times before (pistachios) -- safely? The reaction to date isn't ANYWHERE close the reaction to sesame. Not only is the reaction not close, but the numbers in the blood work and skin test are no where NEAR her sesame. (For the record, the tree nut spots from the skin test are gone. Her sesame spot on the skin test? Is a hard knot about the size of a half dollar -- red and tender. That's after two rounds of benadryl cream, washing with soap/water, a dose of Zyrtec, and a dose of Benadryl.) The doctor completely recommends avoiding all tree nuts because, as he put it, it's like playing Russian Roulette. Most of the time when she eats nuts, she will likely have a mild reaction because a small percentage of the antibodies think those proteins are sesame and not tree nut. However, there is no way to predict when a larger percentage of those antibodies will get the faulty message . . . . If that happens, it's a full-on anaphylactic reaction.
There you have it. We are still processing and making changes to school, home, and play -- digesting this information. But, I think it is safe to say we are saying adios, tree nuts. Now our dates nights will consist of humus for an appetizer, sushi for a main course, and pecan praline for dessert. ;-)
