>>I think
>>that I would wait a minimum of 48 hours after the reaction had resolved, and
>>he had been symptom-free without medication for at least 24 hours before
>>even considering taking any type of extended trip.

Thank you for your response Sandy.  We saw the allergist yesterday afternoon.
 He said we could still take the trip, but I decided to wait a week before
going anyway.  He didn't have many answers for me.  He did change the dose of
prednisone my son is to take.  He changed it to 40 mg yesterday and then 20
mg today, instead of 60 mg just on Monday.  His symptoms have been completely
resolved since he left the hospital.  He did have Benedryl yesterday morning,
but now that you mention it I think the last time we did give him Benedryl
every 6 hours for a day.  It has been 2 1/2 years since a serious reaction
and I just forget things.

I asked the allergist about the squirt gun and water balloon incident.  I
asked if out of fear his body could have produced the hives since the boys
that were teasing him have since said there wasn't any milk they just wanted
to scare him.  The allergist said it was possible.  Its one of those time
where I will never know.

I asked why he could eat the Burger King buns all that time with milk
products in them with no reaction and then have such a strong reaction to
what was probably cross contamination.  He said the milk proteins break down
at high heat and that when the buns are cooked the high temp breaks them
down.  I'm not sure I agree with that.  Another case of never know.

The allergist does want me to go talk to the manager of the McDonald's.
James has eaten food from there safely for 4 years.  I don't know if I will
get any answers, but the manager will be more aware of food allergy issues I
guess.  I doubt we will ever know exactly what happened to the food he ate.

I need to go to the school too, to talk to the principle.  The teachers won't
be in until next week while we are on our little trip.  The principle is
great and James will have the same teacher as last year.  I just want them to
know what happened.  The reaction progressed so fast I need to stress
importance of treating first and asking questions about exposure later.  I
know all to well that we don't always find the source of the reaction.

Oh and I did ask about him outgrowing this allergy.  We have done everything
we know how to do for years to prevent reactions in an effort to help his
body stop responding.  The allergist said 10 to 15% never outgrow it.  I
though I had read years ago that it was more like 1%.  I don't like these new
odds.  Perhaps they have changed.  Years ago we were told kids never out grew
peanut allergies and now we know they can, so maybe the odds of keeping a
milk allergy have increased.  I hate this.

E.J.