The Allergist

We had our follow-up visit with the allergist today. A few weeks ago, I decided to take Claire in for testing after she had her contact reaction to hummus (everywhere after I wiped it off her face -- and there was a lot of it since we gave her the container to lick -- left red marks!) and then some random reactions to who-knows-what.

I chose Dr. Schmitt because he's board certified for pediatric allergies, which I thought was a nice distinction. After meeting him, I think he's a good choice as he seems to spend ample time with his patients and answers all of my questions and then some. Our first consult gave me a lot of information to consider, and I decided to have her blood drawn rather than trying to figure out how to restrain a toddler for 20 minutes while they pricked her skin.

I'm not sure who was more traumatized by the blood being drawn, Claire or me. Many of you have probably had blood drawn as an adult ... well, it's the exact same thing for a toddler. Same needle in the arm; same vials to be filled. Again, I have to brag about what an amazing person Claire is. Even though she had tears running down her face and kept repeating "boo-boo, boo-boo", she sat in my lap and didn't move her arm. Afterwards, after we left the lab, there were definitely post-trauma tears (and a little shaking by Mommy), but overall we survived.

A couple of days later, I got a message from the dr's office to say that the results are back and until we had time to do our consult, we should stay away from peanuts, eggs, and all melons. You think it sounds easy, but I almost immediately gave her watermelon (which she had no reaction and loves) and James gave her ranch dressing which has mayonnaise (which is made of egg whites) to which she did have a reaction.

Today we did our consult to hear the exact results. Essentially, Claire has been set up by her two parents to be a perfect candidate for asthma, eczema, and allergies. Sorry, babe. Her strongest reactions are to peanut, eggs, and canteloupe, but there was a host of other things that she had some level of reaction to in the labs (I'm serious, the list was astonishing).

We can continue to give her eggs if they're baked/fried because the high-temp cooking seems to change the composition of the egg proteins (which is what you're allergic to), but we're definitely going to be more careful. We'll be staying away from all nuts, which is fine, but can use our discretion on things that "may contain trace nuts" or are "processed on machinery that also processes nuts" because the allergist said that there is no real governance on those labels. To be safe, we'll stay away from canteloupe and honeydew (which, not sure if you've noticed, but "fresh fruit" anywhere you go is usually canteloupe, honeydew, watermelon, and pineapple), but I don't think we'll be giving up watermelon which the allergist said is fine as long as she hasn't had a reaction and loves it.

Some good news, the test for shrimp was negative as were the tests for environmental factors (mold, pollen, dust, animals, etc). The allergist also gave us some recommendations on the medications that her pediatrician has prescribed -- and concurred with his assessments, which I really liked on the part of both doctors! -- and will work with us moving forward on a treatment plan long-term.

Whew! It's a lot to consider, but I'm definitely in the camp that is glad to know. So remember, dear reader, no peanuts (or nuts), straight eggs, or canteloupes/honeydew for our little one. I do NOT intend to use that Epi-Pen anytime soon ... or EVER!