Allergies, Revisited
Posted By Jill on May 5, 2011
Mac has really been suffering with what we are assuming is seasonal allergies for the past few weeks. Since he can also now get retested for his food allergies, I decided we needed to get him to the allergist sooner rather than later. We went on Monday of this week. The allergist checked him out and agreed that it looked like seasonal allergy symptoms, and he gave us some recommendations for medications Mac could use, so we’re hoping that does the trick without too much more intervention, at least until Mac is old enough to understand the concept a little better.
He was also retested for his food allergies (peanut and egg). That required drawing blood. Now, those of you who have never encountered Mac in “fighting back” mode (or carried him in your belly for 9 months) may not be aware of how very strong this little boy is. The first part wasn’t bad at all. Mac was tolerant (much to my surprise) of the nurse putting the band around each arm and checking for a vein. But then another nurse came in… I think every time we’ve had anything at the doctor’s office where someone has had to hold him down for something, the nurses comment, “he’s so strong.” Um, yeah. Much like the first blood test, Jeremy held Mac’s legs at the end of the table and then held his shoulders down while one nurse held his arm and the other did the poking.
He fought it hard. He fought so hard, actually, that he got little red spots all around his face. That has happened to me too; yet another skin issue I’ve passed along to him I guess (it’s not harmful and doesn’t itch, really you can’t feel it at all, looks way worse than it is). Poor kid. But he recovered very quickly. He left saying, “I don’t like two guys.” My heart was breaking! I had told him on our way that he’d have to get “ouchies” at the doctor but that I hoped he could be a brave boy. Just minutes after we were finished, he wanted to go see the fishies!
Anyway, we have to wait at least until the end of the week (could take up to two weeks) for the results, but the allergist said the levels were pretty low in his first test, so he expects good news. Stay tuned!
UPDATE:
Allergy test results are in.
Bad news: He is still allergic to both peanuts and eggs.
Bad news: We still need to carry the Epi-Pen.
Good news: His levels are DOWN for both allergens (peanuts and eggs). Peanuts went from 5.05 to 2.82 and eggs went from 6.42 to 2.37.
Good news: Because the levels are going DOWN, he can be rechecked in another 2 years, and maybe by then he’ll be cleared!
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