Tuesday we took Ember to the allergist for allergy testing. In November she broke out in hives around her mouth after eating something. We had assumed that it was from the meringue off of a pie. So, we made the appointment for March and waited.
When we got to the allergist, we told her what happened and that we suspected an allergy to raw eggs. She said that we could test for household allergies (dogs, cats, dust, etc), seasonal allergens, eggs, and nuts. The testing wasn't at all what I expected. I thought that there were going to do needles with injections just under her skin. Instead they did these little 6 pronged trays and placed them on her back. I think the worst part for Ember, other than just being at a Dr's office, was having to be held down while they applied 4 of the trays to her back. Then we waited for 15 minutes.
After the 15 minutes, the nurse came back in and looked at Embers back, and then measured the places that seemed to be inflamed. The first spot was Histamine. It is basically their control spot to make sure that the test is working. It was a 5X7 red bump on her back. The only other spot that showed up was a 5X5 spot on her back. And it just so happened to be........if you guessed eggs, you are just as wrong as we were......Peanuts! I am SO glad that we decided to do this testing. Ember hasn't had any nuts yet since her transplant nurse mentioned to me that kids aren't supposed to have them until they are 2 now. I had told Matt that once the allergy testing was done, we might try introducing some peanut butter since she is only a few months away from turning 2. (Can you believe it?! My little monkey is going to be 2?!)
Matt was SO disappointed. He was so looking forward to sharing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with her. I told him that maybe they still could depending on if she grows out of the allergy or not. When we take her to get her normal liver labs done, they are going to draw extra blood for the allergist. She told us that it would give them a number to base how severe her allergy is and then they could track it over time. We are going to have to go back to see then in about 3 months. They gave us some information on reading labels and what she could and couldn't have. They also gave us a prescription for some Epi-Pens. Kind of scary, but I know that we won't have to use them if we just keep an eye on her.
So, for now we wait to see what the results of her blood work is. I also really need to bet my rear in gear and order her a medic alert bracelet now. She technically should already have one, but now it's even more of a necessity.
