More Allergy Testing...Did He Pass?????

About a month ago I took Tate in for allergy testing with the commercially prepared antigens of eggs, nuts and oranges.  He responded greatly to the nut panel, but not at all to the egg and orange panel!  I was so excited.  Though actually he didn't respond to the orange panel a year ago, but did respond to the natural orange being injected.  We returned today to do the scratch test with natural egg and natural orange. I had very high hopes that all would be clear.

I would be very wrong. 

He was actually non-responsive to the prick with the natural orange.

He got a huge welt, redness and smaller bumps in the vicinity with the egg.  In fact, I got a bit of egg on my hand as I was holding him and where the egg actually touched his shoulder he broke out in redness.  

He was such a trooper too.  Last night I told him we were going to see his allergist today (Friday).  I told him they were going to put the tingles on his back again, but just 4 this time.  (last time there were about 20)  He told me very sweetly "I'm not going to cry when they do the tingles this time."  I told him it was ok to cry and reminded him that he didn't start crying last time until they had done about 9 or 10 of them, so I was very impressed.  

Today was much harder though, poor baby.  I had to bring a plain scrambled egg and an orange.  He was in a fabulous mood when we got there.  He was weighed (37.2 pounds...down a 1/2 pound from a month ago) and gowned up :).  He loved the gown with dalmatians and fire trucks all over it.  Today's nurse was absolutely fantastic!  We loved her.  She engaged Tate in conversation, and he just walked over to her and chatted her up, hands on her legs and touching her arm.  I love this boy!  He had to do a flowmeter test which was hilarious watching him try to figure out how to do it....how to take a big breath then blow quickly.  He did finally get it though.  Apparently, they have to be sure their lungs are not only clear but full and not constricted in case of an anaphylactic reaction.  In addition, Tate has just become congested in the past 24 hours, so this was worrisome when it came to his breathing for a food challenge.  But he passed the flow meter test, so I opted to move forward.  

Fantastic nurse (I know her name, but I'm not going to use it here) cleaned his back and drew the lines which had him giggling.  Then it was time to put the egg under his skin.  She had to place a bit of the scrambled egg on his back and then push the needle through the egg making sure to get the egg under his skin.  He immediately started crying.  I felt so bad for him.  The orange was a bit easier because it was the juice from the orange, so it went in really easily.  Then the control and histamine.  A couple of minutes of tears, lots of hugs and we were good.  Fantastic nurse brought us in a portable heater (did I say how much I LOVE her!!) and we were good to go.  We had a 20 minute wait.  Almost immediately he reacted to the egg.  He was splotchy red and itching.  However as I said he didn't react to the orange at all.  

Before the tingles... 

After the tingles...sweet boy

Still smiling though...love him! 

This is about 3 minutes after the pricks.  You can see
the welt from the egg and the surrounding redness.  The
orange stick is red as well, but no welt.  Some redness is
expected, but the amount around the egg prick is
expanding quickly.

So no egg food challenge for us today.  Doc said we can come back if/when we want to let him try baked goods, ie a food made with eggs in it to see if he responds to that.  67-70% of people who are allergic to eggs can ingest food made with eggs.  He doesn't want him to have any without a food challenge first because of the severity of his reaction at 13 months old.  At that point he had never had a food made with egg, so we don't know how he will tolerate it.  In addition his back was pretty inflamed from just a pinch of egg today and it also got irritated with egg just on his skin...not good signs.

So then Doc and I discussed doing a food challenge with an orange.  He pretty much left it up to me.  I figured what the heck...let's do it.  He said he'd never done a food challenge with oranges before because Tate is the first person he's ever known with an orange allergy, which I knew.  This is a very rare allergy.  However, he was really concerned about doing this because Tate's reaction to the orange at 16 months old was so severe, landing him in the ER with him getting a shot of epinephrine.  We soldiered on.  Fantastic nurse brought us back our orange, and I convinced Tate to eat an entire slice.  

Then we had to wait an hour.  We had already been there 90 minutes.

We played with the blocks they had in the room which surprised me because Tate has never ever shown any interest in building anything with blocks in my presence.  He played with his two trains I brought with me, I read him a couple of stories and I let him watch trains on my phones.   I read on my kindle.  

Oh and I scratched his back a lot where the egg had been injected because he was so itchy.  And they had already swabbed him down with a cortisone cream.

An hour later and we had no response.  His skin was clear, he never vomited, he never complained about breathing problems.

He can have oranges!!!!!

However, I don't anticipate I'll allow him to have an orange outside my presence for a few years to come :).  I don't know that I'll ever be comfortable with him having any of these foods without me around if/when he tests negative for the eggs and peanuts.  I have no idea how to let go of the worry that someday the allergy might come back.  Food allergies are so different and new now it seems...I just don't know that I trust these results.  I mean I trust them, but oh goodness I can't imagine being able to send my 6 year old to school with an orange.  I don't see it happening.  How do I get past the fear?

We made our customary after the allergy testing doctor visit to get a new train.  He came home with Diesel 199.  Don't ask.  He ate lunch on the run in the car as we sped off to my hair appointment.  I decided to keep him with me all day, so I could keep an eye on him just in case.  He was fantastic there too and we were there for 2 hours....I had my hair colored, conditioned and cut.  FINALLY!  I let him watch his Extreme Trains documentaries and 2 episodes of Little Einsteins.  He was happily in heaven.

Don't drop Mommy's computer!
And note the new train keeping him company!

We came home and I took a cat nap while he played at my feet for about 30 minutes.  We read a couple of books then headed to his favorite restaurant...The French Fry Place.  We headed off to the playground after that for about 30 minutes and ran into a little boy from his Saturday soccer class whose mom I really like.  So that was awesome!!!!!  They played with his dad while she and I chatted.  I really like her...I hope we become better friends.  Tate had a blast with M.

Then it was home, bath, stories, benadryl (for his cough and congestion and yes in case the orange makes some strange comeback), toothbrushing and then he was sound asleep by 7:40.  

I love this boy.

Dinner tonight!