On Tuesday, we took Sam to his long-awaited appointment with the allergist. A few months ago, he had an allergic reaction to some formula, so since then he has been on hypoallergenic formula, and we have been very careful about what foods we give him.
At this appointment, the doctor went through our family history of allergies, and asked about Sam's reaction to things to determine which tests to give him. They did the skin-prick tests on his back. The nurse wrote on his back with a pen, and made little lines and numbered them to correspond with the sheet of tests they were running so they could keep track of what was what. On each line, he got a prick of a different allergen. He was tested for eggs, milk, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, sesame, dogs and cats. The nurse came in and checked his back after 5 minutes, then again after 15 minutes. Any of the tests that produced a wheal (hive-like thing) were considered positive. He tested positive for: eggs, milk, peanuts, and cats. He tested faintly positive for: tree nuts and dogs.
The doctor said not to be too worried about the cats right now, since Sam doesn't have any skin rashes, and his lungs sounded clear, and we haven't noticed any reactions he has had to the cats. She just said to watch out for any future reactions, and to keep the cats out of his room.
As for the foods that tested positive - he has to totally avoid those until further testing. The doctor is having us do blood testing in 6 months, and repeat the skin testing later this year. Peanut allergies are rarely grown out of, but he has a pretty good chance of growing out of the egg and milk - so I am REALLY hoping that happens in the future. We also need to carry around an epi-pen for him, but we are used to that since we do it for Nora also.
Poor little dude waiting for the results of the skin prick tests
We brought some of his favorite treats - freeze dried fruits - to help him through the looooong appointment.
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