Evy goes to the allergist

This is a picture I took today with my phone of Evyn's back. She went in for her follow-up with the allergist to repeat testing for peanuts, especially after the scare we had recently when Reed managed to rub peanut butter on her cheek and she had a big skin reaction on her cheek, back and leg.

Initially, she had three areas marked on her back. The first one (starting on the left) was the peanut, second was histamine (supposed to react, as hers did) and the third was a control which was just saline. The nurse stayed with us to monitor her reaction. We were expecting another 4+ reaction to the peanut like she had last time almost immediately. That never happened. Halfway through the test, the nurse went to ask the doc if she should repeat the peanut spot because it was even less reactive than the control spot. So, the fourth area marked on her back (on the right) was an additional peanut spot from a new tray just in case the first one was defective. Still, nothing happened with either of the peanut spots - no hives and very little redness.

I thought that this was great news (and it might still be) and that she has outgrown her peanut allergy. The doctor was quite puzzled though. He told me that, although rare, some people are fine eating peanuts, but if it gets on their skin, they will react. He said he was not willing to say that she was in the clear, especially since she had such a reaction 4 to 6 weeks ago with the skin contact. He said he would even be scared at this point to do a food challenge where they would literally rub peanut butter across her lips (I can barely type that without my chest getting tight!).

So what now? We keep Evyn peanut-free for another year. We will go back to see her handsome doctor with the super personality for another peanut allergy test and then possibly the (gasp) food challenge. The good thing is that I now have a better grasp of what could happen and why it is important to react quickly. I did not realize that if her throat closes up (which apparently can happen fast), the EpiPen might no do anything to remedy that and a tracheotomy (incision into the trachea) would be the only way to get her breathing again. Yikes! I hesitated to use the Epi before, but given another exposure, I will not hesitate again. I also learned that the Benadryl dissolvable strips are the best to use if you want a quick response. I will be purchasing a case of those this afternoon, lol.

Anyway, we are in a holding pattern for another year, reading labels and living with a bit of fear. If it was not peanuts, it would likely be something else. Such is life.