Not What I Was Expecting

We had the boy’s annual allergy check today.

The eagle eyed (or family members) among you will notice that as our last appointment was in May it isn’t strictly an annual check.

We were asked to come back in January this time because I’d mentioned the boy’s occasional wheeziness over the winter months.  Wheeze, dry skin (he has that too) and allergies are very much linked.

His chest was pronounced clear (as was his nose, I wasn’t expecting her to look up there, brave lady) and after a thorough questioning of me by the Good Professor’s Registrar (lovely lady by the way) it seemed that his winter wheeze was pretty much to be expected and very much kept in control by us (hurrah us).

We also mentioned again his occasional weird reaction to apples and were told to chop up an apple and zap it in the microwave for 15 seconds before giving it to him.  Apparently the heat will kill the proteins that set him off.  Who knew?

Last allergy appointment he didn’t have to have the prick tests so I assumed that we would be not doing them for a couple of years as his peanut allergy is severe enough to assume that he won’t grow out of it.  Last time he was tested he was also showing a less severe allergy to hazel nuts and a moderately severe allergy to silver birch (oh look – 5th picture down).  Unfortunately, for the boy, it was decided that today he would be tested again to see how he was doing.  His peanut allergy was off the chart as usual but interestingly he tested negative for all tree nuts.

And that’s when I got thrown a bit of a curve ball.

The Good Professor’s Registrar (lovely lady by the way) suggested that we try the boy on some tree nuts.

Unlike the Good Professor (who used to tell me that if I could guarantee the provenance of the nuts i.e. if I picked them in their shell from a tree rather than shop buy, I could try feeding them to the boy at home – I pretty much ignored that suggestion every time he made it) she suggested that we go back to the hospital and do an oral challenge.  It pretty much does what it says on the tin but in the safe(r) environs of the hospital.  I’m excited but still nervous.  What if he reacts?  I know we’ll be in hospital but there are no guarantees in this life (although – in general there are no guarantees….).  And then, what if he doesn’t react?  This could totally change the ground rules, and you know how I feel about change!

I need to think about this.  It’s a good job that they haven’t confirmed a date for the tests yet – I don’t have anything to work myself up to yet.

We did other things today (London Transport Museum, met Rebecca and her lovely son Theo) and I took other pictures.  However, even though you’ve seen this sort of thing before, this is the strongest image of my day.  The plus sign, with the small red lump beside it, above the big lump is his histamine reaction – the big lump is his peanut reaction, the histamine lump is a normal allergic reaction.  The peanut reaction is ridiculously over-sized.

Ouch and Yuck and It’s Just Not Fair.