The Diagnosis

So, we have known since Clare was seven months old that she is dangerously allergic to milk. I have always been suspicious that she was also allergic to peanut. I never gave her peanut as a precaution, but one day I decided that I was just being paranoid about it and I gave her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. 2 bites in to the sandwich she was coughing, wheezing and had hives all over her face. I am 100% sure that it was not just a simple cross contamination with milk. From that point on I knew I shouldn't try to ignore my instincts or the spirit anymore. This happened last summer. We now have health insurance for the kids, so the first thing I did was get a referral from her pediatrician to go see an allergist again. Thank goodness that doctor listened to me, because I have been incredibly frustrated by doctors who will not listen to me. I had to wait about a month before I was finally able to get her in to the allergist. After talking with him about Clare for a while, he did what is called a scratch test on her. This is the same test they did on her when she was 7 months old. They scratched her skin with milk, nut allergens, plus a 2 controls, one that will be positive and one that will be negative. In the above pictures, number one is milk and number 6 is peanut. As you can see, she IS allergic to peanut. None of the others reacted. They only tested her for milk for their own records, we already knew that it would be positive of course. This was really traumatic for both me and Clare. She was crying and trying to get away from the nurses, and I couldn't really comfort her because I wasn't allowed to touch her back. She probably wondered why I was letting them do that to her. After getting these positive results, the doctor ordered what is called RAST testing be done as well. This is a blood test. I then had to hold her down with the help of a nurse, while yet another nurse drew her blood. She was crying screaming "let go!!" It broke my heart into about a million pieces. The doctor told me that the scratch test is almost always accurate if the result is positive, and can be wrong if the result is negative. On the other hand, the RAST test is almost always accurate if the result is negative, and can be wrong if it is positive. So we are really covering all of the bases here. After all of this, I was emotionally drained, and so was Clare. She kept saying "car" and "go home". I got in the car and pretty much fell apart. I was really hoping that the result would be negative. My sister Cilla has been very supportive though. She reminded me that I was just grieving and that I can take good care of Clare and her allergies. She also helped me see that it could be worse, it's not like she has cancer or something...knock on wood. So, although I am a bit shaken up by this, I know it will be okay. I was given an epi-pen prescription and they trained me on how to use it. I should have had an epi-pen all along, but I was told that she was to young for one and that they wouldn't be able to get the right dose for her tiny body. The new allergist informed me that this was wrong, and was rather upset that her original allergist didn't give me one. Just further proof to me that there are good doctors and bad doctors and second opinions are a very good thing. I was also shocked to find out that I am to give her the epinephrine with every accidental exposure, not just if she can't breath. SCARY!! Also, we have to call 911 every time. DOUBLE SCARY!! We've always just given her benedryl if she was exposed, which apparently only makes her hives go away, it will not stop an allergic reaction. I am sooooooo glad that she has never stoped breathing, because going this long without an epi-pen has been very dangerous. It is such a huge relief to have that now. I also learned a lot about her eczema and asthma but I will write about that later. But, all of these things go hand in hand. It is very common to have eczema and asthma with food allergies. The doctor called her "an A- topic person", meaning she is very susceptible to all of these things. We love our Clare bear soooo much and she is such a joy to have. I am grateful to have all of this knowledge. I consider this to be my journal, so I'll be boring again with more info later, I have lots of it.