Grant's allergy update

We have spent a lot of time at the allergist office this month.  today was our third visit in less than 3 weeks.  The original visit was supposed to be a routine followup visit but he had started having reactions to nuts this fall so we talked about testing him for nut allergies aft christmas.  I also wanted Grant to get a flu shot this year.  There's some new research with flu shots in kiddos, first they emphasized the importance in kids with asthma due to increase risk of hospitalization (Grant was diagnosed with asthma in the spring) and second they are encouraging people with egg allergies to get flu shots, the regular flu shot now contains a fraction of the egg protein of previous vaccines  and there are even lower egg versions for kids 4 and older.  So it was decided that Grant would be scratch tested for the regular flu shot but first we needed a week without antihistamines.  Also at this visit, the doctor notice Grant had a double ear infection so we started 10 days of steroids and 14 days of Omnief but his asthma is so much better that we can stop giving him singulair.  

Visit 2...We were planning to skin test for the flu shot and also eggs so that Grant can get the flu shot.  We decided to also test for all nuts so we won't have to do it after christmas, and also retest his other food allergies since he'll be due for a retest in the spring.  This ended up being about 18 skin pricks on his little back, ouchies and ichies made for a very unpleasant visit.  He tested negative for flu shot, eggs, oats, pecans, and brazil nuts and positive for almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, pistachios, sesame, mustard, soy, and two kinds of walnuts.  They forgot to test for peas.  SO he got the flu shot...another ouchie :-(  and the ok to start eating oats.  We scheduled a followup egg challenge.  

Visit 3...today...I prepared a scrambled egg and took it to the allergist office.  The doctor measured out 5 doses of eggs, 1 gram, 2 gram, 4 gram, 8 gram, and 16 gram.  They gave him some ketchup and let him eat the first dose.  We had to wait 15 minutes in between each dose to check for a reaction.  In between the third and forth dose they placed a skin test for peas (and 2 controls) and we waited.  Grant passed both tests and he can now eat egg and peas.  He chose to celebrate by eating the leftover scrambled eggs that weren't needed for the test.   Since the asthma is still under control without singulair and antihistamines, we are decreasing his inhaled steroid dose by half.  Yay Grant!  (yay for mommy and daddy too because we don't have to worry about giving him foods with egg in it)

In between egg cup 1 and 2

In between cups 3 and 4.  Checking out
cups 4 and 5.  (pea skin test on his back)

Enjoying the left over eggs that
were not part of the test.