It's official - our Lucy is allergic to peanuts. Today I took her to see Dr. William Johnson at
Gateway Asthma and Allergy in Belleville. He came highly recommended by both our pediatrician and Mike's cousin Kim, whose daughter Ali sees him for her food allergy. After Lucy's
allergic reaction last week, we needed to see if our hunch was right that it was peanut butter that made her sick.
Dr. Johnson was wonderful with me and Lucy. After a consultation where I explained Lucy's reaction and answered some other medical questions, Lucy and I prepared ourselves for her allergy skin test. Our brave little girl was a pro as the nurse pricked her back with all the little needles. She of course cried as the needles went in, but she recovered and even managed to play with some toys I brought as we waited for the required 15 minutes to tick by.
Halfway through the wait, the nurse came to check on Lucy. She noticed that she hadn't reacted to any of the pricks except for the positive control one. The nurse said that there was a secondary peanut test that could be used, so she got it and pricked Lucy again. Of course Lucy didn't like that at all! But the second peanut test was definitely positive.
Dr. Johnson came back in and confirmed that it looks like Lucy is allergic to peanuts. She also had a slight reaction to cat dander. Apparently children start developing animal dander allergies around this time, but we're hoping Lucy doesn't develop a full-blown allergy, as the only remedy is to give up our cats, which would be a shame.
To be on the safe side, Dr. Johnson would like us to avoid all nuts, not just peanuts, although she tested negative for walnuts. Mike's mom pointed out that Lucy has been eating Honey Nut Cheerios with no problem at their house, so we looked at the box tonight and it has almonds but not peanuts listed. So I'm not convinced she's allergic to all nuts, but I guess it's better to be safe than sorry.
Dr. Johnson said the next step was to check Lucy's blood to see how severe her peanut allergy is. We left his office to go to the Quest lab for her blood draw. Again, not a lot of fun, but needed. We will know the results of that test next week when we call Dr. Johnson.
Finally, we stopped at
Copper Bend Pharmacy to pick up Lucy's EpiPens. We will have to carry them with us at all times in case she has a serious reaction. The pens came with a practice device. The pharmacist, Dr. Clement, was nice enough to give me a quick tutorial, which I then showed to Mike, my mom, and Mike's parents. Here's hoping we never have to use them.
As Lucy and I sat at the pharmacy waiting for the pens, I let her walk around the store. She was drawn to the shelf that was full of candy. As she picked up each candy bar, in my mind I thought, she's never going to be able to eat a lot of them: Snickers, Butterfingers, Hershey Bar with Almonds, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups... it made me sad. We're going to have to be so careful now. Even Eric's diet will be limited so Lucy doesn't eat something by accident.
We're just trying to count our blessings that Lucy's health condition, while serious, is avoidable and controllable.