... a date at the allergy clinic.

On Wednesday the Wee Man had his twice yearly appointment with the Consultant Pediatrician that's in charge of his case.  His doctor is an allergy specialist and is by far the best doctor we have seen.  She really is marvelous.  So often the doctors we have seen view us as just another name on a list to be ticked off and out their office asap.

Dr. H on the other hand takes her time and explains everything over and over again until she is sure we understand.  No question is too silly, no request is too much.  There have been many a time where we have spent well over an hour with her and we always leave to a roomful of annoyed, waiting patients who are anything but patient.  The Wee Man loves her and her allergy nurse K.  In fact he views them as his friends and insists that we give them a present every time we visit them.  This visit they each got a Wee Man made paper nest filled with chocolate eggs and a chocolate bunny.

The main objective of Wednesday's appointment was to see if he was still as allergic as he was 6 months ago and to check for any other allergies.  This was to be achieved by checking the blood test results from a few weeks ago and also performing his twice yearly skin prick test.  The main allergen we wanted to check was latex.  He is currently unable to have any vaccinations because of his latex allergy.  All vaccinations use a latex bung/ stopper on the vaccination bottle.  So basically the needle pierces the bung/ stopper to get to the vaccination and then the needle is inserted into your arm.  Not a very good scenario for someone with a latex allergy.

Anyway, this post seems to be getting a bit technical so will stop all that and give you a pic of my very brave, patient and good boy.  He had in all 26 allergens tested on his little arms.  Both of his forearms were covered and only because K ran out of space, she was unable to test anymore.

Within a few minutes his arms came out in hives.  He was dying to scratch them but resisted.  Such resolve and determination.

The results showed that he is still very allergic to the allergens we already know of but the good news is that we are having a latex challenge next month.  A challenge in simple terms is that we go into hospital and they test a little of the allergen on his arm, wait 30 mins for any reaction, then follow on with a bit on the Wee Man's cheek, wait 30 mins then some on his lip, wait 30 mins, then some on his tongue, wait 30 mins and then  he gets to swallow some.  At the sign of any reaction during the challenge, the challenge is stopped and he is given whatever medication is required be it Cetirizine or an epipen.  With the latex challenge he is going to be given a balloon to blow up.

Challenges are very arduous and hard going.  It's a lot of waiting around and stress for the Big Man and me.  The Wee Man loves them as he gets to play with his hospital bed and in the enormous hospital play room!

Again I think I've gone a bit too technical.  All in all, not much has changed for the Wee Man.  Hopefully his latex challenge will go well.  There are so many toys that have rubbery bits on it that may be latex that even playing with toys can be nerve wracking.

So I'll finish by saying how wonderful the Wee Man is.  He really is such a good patient.  Listens to Dr. H and Nurse K and performs any tasks they ask of him without a grumble.  He's brave, patient and just plain perfect.

I love you Wee Man.  xxx