Allergy Testing-Part #3

To continue, the nurses take out the test vials from the refrigerator. They are already pre-dabbed. Madison puts her arms out, underside up, on top of a pillow, which is on top of a mobile desk that can be adjusted to proper height. They take the **8** 8-pronged vials and one by one dab them on her arms. Dab is probably not a good word, more like gently push the "caterpillars" on her arms so that they only break the 1st layer of her skin. It caused no pain to Madison. Some of the dots were darker than others (the darkest was mushroom, no problems there!) All of Madison's vials were foods - none of the grasses, molds, etc. Then of the 64 dots, one dot is left off, and a positive reactor placed there separately. This will show what a positive reaction should look like, as well as indicate that the test is working. They do the first 32 her right arm, and then the other 32 on her left arm. Within 30 seconds, Madison starts saying that her left arm is hurting. They have warned her that a positive reaction might feel like a mosquito bite. Pretty soon, all but one of the nut "caterpillar" dabs are reacting. The area is turning red, stinging, and all we can do is blow on it to make it cooler. The entire test is 15 minutes, and before 4 minutes hit, the nurse is wiping off the peanut dab, and adding a benedryl-type cream to take away the sting. Madison cries just a little as the rest of the nut dabs react, and strangely enough...one other dab reacted...the orange. (Madison eats a lot of mandarin oranges from the can, but not so many fresh ones, and she has never had a reaction that I know of. However, this would explain the V8 smoothie problem.) They clean off the nut area right before the full 15 minutes are over, and then the rest of the dabs when the test is done. They measure the positive reaction area for size, and then measure the other food reactions to compare them. (There is also a small reaction to lima beans - darn the luck - a medical reason NOT to eat lima beans!) Once all this was done, the doctor came back to check the chart and discuss food allergies. There was so much info given to list here, and all my questions were answered, but I so thankful that God worked it out the way He did. In the course of conversation, I mentioned that we went to Crossroads Christian Church, and the doctor said she did too. And in fact, she is the one that helped get our daycare and nursery staff educated and trained about food allergies. Again, I can see where God is protecting us!