Allergy Testing

On Hannah's second birthday, I shared my concerns about Hannah's reaction to eating peanuts/peanut butter with her pediatrician. She would basically break out in hives around her lips after consuming food containing peanuts. Dr. Hall ordered some blood work testing, and my suspicions were correct--Hannah has a peanut allergy.





The next step in the process was to visit an allergist to determine the severity of her allergy and also to develop an action plan. We had our initial visit about a month ago and Dr. Song requested some skin testing which we had done today. He also prescribed and Epipen Jr which still feels kind of weird to have in her diaper bag and tell caregivers about.

Poor, poor Hannah!!! They prepared about 12 tests to be done on her back. Rather than have her lay on the cold table, I asked about having her lay on her stomach across my lap. I thought that she might feel a little more secure that way. She was such a trooper! The nurse drew all kinds of dots and letters on her back and then BAM (twice)! Hannah burst out in tears and it was so hard to not be able to pick her up off of my lap and give her hugs and kisses. She had to lay that way for 5 minutes, which felt like eternity! She cried and cried, but remained still and cooperative.

I am very, very happy to report that Hannah is NOT allergic to anything else they tested (shellfish, fish, soy, and tree nuts). She did test positive again for peanuts, but the doctor said it was on the lower end of the spectrum so he thinks she might have a chance of outgrowing the allergy. It is such a blessing that Hannah ONLY has peanut allergies. They have been very easy to avoid now that packaging is labeled very clearly and Hannah really doesn't know what she's missing.

Anyways, it was a bit of a difficult visit this morning to the doctor, but nothing a chocolate milkshake and cheeseburger from McDonald's couldn't fix :)