Pin Cushion Man Redux: Peanut Allergy Part II

Time for Izzy's follow-up visit to the allergist. He was none too pleased that he needed to miss lunch at school in order to get to the appointment on time. Apparently lunch at school is THE place to be and he feels as if he is missing out on some great monster games. He had to have a quick lunch at home and he barely ate anything so by the time we arrived at the doctor's office he was ravenous.

NO EATING or DRINKING signs are plastered over the allergists office yet there was Izzy, sticking his snout in my purse, attempting to surreptitiously scarf down every morsel of food hiding in my bag, from carrots to scones, with a bite of hard-boiled egg in between, it's a wonder we weren't booted from the office.

After a short wait and plenty of illicit eating, the nurse ushered us into the pricking chamber. There she repeated the series of pin pricks on his back, along with an additional prick for sesame. I also requested tests for raspberries and sunflower seeds, only to learn that those are not available in pin prick form.

Izzy was exceptionally calm throughout, sitting on my lap as she performed the tests. He barely squeaked this time around. Well we waited for 20 minutes for the pricks to register and lo and behold, once again, the doctor found nothing. All of the results were negative. Dr. Ehrlich then suggested we test with REAL peanut butter. He said he would try a skin test first and proceeded to smear some organic peanut butter on Izzy's arm. We waited another 15 minutes and again, nothing. If it wasn't peanut butter what was it? Did this mean that he wasn't allergic to peanuts?

Hmmmm. The good doctor said that he couldn't give me a 100%guarantee that he was not allergic. What that meant to me was that I still had to keep Izzy away from peanuts. It was then the doctor mentioned "The peanut butter challenge" which sounded like a sensible idea to me except for the fact that it would have required us to remain in his office for another hour and a half. At that point, Izzy was too wacky so I opted for yet another appointment which will hopefully put this allergy business to rest.

And what is "The peanut butter challenge?" First he will smear peanut butter on Izzy's lips, wait a bit and then have Izzy EAT the peanut butter. I can even bring my own kind (fresh from the farm). Keep your fingers crossed that nothing will happen. But if it does, the doctor will be there to help!