Troopers

Zachary & Liam are SUCH troopers!

They both have had allergic reactions to penicillin.  It was on the 2nd time taking it for both of them.  Zachary's hives were gone in a day or so after taking some Benadryl, but Liam's hives lasted about 2+ weeks.  So we've always gone under the assumption that they are both allergic, and whenever either of them gets sick & requires antibiotics, they just have to take another, less-effective, type of antibiotic.  But then a while back my pediatrician told me that they now have a test for penicillin allergy, so I asked the allergist about it the last time we were in there.  He explained the process to me, and then I asked him, since it's not like this is a food allergy (something where he might accidentally come into contact with it), is it worth it to do the test & know for sure.  He said it's always better to know for sure, so I made both boys appointments for the test.

Today was the day.  While we were there, they also tested Liam for a few other things (pollens, grasses, dog, cat, etc.)  All of those came back negative.  Then they started the penicillin test.  I had put some cream on their arms beforehand to numb it.  They started with 4 little pricks that went just under the skin.  I think the numbing cream really helped, because they hardly flinched for that.  In fact, they had the boys in separate rooms at first (Josh was there as well), but they both handled it so well that they ended up putting them together for the rest of the test.  We waited 15 minutes - all negative, so we continued with the test. (they did each have to get one extra prick of the control solution, because they didn't react to it & they should have - once they got the bonus dose, it swelled up on each of them & then apparently began to itch insanely - luckily the nurse gave them some hydrocortisone cream before moving on)

Next was 6 actual shots for each of them.  Zachary started to cry a little around shot #4, but Liam hardly made a peep.  We waited 15 minutes again, and all was negative again.  Next was the oral challenge.  The nurse mixed up some actual penicillin, and gave them each a small dose.  At this point Josh ran home to get the laptop & a DVD, because we still had 2 hours to go.  We had to wait an hour after the oral dose, at which point the nurse came back in & gave them a physical inspection on their tummies, backs, arms, legs, and faces.  Since there was nothing out of the ordinary, we moved on to the last part - a large oral dose of penicillin.  By the way, the boys thought that part was a real treat - they loved it!  We waited another hour, and everything looked normal afterwards, so the doctor proclaimed that they had passed.  No more penicillin allergy!

We will never know for sure if they have simply outgrown the allergy or if they were never really allergic in the first place.  But, now at least we know they are not allergic.  It's not as big of a deal as finding out that your child isn't allergic to something like milk, nuts, or eggs anymore, but it's still good to know for sure.

Because they were such troopers going through all the pokes & shots (especially Liam, who got the extra stuff on his back to start with), and sitting in the doctor's office for FOUR HOURS, we went out to dinner afterwards, and let them have milkshakes.  Although Liam had fallen asleep in the car on the way from the doctor to dinner, and as a result was kind of fussy when we first got there.  But once the milkshakes came, he started to perk up.

The doctor said that a lot of people do the skin test portion in one day and then come back another day for the oral test.  But I'm glad we got it all done in one day, both of them at the same time.  We are so proud of our brave little guys!