Got you're allergy to eggs?

a

Check!

Back in November we were at the allergist skin pricking Peter for more things - sesame, coconut, lentils... After talking with the doctor we decided that it would be good to know *how* allergic Peter is to eggs. Her words were, very medically-like:

"But can he tolerate the *hidden* egg?"

Like the small amount that might be contained in a cookie. And so I agreed to a provocation. The appointment was yesterday and it went something like this.

They take a raw, pasteurized egg and mix it with some sugar. Then they feed it to him in measured gram amounts.

The first spoonful had only a small dot of egg solution on it. But even with that one spoonful, part of his lip swelled up, and his mood dropped (because he was a bit sick in the stomach I guess). As the amounts got larger, more of the mucous-ish egg would kind of *stick* in his throat, and he would say that his throat itched, until he was able to wash enough of it down with water. Also, from the first spoonful his face turned red and itchy, and his nose ran just a bit.

But none of his symptoms were *enough* to stop what we were doing. It was kind of like - OK, we know he's allergic to egg, but how much will actually kill him. At the third to last dose, he started to get a small hive, and his throat was very itchy, and then he got diarrhea. The doctor and the nurse conversed. Decided to go with one more dose. We did, and then he got two nice big hives on the face, and he felt just ill. So we stopped.

All in all, he had 7.5 grams of egg yesterday. A whole egg is about 50 grams. We know he won't die, or have asthma symptoms, but he will get ill and rashy. That was the problem the first few years of his life. What we were feeding him was making him ill - hence his overall aversion to foods now.

And now that we've done this *provocation* what did I learn? Nothing new really.

Was it worth it? I can't really say.

They want to try hazelnut next, should we?

?????

Here he is passed out in the car after his ordeal. Notice the hospital issue velour pants, since he had a bit of an accident with his upset stomach. Our "souvenir" of the experience I guess.