It's Eggcellent!!! - A Successful Food Challenge

Things are calming down a bit here.  We are much poorer, but have a new computer, and a spiffy new rental car while the minivan is in the shop.  The second car has had its breaks replaced, and life is returning somewhat back to normal.

On Monday we made our way to the Allergist for our Egg Challenge.  This was a long time coming, and our third attempt at actually making it to the Dr. to do the challenge.  The first time Conor got sick, and we spent all sorts of time at the Dr and the emergency room, but not for an egg challenge.  The second time the Dr. had an emergency and her not so wonderful office staff failed to inform me and this unfortunate discovery was made when I arrived at the Dr. office, eggs in hand to a locked door and a note.

But Monday was the third time, and the third time was the charm.  We arrived at the Dr. bright and early.  Conor was not hacking and the door was open, so we figured so far so good.  We had never done a food challenge before, and although I had read about it, I was not sure what to expect.

We got taken back to a room which was to be our home for the next few hours.  I had brought all sorts of entertainment to keep Conor out of trouble, and I have to say, he really behaved quite well.  They started off with a skin test of just a histamine and egg, and of course Conor failed it miserably.  Although he failed, they said they pretty much just like to poke little children for fun, and would go ahead with the challenge anyways.  HHHMMM just how accurate are those tests anyways???

Then they started with a hard boiled egg, and just rubbed Conor's finger on it.  The nurse set a timer for 10 minutes, and when all was well, they proceeded to rub it on his lips.  He found this highly amusing, and kept saying he had on egg lipstick.  He still tells everyone how the nurse at the Dr. office gave him some egg lipstick and now he is not allergic to eggs.  Ten minutes later they had him lick the egg.  Ten minutes after that, he took a small bite, another ten minutes, another bite, and finally a big chunk of egg.  After each ten minute period the nurse came in, took all his vital signs and looked him over.  I of course just sat there staring at him, waiting anxiously to see if hives would pop up, or his face would start to swell.  In order to get him to eat the egg I had to bribe him with some left over Halloween candy, and I had one small scare, when I thought lollipop leftovers were hives covering his chin.   

There was a lot of waiting and looking, but in the end, Conor passed without a hive or swell in sight. We ended up spending almost 5 hours in the office by the time it was all over, and even got a flu shot to boot.