The Allergist

So while my agenda for Charlie's allergy appointment this morning was to have Charlie re-tested for his egg allergy, it turns out the allergist had a completely different agenda. Namely, that Charlie needed to get his MMR vaccine, which has eggs in some way, shape or form in it. This, apparently, was more important than re-testig him for his egg allergy, which I was reminded was a severe allergy. ("What," the allergist asked, "happens when he is exposed to eggs?" "Nothing!" I replied for the one milliionth time.)

It turns out that getting your MMR vaccine when you are supposedly allergic to eggs is a big deal. They first had to give Charlie a skin test to see if he reacted to the MMR vaccine, which involved poking him with a little bit of the MMR vaccine (or the antigens or antibodies to it, or something), a control prick, and then a prick of histamine. Charlie did not like this procedure at all because, aside from all the pricking, the histamine produced a large itchy hive. Once they ascertained that Charlie had not reacted to the MMR vaccine, you would think they could then go ahead and give him the shot, right? Nope. They then proceeded to dilute the vaccine and give it to him in 3 stages (read 3 different shots) with a half hour wait in between each shot and again after the last one, apparently still looking for a life threatening reaction.

By the end of it poor Charlie was pretty much beside himself, depsite the lollipops administered after each shot and the promise of Dunkin Donuts afterwards.

As for whether or not we will ever get the OK to give Charlie eggs? Who knows.