My son had his first experience of skin prick testing today. We were seen this afternoon by an allergy nurse who thoughtfully snuck us in on a Saturday to avoid the boy missing school. Usually spt would be done at clinic appointments (we were seen a few weeks ago) but she had been on holiday so we had to pop back in. I had assured my son that it would only be a few pricks so we were both a little taken aback when the nurse had 18 little bottles lined up waiting for us! If he could have turned and fled I think he might have! She needed to use both of his arms. He didn’t want to do it and he didn’t like it but he sat on my knee and gritted his teeth bless his heart and the nurse got all 18 done. She  wrote on his arms in biro the first letter of each allergen she was testing for. Next she put a tiny drop containing the allergens next to each letter then using 18 little jaggy things she pricked his skin in each drop. Once this was done she blotted his arms with a tissue to dry them. The plan had been to then go and play in the waiting room for twenty minutes but he was very pale and shaky (nerves mostly) so he lay down  and the nurse got him some cold water to drink. After the alloted time the nurse measuring each bump and noted it down. 

  
I was disappointed that milk and egg were still too high to consider food challenges but thrilled that almond, hazelnut, soya and Walnut were all negative. Wheat was also negative but he does not have an immediate response to wheat, he has just never tolerated it well. Tree and house dust mite were also negative so I can give up on my plan to guilt my husband into paying for a cleaner. Nae luck. 

Peanut, pea and cat were no surprise but his most dramatic wheal was for lentil which I had only been avoiding out of caution because he reacted to yellow split peas. 

So the plan is pretty much to carry on as before. He still needs to carry his antihistamine, inhaler and Epipen’s and we’ll be seen again in 18 months. I can try him with almonds if I wish and I do but where on earth do I source almonds that are free from cross contamination from other nuts? Alpro Almond milk looks like a good bet but I’d love to be able to bake with them. 

I’m pleased to report that by the time we left the hospital and walked to the park across the road he was feeling brand new so we had a rowdy hour in the sunshine then went for a Nando’s. 

I’ll finish with an excellent song for small children (especially Thomas fans) scared about hospital appointments. We sang it together as we walked back across the park.