The Oral Challenge

That's what it's called. Evan had his oral challenge at the allergist today. The office is on West Broadway and we barely made it there on time since we had stroller robics in the morning and just enough time for me have a 5 min shower, feed and change Evan and pack him up again before we had to leave. I brought 2 diaper bags: one full of the usual stuff and another packed with toys, change of clothes, food, burp towels, bib, benadryl etc. By the time I found parking, got Evan in the stroller and ascended the 18 floors in the elevator we arrived with 5 minutes to spare. I brought the box of barley cereal with me as instructed but when I got there Dr.Yu mentioned we would need to mix it with previously boiled or bottled water as per the water contamination advisory. They didn't have a kettle or a microwave in the office so I took Evan back down the 18 floors and back out in the rain to the coffee shop to get some warmed up bottled water. Then back up to the 18th floor. We started at about 1:30 by giving him 1/8 of a teaspoon of the barley. I thought for sure nothing would happen since the day he had the reaction he had a whole bowl full. But this is the way they do it. They wait 15 minutes, watching him closely for any sign of an allergic reaction and then 1/4 teaspoon. Another 15 minutes and 1/2 teaspoon. After one hour, he got a whole teaspoon! One hour 15min. 2 teaspoons... wait a minute... what's that on his neck? A hive! After that little tiny amount. Great, I'm thinking. What the heck does this mean? His skin test was negative, the blood work was negative (by the way, she showed me the results... the numbers should be under 15 and Evan's was 0.75 for barley and 1.4 for wheat so very low) so why this hive? And it was on the left side of his neck right where I first noticed it the last time. The doctor did the skin test again and a hive turned up for the control like last time and 2 very tiny welts for the barley and wheat but hardly anything noticeable. She rubbed some on his skin to see if that would cause anything and it didn't. She did a skin test on his left arm and he got a definite hive. We couldn't figure out why he was so inconsistent. She says he is a mystery. Evan's cheeks were redder than normal and he was drooling more but luckily he only got that one hive. After another hour or two I suggested we give him more barley since we had already gone that far so we did... 8 more teaspoons in total. Then we waited another hour more but nothing happened. So... one hour to get there...4 hours at the office and a one and a half hour drive home in rush hour traffic, one lonely hive and a very exhausted baby later and the results??? Inconclusive. Try the whole process (including the blood work) again in 3 months. And in the meantime avoid all wheat and barley products. Well Evan, looks like we will have to put a candle in your rice cereal for your 1st birthday party.