Allergy Update (Plus Bonus Heart Murmur Discussion!)

Got in to see the allergist today. He was super nice and we definitely felt confident in his opinion. Unfortunately, we're in kind of nebulous territory as far as The Boy's allergies are concerned, so that opinion was less hard-lined than we might have liked.

What I had really wanted was a scratch test of all likely allergens (despite the fact that The Boy was decidedly uncooperative - he's had one surprise immunization too many and now starts screaming as soon as the car stops outside any unknown "appointment"), a clear sense of how severe his peanut allergy is, and an easy-to-read scale of possible reaction symptoms with a "you are here" arrow when it's time to pull out the ol' epi-pen. I want to know *exactly* what I'm dealing with and I want a "no-fly" list at the ready anytime I'm faced with an ingredient list, a fur- or feather-bearing creature, or a microcosmic portion of the outdoors.

I got none of the above. Given our description of the peanut-related episodes, the allergist said we will proceed under the assumption that he *is* allergic, and no test is going to give us a real indication of the severity that would alter how we choose to manage that assumption. We could get a blood test, but it wouldn't do much more than provide us with a baseline as to how likely it is that reactions are due to allergies. Basically it's like administering a pregnancy test in your first trimester - you already know you're pregnant, and the pink line isn't gonna tell you a whole lot about *how* pregnant you are.

The scratch test was out given The Boy's current mild cold and his eczema - apparently kids with skin conditions are known for giving false positives, so a scratch test wouldn't necessarily be worth it.

Our sense is that The Boy has a relatively mild allergy, for which we are thankful; our allergist said that he wasn't of a strong opinion for or against further testing (an indication of his own level of comfort with the knowledge - or lack of it - we have right now), so we decided to wait.

We do have an action plan now, which basically tells us that anything more than mild eye watering requires speedy administration of an injection plus a quick call to 911. But armed with little more than a list of symptoms and an admonition to err on the side of caution (read: don't hesitate to stick a needle into your kid), we're not much further ahead than we were before.

Oh, and there was this post-stethescope comment: "Hmmm. Has anyone ever said anything to you about a heart murmur before?"

Sigh. Apparently it's probably nothing, and if it is something, it's very minor and almost surely benign, but it's something we're supposed to bring up with The Boy's doctor next time we bring him in. The Boy has a bit of a history of "hmmm's" turning into something a bit more major (a suspected ear infection ended up being double pneumonia and asthma, for instance), so my own heart is not entirely at ease on this point.

But it's not all bad. I'm glad he was looked at by someone who definitely knows his stuff, and we're reassured that there isn't cause for panic, just awareness and vigilance. Plus we also got some tips about The Boy's asthma regimen, so we'll just call that the silver lining, shall we?