Emma's Allergy Testing

Emma had the basic allergy scratch testing done on December 22 and she had no reaction, so they did a "patch test". That's what you see in the picture here, well the aftermath of the patch test. They take little metal well, about the size of a nickel, and put pureed food in it. Then it's taped to your back for 48 hours and after the time is up they look to see if you have a reaction. Well we know that she had to have a food allergy and the patch testing was the better than the alternative. The alternative was eliminating the 8 major allergens (wheat, soy, peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish, egg, milk) then waiting 6-8 weeks to have another endoscopy(scope). If the scope was clear after that then we would slowly reintroduce the foods back in and keep having her scoped to see if there was a reaction. Matt and I both hated the idea of her having another scope, so we are hoping the results of the patch test are good enough for the doctors now. Her patch testing showed a wheat, rye, pork, and string bean allergy. She may also have an allergy to corn and soy, but because she is not symptomatic we are not eliminating those 2 right now. So for now, we are gluten free plus pork(which we don't eat anyway) and string bean free. After a few months she will have another scope to see if the irritation and damage to her esophagus has healed then we'll know whether to eliminate corn and soy from her diet. I REALLY hope we don't have to get rid of corn/soy as they are found in almost everything you buy at the grocery store! So far both of the girls have been doing good on the gluten free diet and seem to be growing now.