Allergies

We had a doctor's appt this afternoon for Wesley to test him for allergies.

I've been looking forward to this test for a LONG time! Wes has always struggled with his allergies and he's on a bazillion medicines that aren't getting him any relief.

So. without further ado, his results:

In this picture you can see the grid pattern of all the yellow allergy goo they poked him with:

All the spots developed little bumps and redness similar to a mosquito bite. In order to know what a reaction looks like, they also did a control test with straight histamine on his shoulder: 

After a long, itchy 15 minutes, the results were in:

Trees, grass, and weeds all came back negative.... ONE type of tree made a tiny reaction (see the green arrow), but since I've never heard of Black Willows, I think we're fine :)

Dust Mites and Cats had severe reactions.
(Baylor will be glad to know that dogs caused no reaction)

Seriously, dust mites? He might as well be allergic to "being indoors"!!

ONE type of dust mite had such a strong reaction that it spread across his back and towards his chest (see below)

Based on this testing, Wesley is eligible for allergy shots which we'll start in 2 weeks. SOOOO... for the next 9 months we will be getting weekly shots. After that, he'll get shots every other week for about 3-4 months... Then he'll get shots once a month for about a year... and after that we will re-evaluate!

Pray for us in the coming year since I'm sure there are some weeks that will be tougher than others. And pray he doesn't have any bad reactions...

On a side note, Wesley was unfazed at the idea of weekly shots. He even watched them administer his booster shots last month without flinching! I marvel that he is related to me, Mrs. Needle-a-Phobe!

Afterwards, at my office a co-worker said to Wesley, "I hear you were very brave today when they poked you at the doctor's office..."  to which he replied, "It's not so much that I was brave. I just withstood pain and itchiness."  haha so clearly it was no big deal :)