Allergy Testing - Blood Results

The last time the girls had their blood tested, the allergist called and told me the results over the phone. Some of Rowan's numbers had gone up, and hearing the results was really discouraging. I'm not a cryer, but after hanging up, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. According to the numbers, they will not outgrow a few of these allergies. And why the heck did Rowan's go up?

The high numbers are burned into my brain, but I kept forgetting some of the lower numbers. We avoid them all anyway, so I guess the numbers aren't really that important. I finally asked our allergist to send us the test results, just so I would have them on hand.

These are the official results. I'm sharing them here more for my own records, not because I think anyone will be all that interested.

Here is the scale:
.35 – .70 = Low
.71 – 3.50 = Moderate
3.51 – 17.50 = High
17.51 or greater = Very High

ROWAN
Casein: >100  (Very High)
Milk: >100  (Very High)
Egg White: >100  (Very High)
Egg Yolk: 44.30  (Very High)
Peanut: 28.30  (Very High)
Turkey: 16.30  (High)
Wheat: 10.30  (High)
Chicken: 4.62  (High)
Pork: 3.15  (Moderate)

She is also allergic to Soy (last round was 4.6 - High), but I didn't see the numbers for this round.
So you can see why I was frustrated. She has a chance of outgrowing Pork. Great.

RYLIE
Peanut: >100  (Very High)
Shrimp: 3.55  (High)
Milk: 3.09  (Moderate)
Crab: 2.94  (Moderate)
Lobster: 2.85  (Moderate)
Almond: 1.53  (Moderate)
Poppy Seed .10  (Low)
Sunflower Seed: .68  (Low)
Sesame Seed: .54  (Low)
Various Tree Nuts: all around .5  (Low)

So Rylie has lower numbers overall, but unfortunately we still have to avoid ALL of the foods on their lists. Kids have had anaphylactic reactions, even with lower numbers. These tests don't necessarily gauge how strong a reaction will be. (In our case, both girls have had anaphylactic reactions, so we know there are certain foods that we have to avoid at all costs). And the higher numbers indicate that they will not outgrow those specific allergies.

Really hoping that the immunotherapy research trials at Duke will lead to something that becomes a mainstream treatment!