Amanda, got through the blood test somehow. I don't know how she became so deathly afraid of needles, but she is. My suspicion on this is that when she went into anaphylactic shock at age 7 the doctors had to stick all sorts of needles in her, including the Epi-Pen, just to save her life. It had taken three grown men (all doctors) to hold her down! It was a bad experience for her and now the mere mention of a needle sends her into full blown panic mode.
So after waiting over a week, I called the doctor a little while ago and spoke to the nurse. She started off by telling me that Amanda is allergic to peanuts (duh) and that she is not allergic to pecans. Eager to hear about the results of her white blood cell count related to the swollen lymph node, I asked about the rest of the test and she went on and on about what Amanda is allergic to, which I already knew. Remember, this part of the blood test was just for convenience. I really wanted to know about the other stuff. In a very confusing way she said that Amanda's lymphocytes are high at 51% but that she thought that was no big deal even though the high end is 48%. Then she said they tested her CRP but that she doesn't know what that means! Arggg! I'm not in the medical field and I don't have a clue either. I think she knew she was being vague so she said she'd have the doctor call me tomorrow.
Before we hung up and I wanted to ask her one more question about tree nuts. I said, since Amanda is not allergic to pecans does that mean she is not allergic to any tree nut? And her response was, well she's allergic to peanuts. I know she's allergic to peanuts! What I need to know is if she is allergic to walnuts, cashews and all tree nuts. I guess she doesn't know the difference between a legume and a tree nut and she didn't know enough to put the correct code on the form to test for ALL tree nuts. She put the code to just test Amanda for pecans, which doesn't make sense to me at all. Her solution? To send Amanda back to get another blood test and on this one she'll put to test for all tree nuts. Oh, ok. That will be like trying to dip a cat in water. It is no easy task. I hate mistakes like this and all the while, my main concern is I want to know if the test came back normal for her swollen lymph node. That's really all I wanted to know when I called today because Amanda has lived without eating peanuts AND tree nuts since she was two years old. It wouldn't hurt her wait a little longer. My main concern is what is going on with this lymph node?
I guess I have to wait until tomorrow to find out the results regarding what is making her lymph node swollen. Waiting it the worst!
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Hi Carla! Thanks for your coment on my blog post. I replied to you and decided to check out your blog. I wanted to share with you what I learned about my daughter's food allergies. Doctors tell you that if your child tests positive for peanuts then to stay away from tree nuts as well because of cross contamination, not becuase the doctors think they're the same (nut/nut). You are correct, a peanut is a legueme but many peanuts are manufactured in a facility that also manafactures all sorts of tree nuts. So the concern is that if your child tests negative for a certain tree nut, that your child may react because of the cross contamiation.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter at 3 y/o became anaphylatcitc to M&M's (not the peanut ones but the plain ones in the brown bag). This was before I knew about cross contamiation. Come to find out I didn't see the warning, "may contain traces off peanuts..." my daughter reacted. What's more, my daughter reacted after she's eaten the M&M's succesffuly for a year. So you just never know when it'll happen. You can read about my experience here:
http://www.vickysickies.blogspot.com/2009/11/cant-predict-future-reactions-with.html
BTW They should have tested for all tree nuts first! So silly of them! I hope your daughter is feeling better and you get the lymph node situation straightened out. Good luck!