Bringing any 4-year old into the lab for a blood draw is enough to cause a hike in your blood pressure. Jackson is no exception. Hearing the lab technician call for two co-workers “to help hold him down” gave me heart palpitations. I felt my chest tighten as I attempted to calm my quivering nerves and place a cheery smile on my face before I pulled Jackson onto my lap, wrapping my arms and legs around him.
One technician prepped the vials and attached a child-sized needle (which still looks scary), the second placed the elastic on his left arm to make the vein stand out. Jackson was not happy about that tight “squeeze” and tried his best to rip it off, while the third technician swiped his arm with the alcohol wipe, Jackson protesting loudly the entire time. He hadn’t even seen the needle. I started to hum “Twinkle, Twinkle” quietly in his ear, knuckles turning white as he strained to break free. Then the needle went in on the first try (thankfully), and Jackson was completely immobilized with all three of us detaining him. His cry was very offended, and I’m sure he didn’t appreciate my rendition of Twinkle, so I switched to his number one soothing song, “How Great is Our God.” No magic there. After what seemed like too many minutes, the last vial was filled and technician #1 removed the needle and replaced it with a cotton swab, #2 taped it to his arm, and #3 looked for stickers that Jackson would immediately drop on the floor as he tried to rip the bandage off his arm. “Tell him he needs to leave it on until he gets home.” I had signed something earlier to Jackson, so the lady assumed Jackson only understood sign language and insisted that I sign it for him. Not wanting to explain, I knelt down and humored her. Once we left the building, I let him remove the offending cotton and tape, providing immediate relief.
The Pediatrician had kindly ordered as many tests as possible for one blood draw, so it took longer, but we wouldn’t have to do this again for a while, hopefully. He had included the RAST food allergy test, an environmental allergen pannel, and celiac test. He’d even had to fudge a little on the coding for our insurance to cover the testing. Only potential asthmatics are covered.
Imagine my shock when we got the lab results two days later: negative on the top 20 most common food allergens, the top 20 environmental allergens, AND the celiac panel. He did have a high IgE level which indicates he is probably allergic to something. We just don’t know what. Wow. Not very helpful.
Just last week I attended a lecture by our developmental pediatrican (we have our first appointment next week) and found out that 1. the RAST allergy test is pretty unreliable. 2. Test results would be skewed if he was not ingesting the potential allergens…Duh…He’s been on GFCF for almost a year. Of course he’s not going to show a reaction to wheat, gluten, dairy, etc. All that trauma for naught. Bummer. Live and learn. Our Developmental Pediatrician reassures us our observations are probably more accurate anyway. No more blood draws for now. Sigh.
At least the amount of gluten he’s been injesting wasn’t enough to show up! You’re doing better at the watchdogging. Though it’s expensive to go GFCF for the whole family, at least you’re only fixing one meal at a time. We’ll keep testing both products and recipes. (I often use NFL as my “guinea pigs” to try new GFCF recipes. If they like them, I know it’s a good one. I took some of the best to the Master Gardener’s Spring Expo, as we had at least one or two participants who needed their snacks to be safe. I did make the Bob’s Red Mill cornbread sticks with the flaxseed egg substitute and they were wildly popular with everyone! (I did add extra liquid, too, so it made a larger batch) Last year, one couldn’t even handle the cooking spray with the soy lethicin, so this year I used palm oil to grease the cast iron and parchment for other pans.