Our allergy test results

At 9:00 pm Allie had her band-aid with corn syrup on it for 48 hours.  We took the bandage off right before her bath and there was no irritation from the corn syrup at all.  So normal results once again.  10 minutes after taking the bandage off, her skin was very red and irritated from the bandage itself, but nothing from the corn. 

So, we are thinking the corn syrup wasn't potent enough.  I have decided we will try this once again (Matt didn't agree with me).  This time,  I put cream corn on her band-aid.  Not real sure if the bandage will even stick because it was pretty slimy, but we will see.  We will check her bandage tomorrow morning and see if anything is happening.  I have to be honest, I don't think our little home experiment is going to work - it's kind of a long shot - lol.

Besides her home style allergy test, things in the Berndt house are going pretty smoothly.  Allie is still doing well with her night time feeds.  She isn't sleeping the best but I know it's just taking her some time getting used to being hooked up to the pump again.  She always seems to get tangled in the tubing and it pulls on her button.  Of course, every time she makes a sound during the night, I run into her room because I'm nervous with all the tubing.  Her daytime bolus feeds are going well also.  She is accepting her feeds pretty well and for the most part she is keeping them down.  Her oral intake has stayed about the same but it does fluctuate a little bit more than normal.  The other day she ate a whole beef hot dog however that was the last time she really ate anything.  Last night we had homemade gluten and corn free pizza.  She only ate 3 small bites but it's better than nothing.

Tonight we went out to eat at Denny's.  It was a corn & gluten disaster.  We looked at the allergy information they provided us and basically Allie could get applesauce, fruit, bacon, hamburger patty or sausage.  Since Allie really doesn't eat meat (her chewing skills are still lacking some) she picked the applesauce and grapes.  Unfortunately, Chloe ordered golf fish crackers and Matt ordered onion rings.  Well, of course Allie wanted both of those once she seen them.  It's nearly impossible to tell a 2 1/2 year old she cannot eat something and then convince her not to have a meltdown in the restaurant.  We tried telling her no gold fish crackers but the cries and tantrum started right away.  Same thing happened with Matt's onion rings.  Of course Allie didn't each more than a few bites of each but still - we didn't keep her away from corn and gluten like we planned.  In reality, this corn and gluten free diet is proving to be harder than we though.  It's even affecting Chloe because there are certain things that she cannot eat in front of Allie.  I know we will get the hang of this diet change but in the meantime, it sucks!!!!

Time to go check Allie's corn bandage because I see her night gown is wet on the back.  My guess is the corn is leaking through - oh the drama.

Hope everyone had a safe night last night and Happy New Year everyone.  Praying everyone stays healthy and happy in 2011. 

Nothing too exciting here - this is what Allie's back looked like tonight

Too much cream corn on the band-aid - I think so.  Oh poor Allie - the things we put her through!

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Corn allergy testing done home style.......

Okay - not sure I even want to admit this but Matt and I have decided to test Allie for a corn allergy our style.  It's not that we don't believe her allergy test results (severe allergy to corn) but with any allergy test you always run the risk of getting a "false positive" result.  I talked to Dr. Edmonson about this and he said that due to the severity of her reaction to corn, it most likely isn't a false positive.  However, you never know for sure.  So, Matt and I have been thinking and we have decided to experiment with a little test ourselves. 

Go ahead and laugh at us, criticize us or think it's clever - it's okay and we can take it.  But desperate times sometimes calls for desperate measures.  So....if you cannot tell already, we are desperate!!!  Last night after Allie's bath, we decided to start our own version of "patch allergy testing".  I cannot even hold a straight face while I type this.  Our little experiment is so ridiculous it's funny.  Anyway, Matt got a bandage out and soaked it with corn syrup then we put it on her back.   Allie was all excited because she was getting a Princess and the Frog bandage. 

We have no idea if this little experiment will work or not but we figure it's worth a try.  Of course we are a little nervous because we don't know what type of "corn product" they used on Allie's back so maybe the corn syrup we used will be very strong or very weak - we have no idea.  Since we don't know, we have decided to remove Allie's bandage every 24 hours to check her skin.  So, at 9:00 tonight it was 24 hours - we removed the bandage and NOTHING!!  The only red on her skin was from the bandage itself.  The part that had the corn syrup on it showed absolutely nothing.  So.....I'm beginning to think our little experiment isn't working. My guess is the corn syrup isn't potent enough but you never know.  For the type of allergic reaction that Allie has (Type IV - hypersensitivity delayed reaction), it can take 24-72 hours for her body to react and start sending T-cells to the affected area.  We put the bandage back on Allie's back and we will wait another 24 hours and see what happens.

Stay tuned for results of our home style patch allergy testing. 

Here are a couple pictures of Allie with her bandage and what her back looked like tonight.



This is the start of Allie's home style allergy patch test.  Princess and the Frog bandage with corn syrup - corny I know. You can still see the mark to the left - that is where her first corn reaction was the other week.



Matt trying to take Allie's bandage off tonight - she didn't like that part.

No reaction yet - you can barely see where the bandage was.

Little miss Chloe loving her Hello Kitty pj's and slippers

Allie modeling her new tutu pajama's - these are her new favorite!

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