Retest

Peter's school EpiPen was part of a recent recall. The auto-injectors were found to be defective. We contacted the Pharmacy and were surprised to learn that the prescription our pediatrician wrote in September didn't have any refills. Even though our need was because of a recall, we were told that we would have to get another prescription.

So, I called the pediatrician. I explained the situation and asked if I could pick up a new prescription for the Epi-Pen. The receptionist said she would need to check with the doctor and would call me back. I was running errands that morning and decided to stop in at the doctor's office, hoping to speed things along. I cheerfully asked the receptionist if she had any news from the doctor on the prescription. She informed me that I was required to bring Peter in for a well-child visit before the doctor would give us a prescription. I told her that we only get one well-child visit per year from our insurance and past experience has taught me that I needed to save it for the beginning of the upcoming school year. Nothing had changed with his diagnosis, and even if it had, she's a pediatrician and not an allergist, so she had no way of checking. No, I was told writing that possibly life-saving prescription would be a liability without a doctor visit.

Wait, what?

That didn't sit well with me. Bryan and I discussed our options and decided that if we had to see a doctor to get an EpiPen, it should be an allergist. It had been almost two years since his last round of testing, so it was nearly time for another. Thanks to a patient cancelation, we were able to get an appointment on Friday morning.

We met with the doctor, explained Peter's history of eczema, reactions, and positive tests. He agreed that retesting was the way to go. We were led to a small room with a big comfy chair and a TV. They tested Peter for indoor and outdoor allergens, tree nuts, and peanuts. Here's Peter right after they pricked his arms.

And here he is eleven minutes later. See the big welt closest to his right hand? That's the peanut site. That's right, he's still super allergic. The technician administering the test wiped off the peanut shortly before I took this picture. The doctor walked in and said, "Yup, he's allergic."

He also tested positive for the two previously know allergens of cats and a grass mixture (we knew he was allergic to Kentucky Blue grass), and to three new allergens: a weed called Lambs-Quarter and two kinds of dust mites. All of the tree nut sites were negative.

The doctor wrote us an EpiPen prescription and scheduled a follow-up after we do a blood test as well, just to get more information. While we were all a little disappointed that his allergy hasn't changed, none of us were surprised. Now the trick is finding a pharmacy that actually has EpiPens in stock. People replacing recalled EpiPens have cleaned most pharmacies out.