Thursday, October 6, 2011

GUSTO 18-month check

Allergy test

Body fat measurement. Every time she touches her daddy, they had to redo the test again.

Anya was due for her 18-month check with GUSTO yesterday. In the past, the team will always send one or two of their staff to our place for home visits. However, from 18 months onwards, we will have to go down to KKH.

For the first time, The Husband, being our chauffeur, was with us for the assessment. There was the usual questionnaires for me pertaining to Anya as well as growth checks where they take Anya's measurements in terms of height, weight, body fat etc. The best part for the 18-month check is that they also throw in an allergy prick test.

For parents out there who wish to do so for your kiddos but are apprehensive because of the possible trauma / pain that your kiddo has to endure, no worries about it! I was hesitant when I saw them preparing the kit but they assured me that it is painless. And true enough, the lady merely 'drew' on Anya's arm lightly with the needle. What Anya felt was probably more like a tickle than even a scratch. Oh, and you get to know the results fifteen minutes later.

They tested the common allergens which includes dustmites, eggs, milk, and I forgot the other two. :P Anyway, the good news is the results came out all negative. At least now I get some form of assurance that she is likely to outgrow those pesky eczema some day.

4 comments:

Stitch said...

Anya has eczema as well? some of them are childhood types, after they grow up, it will grow away. I hope mine belongs to this too...

Anya & Arielle's mom said...

Yeah.. Hers is quite mild in the sense that it is usually on her scalp, her neck and back only. And occurrences have reduced since she turned 1. The thing that i dread most whenever she has it is she will pull out her hair in frustration. Already, she has a sparse mane..

Susan said...

It's painless? Perhaps I should do it too. I broke out in an awful allergy last Christmas and I couldn't tell how it developed. The doctor recommended doing the test but I chickened out!

Anya & Arielle's mom said...

Hi Susan,

Yes, it is definitely painless! Anya was totally cool about - she was intently looking at what the two nurses were doing, but who wouldn't be when they start drawing strange markings on your forearm. The one that she did the similar to the description that I found on Wiki page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skin_allergy_test

The redness you see on the forearm and back in the pictures provided on wiki page is caused by the allergen (hives) rather that blood due to prick. You can do a verbal confirmation with your doc, just to be sure. :)