As early as I can remember Aspenn and I have been involved with the Colorado Twin Studies program at the University of Colorado at Boulder through their Institute for Behavioral Genetics.
One of our most memorable trips was to the National Jewish Health Hospital while we were both in High School. We were going to do some tests with our allergies both through a breathing machine as well as on our skin with prick testing.
While I cannot recall all of our specific allergies, one thing remains clear. We made a pretty big impression just off of this specific set of tests.
While I found it later to be uncomfortable, my favorite part of this particular set of tests were Aspenn and I laying on our stomach as they prepared us for the prick test. The people helping run the tests were having a lot of fun telling us about other twins and a little on how they handled going through the steps we were as they did the tests. Though they did not share the results of other twins, I am pretty sure our tests were coming up differently. It definitely raised some eyebrows.
Aspenn and I were giggling as they took a washable marker and put a series of dots on our backs. They then started listing off how this test would work. Two women were getting all the extracts they needed, some of which contained for example an extract of Bee, all the different types of Grass that grow in Colorado, and some other bugs.
As they did this, they started to explain how it would work: First they would put a drop of the extract for each dot on our backs. Once all of the droplets had been placed, they had a little needle and a tissue to wipe it after each little prick. Then they would measure our reactions at different lengths of time, and then use that same marker to draw around the skin that showed a reaction and then use a piece of packing tape to transfer it to paper so they would have it for their records. So once we agreed we were ready, the pricking began on our backs.
A few minutes in and it seemed to be pretty normal as far as what they had seen on the other people they had tested. They would mark us, which tickled on our back, and then transfer the circles to their paper. They were pretty giggly with us when we laughed from the markers tickling us, but that didn't last for too long. Soon there were gasps as they compared the results between Aspenn and I.
Apparently, even though they have tested us and found us to be 99.9% identical, we didn't have the same test results with regards to the allergies. The things that we were both allergic too seemed to be a relatively small allergy. On the other hand, what she was not allergic to at all I was severely allergic too. Same for Aspenn, I wasn't allergic at all to some of the things she was severely allergic too. They knew for sure when some of my circles were double, almost triple the size of the ones that had a smaller reaction. It appeared that not only were we mirrored physically, but somehow it was deeper than that. The women that were running this set of tests seemed to be extremely happy to see these results, and Aspenn and I were to come back later to do the breathing part of the test.
Once we got home, our Mother had a field day with the results of the prick tests. She was explaining them to my Aunt, and having too much fun. At this time in High School I was currently taking a German Language class. As luck would have it, one of the things I was severely allergic too was German and American Cockroaches. So her running joke was, "Etaina, guess how you will know it is a German Cockroach? Sprechen sie Deutsch?" Aspenn on the other hand got confirmation on one of her old nemesis's. She was severely allergic to bees.
While it took a while to have our backs clear up, I was glad to have done it. The study is now one step closer to finding the answer they were looking for, and Aspenn and I had found one more thing out about who we are. This experience brought us closer than we had been since we were really young. It also confirmed something we already knew, we were different and unique in our own ways despite being genetically the same. We are Identical Mirror Twins.
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