Ava had an allergist appointment today. She is going to be taking another blood to test for even more things, fun fun. Among the list of things she will be tested for, eggs, milk, peanuts (these we already know she is allergic to but they want to see if it is to the same degree as before), plus sesame, shrimp, crab, clam, scallop, codfish, haddock, hazelnut, almond, cashew, pecan, pistachio, and walnut!
The end result we want is that she isn't allergic to anything anymore--now that would sure be nice! She had a reaction earlier this week to a cookie she ate (darn that Chips Ahoy!. . . okay, really it's my fault, she wore me down with her pitiful face so I gave her one, knowing we would pay the price later with itchy skin) so I suspect not everything will go away quite yet. But one can dream!
They also want to give her a food challenge. What this means is that they challenge her allergies to see what kind of a reaction she gets. Giving her wee little bits of milk on her skin, same with eggs, peanuts, etc. Then we get to watch to see if she has a reaction, now doesn't that sound like fun??
I was just reading a parent's complaint about schools policy's about not bringing peanut items to school. Before having Ava I might have agreed, but now that we have Ava, I think, "OH Please, you think you have it bad, try being the parent of a kid with allergies!". This is hard work!
Say a prayer for Ava, will you? Pray that the tests go well and this allergy issue becomes a thing of the past!
4 comments:
I'm so sorry she has such allergies...I thought we had it bad with Jordan with cats, dogs and dust. I totally understand about the peanuts at school...However I never thought of it from the parents point of view...not even able to give her a cookie. I can't even imagine how much you have to watch and question everything that goes into her mouth. I will pray that things calm down and she will out grow these food allergies. Have you been through the testing yet for the basic allergies? I'll admit it's not a fun process. Be sure to take someone else with you for support...don't try and go by yourself. If you need anything, give me a call.
LY
Jackie
Yes, I did get her tested last year and it was horrible. The worst part is after they prick her back and I had to hold her down for what seemed like forever! She was screaming . . . it was bad. Afterwards I told Neil, you take her for the rest of her shots at the doctor!
We will have to test her for outdoor allergens at some point, we haven't done that.
I know the worst part about Jordan's testing was that he did not expect the needle pricks on his back. When they started I was holding him down and he looked up at me with tears and said. "Mommy, I want a hug,." Then he started crying...it was horrible. Thank goodness Connie went with me and held his feet down. One good thing is that Jordan seems to be outgrowing his asthma and also is dust and dog allergies. He still is alergic to cats, I don't think that will ever change.
Oh, Faith! I'm there with you!! Chandler has really bad allergies & we struggle every year with how to treat them, and keep them under control. When he was little he was on soy formula because he had dairy and egg allergies. He is still allergic to eggs, but not the dairy anymore.
He was just two years old when we did the allergy testing and it was rough. I was 9 months pg with Maya and they had me hold him (tummy down) on my lap for 20+ minutes while they did the whole pin prick test. The tests came back as him being allergic to soy (go figure?), peanuts, eggs, cats, dogs, house dust, and several other grasses and pollens.
I walked away from that appt feeling overwhelmed & exhausted with the task ahead. We made a few changes in his diet and environment, but we never saw BIG changes happen in his symptoms. We had to "wait it out" a lot & deal with things when they came up. It's a lot of "wait and see" when you are looking for solutions.
Now that he is getting ready to turn 4, I can see that several things have gotten better (esp with the food allergies), however we still have to be really careful with him. We don't go outside on "bad" days, we still avoid eggs, and we have had to ask our friends & family to put their animals up when we come over. In short, you learn to "cope" first, and then you become more and more pro-active as time goes on.
It does get easier :-)
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