K has had eczema since almost the time she was born. The doctor thought that it was sensitivity to fragrances and so we use unscented soap, laundry detergent, and so on. Her eczema is usually treatable with Vaseline and lotion and from time to time hydrocortizone cream. We have not seen any flare ups lately except for normal winter skin. However on December 26th our world was thrown for a loop and on January 20th it seemed to be thrown upside down. Let me start at the 26th and go from there.
December 26, 2010:
We were all enjoying a wonderful Ahlers' family Christmas when the unthinkable happened. K started to have a pretty severe allergic reaction to either a peanut or an almond. K asked my mom if she could have a peanut and after eating the peanut then asked my mom for a black one (almond). My mom not thinking about it gave them to her. Within ten minutes her eyes were swelling shut and her lips were swelling. Thanks to a fast thinking family member who had Benedryl on hand we gave her a dose and climbed into Tom's new truck and were on our way to Urgent Care or the ER. On our way to Urgent Care K started to throw up and I just put my hands out and started catching her puke like it was something I do everyday. By the time we arrived at Urgent Care her swelling seemed to be down slightly and she was less lethargic. After a short wait in the waiting room and a long wait in the examine room the doctor came in and said she was indeed having an allergic reaction to something. He said that it could be the peanut, almond, or anything with in the last 72 hours. He prescribed her some Prednizone and told us to follow up with our doctor. Glad that K was on the mend and appreciative of how quickly my family reacted and helped out (Tom not only had his new truck christened with K's puke he went shopping on a Sunday to get K some new clothes because the bad mom I am forgot to pack new clothes in her bag.) we headed home. We tried hiding the Prednizone in the chocolate pudding like the doctor told us, but K is too smart for her own good and told us it was yucky pudding. So we had World War 3 for the next 5 days to get even some of the Prednizone into K's system. Why will my child not take medicine and when we can get some in her does she puke it all back up????
December 27th, 2010:
I call K's pediatrician's office and speak to a nurse. After consulting the doctor she makes an appointment for us to come into the office two weeks after her last does oe Prednizone for allergy testing. We had to wait at least two weeks for the Prednizone to be out of her system. In the mean time we should avoid all nut products.
January 17, 2011:
Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. Day Nathan and I were both able to go to the doctor's office for the allergy testing. The doctor examined K and her eczema and said it looked good and then talked to us about what she was thinking. She thought since K had been exposed to peanut butter and we have no family history of food allergies that it was probably the almond, but she would do a full nut panel to be sure. She also said she would order us an epi pen in case she was to ever have this type of reaction again. The doctor then told K we were going to need to see how strong her blood was and that the nurse would be in a minute to get it. She then told K if she was good while they were testing her blood's strength she would get a cookie and sticker. K was content and the nurse came in. Nathan sat up on the examine table and had K in his lap. He held her arm, so that it was locked straight and I held her elbow, so she couldn't bend it. The nurse explained everything to K as she did it and even complimented her throughout the procedure. When she was all done drawing her blood (well over a minute) she told K that she was one of the best kids she had even drawn blood on and was way better then even the older kids. Yay K!!! The nurse said we would know the results in 72 hours at the most. When we were leaving I started to feel queasy I guess from watching the blood come out of K and had to go use the restroom. When I met up with K and Nathan in the lobby she not only had a sticker and a cookie, but she also got to pick a toy out of the toy chest for being so brave. Once we left the doctor's office we were off to get a milkshake (doctor's orders) and a new toy for K (mommy's orders).
January 20, 2011
The dreaded call came in today. This date had already significantly changed my life 8 years earlier and was about to again change my life. A nurse called and told me that K not only had the one allergy I prayed see would never get, a peanut allergy, but she was also allergic to our cats :( and slightly allergic to dogs and milk (wth) she drinks it everyday. Funny thing is that she was not allergic to the almond. The nurse told us K must avoid all peanut products and we need to read all labels carefully and the cats must go. I started to have a break down and Nathan seemed to be in denial. I decided that I wanted to talk to the doctor about K's allergy testing, not that I didn't trust the nurse, but we still had so many questions and I just wanted to talk to the doctor. Unfortunately when I called the doctor's office our doctor was out of the office, thanks snow storm, and she would call me tomorrow.
January 21, 2011
I finally got some good news after speaking to K's doctor. It appears as though her peanut allergy is probably on the mild side since she has had peanut butter before. It seems as though the allergy may only be triggered by ingesting the actual nut and not all peanut products. We will still avoid peanut butter and all things that contain nuts, but she can still have stuff where peanuts may be used in the factory (plain M&M's) and peanut oil (5 Guys fries). We can also keep our cats. Hallelujah!!! They are a big part of our family and we are all attached, especially K. The doctor did say we probably shouldn't get any new four legged friends which won't be a problem because three is plenty! The cats were probably also the culprit of K's eczema and that she has grown up a tolerance to them. The doctor said to not worry about the milk allergy if she doesn't appear to have any problems with it. Hooray! I don't know what we would have done because K ONLY drinks milk and water. She loathes juice. The doctor then said we would take K to an allergist at age 5 where they would give K food challenges with peanut butter and stuff and determine where to go from there. In the mean time we are to avoid nuts and carry around the epi pen and Benedryl everywhere we go.
So that is the saga of K's allergies. It has been a long couple of weeks with one heck of a roller coaster ride, but I now feel comfortable with the diagnosis and feel it is manageable.
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