We are in the process of making the rounds to M's specialists. Hopefully we'll be able to get most of these in before the baby arrives in early December. Today I took both girls with me to M's 1st appointment with an allergist. I've suspected that M has various allergies. We became aware of a probable tree nut allergy after she had a mild reaction to Pistachio and Hazelnut ice cream/gelato a while back. She has a clear runny nose more often than not, tends to breathe through her mouth, has the tell tale coloring under her eyes and appeared to break out in mini hives once after climbing on the couch and rubbing her eyes.
First the Dr. asked about our family history. There are no allergies that I'm aware of on my side of the family. I had no allergies as a child and adolescent but did develop seasonal allergies in my mid to late 20's. There are allergies (including food) on Mike's side of the family. He himself had allergies to animals when he was younger but they seem to have become much more mild into adulthood.
After learning more of M's medical history seeing the coloring under her eyes, her mouth breathing and her clear runny nose she agreed that allergies were at play. She explained the need for a scratch test where they scratch her skin lightly and place a drop of fluid containing a specific allergen into this area and within minutes the nurse was in drawing a grid on her back. M was NOT in to this. The dr scratched my skin to show me that it didn't hurt, but explained that Maryn would not be happy during the process. She didn't need to tell me that. M is not a fan of doctor offices period. Even if what is being done to her doesn't hurt she still doesn't want them near her. With all the girl has been through in her short life I don't blame her one bit.
Once the scraping was complete a timer was set for 20 minutes. She wasn't to touch her back and had to leave her shirt off until the results were read. The nurse left the room. Isla also wanted to take off her shirt and considering M wanted hers back on I thought it might help to have Isla in the same state of undress. So, off her shirt went and both girls were happy.
It became clear in just a few short minutes that virtually all of the 20 or so allergens they were testing for were causing a reaction on her skin. The nurse came in at the 10 minute mark to make sure everything was okay. "Yep, but I think she's allergic to all of it," I said. The nurse took a peak and said, "Wow, well the dr. will be in to read the results in 10 minutes."
I have to admit it made me more worried when 10 minutes later the dr. walked in and seem quite surprised to see the results. She did have a reaction to every single allergen for which they tested. The most severe reactions were to cashews and cats. I remember number 15-cashews, had a hive over another hive in that small space. This is when the dr. first said EpiPen. "From now on your daughter is not to go anywhere unless it's with her. And everyone who cares for her needs to be instructed on how to administer it."
M is allergic to tree nuts. We'll need to be much more cautious about reading labels. Not nuts, no nut oils. She can't have anything unless we know exactly what's in it, and nothing made in a plant that processes tree nuts. And while a peanut is not a nut, it's a legume, she recommended staying away from that as well as 50% of kids with tree nut allergies develop one to peanuts. She also said that plants that process peanuts also typically process tree nuts and cross contamination can occur. Well, it's too bad one of her favorite foods is PBJ. We'll have to try some new things to take its place.
She also has a number of environmental allergies.
Thankfully we've been doing a lot right already (we have a high quality vacuum cleaner that also has a HEPA filter, we keep her bedroom door closed all the time, she doesn't use a pillow, we don't allow the animals in her room, we have no carpeting, no nick-nacks in her bedroom that collect dust, she doesn't like stuffed animals so she doesn't really have many of those).
Some of the things we'll need to start doing:
try to get visitors to remove shoes when entering the house (certainly the dog brings in environmental allergens but it helps to limit it as much as possible)
mopping once a week
wiping down her room with a wet cloth every 1-2 weeks
purchasing mattress covers to discourage dust mites
laundering linens more often and in hot water
put a HEPA filter in her room
giving her a bath and changing her clothes after she's been outside for a period of time
avoiding the outdoors on days when pollen (etc.) counts are high
traveling with an EpiPen and getting her one for school/daycare
keeping windows closed in her room always
limit visitors going into her room (and depositing environmental allergens into the space)
don't allow the girls to play in the bedroom unless they have changed into pj's
keeping the windows up in the car and the air on re-circulate esp. in the morning and evening
she will need daily medication
The pup
It appears that she is allergic to dogs but it's fairly mild at this point. The Dr explained that it could get worse especially if we're not good about vacuuming/mopping etc. What is a greater issue with the dog at this point is that she will track environmental allergens into the house from outside.
The cat.
So the cat tries to avoid the girls as much as possible, which helps. We are looking into the possibility of finding her another good home but if it doesn't pan out we'll do the best we can to further limit the exposure. She will not go to a shelter. We've made a commitment to care for our animals and we don't take that responsibility lightly.
We're to try to implement as much of the above list as possible and schedule a follow up appt. 2 months out. That's about the time we'll be having a baby. Geez ... lots on our plate right now.
Hopefully all of the specialists we see in the next 2 months don't require follow up visits.
: )
