Okay so after Lucy had that reaction I called the allergy department first. They weren't interested in talking to me. Okay fine. So I called our pediatrician's office. Can I say I love my pediatrician's nurse? I don't think I've ever met her in person (a different nurse always gets the girls' measurements and I know it's a different person than the one on the phone b/c she's a parent of 2 former students of mine) but whenever I call on the phone she is SO nice and SO helpful. Anyway, she said to bring Lucy in for bloodwork and they would test for allergies that way. That is a LOT easier than what I had been imagining. So I made Walker take her (hey, I had to deal with the blood draw at her 1 year check up). That was 2 weeks ago. The nurse called me the next Wednesday and told me what came up. Are you ready?
walnuts? check
egg whites? check
mold? check
peanuts? check
milk? check
wheat? check
cat and dog dander? check and check
That is quite a list. I was floored.
So based on all of that the nurse said they were faxing her labs to the pediatric allergist at Carle and they were giving us a prescription for epi pens (one for us, one for daycare). I didn't understand the wheat and milk allergies at. all. Lucy has been drinking milk since February and eating cheerios like they were going out of style. The nurse did say those were low to moderate allergies so we didn't need to do anything drastic until we met with the allergist.
Cut to the next day when the nurse calls me again to say the allergist doesn't want to see Lucy because she is so young and most of her allergies were not that severe. Our pediatrician recommended we "feed through" the food allergies and she will most likely outgrow them. I agreed with the nurse on that except for the peanuts. I told the nurse I didn't feel comfortable doing peanuts given the reaction she had (even though the peanut allergy only came up as moderate). The nurse agreed with me. She also said our pediatrician wanted us to see a dermatologist to see if there was a connection between Lucy's allergies and her eczema. And the allergies that came up high were cat and dog dander. Well where does Lucy spend most of her time? Crawling on the floor amidst all the invisible hair we can't seem to control. So could this be why her eczema has never gone away? I didn't know but I wanted to see what the dermatologist thought. So we went in last week and he said it could be causing it but he's not sure. And really the only way to know for sure is to get rid of the animals and do a massive cleaning job. But he didn't want us to go to that step yet. First he gave us a stronger prescription cream. We are to try it for a month and then we go back to see him and decide if it's working. If it's not, more drastic measures may have to be taken such as becoming a pet-free house. I have to be honest, this would make me pretty sad. I've always had animals in my house (seriously the only time I did not have an animal living with me was when I lived in the dorms) and I can't imagine not having a furry friend to cuddle up to (and no, Walker does not count. I said furry, not hairy). And then there's the issue of where would our pets go? I can NOT send them to the animal shelter. I just can't. My sister has volunteered to take the cat which is great. But I'm not as worried about her as I am the dog. Sadie needs a very particular type of house to live in. And I'd want her to go to someone I know or someone my brother knows since she is his dog. But you know we have another month before we have to make a decision like that. I'm really hoping this cream will make a difference.
So that is my rather lengthy update on the allergies. And just for being so nice to read all of that here is a picture you've probably already seen on Facebook :P
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