Josie’s allergies: The Good, The Bad, and do we really have to drive an hour?

In short: We have some quality time ahead of us in an allergist’s office.

The very long: We took Josie to see an allergist today. About 6 weeks ago we had taken her to see one that was about 20 minutes away and really we should have left as soon as we walked in the waiting room. It was right out of the 1960s from the carpet down to the phones. While I have nothing against older stuff and certainly appreciate no need to replace what is not broken, I do have a problem with the nurse telling me she had to double check the panel of skin pricks she’d just done because one doctor does them in one order and the other doctor in the practice does them in a different order. Great, so which one is dairy? In short, we did not connect with the doctor. I’m sure he was very nice, but he basically thought environmental allergies had caused the problem and he wanted us to come back for more invasive tests at our next appointment.

In the meantime, I made an appointment with a doctor who came highly recommended and was in another state, an hour away. I then did a ton of research to confirm several things the first doctor told us and learn some new things: The penicillin test the pediatrician thought they could do is not reliable or desirable. Second doc said she won’t administer. So essentially there is no test that can say, ‘why yes, you *are* allergic to ‘x’ drug. I still don’t understand why they can’t take small doses and skin prick her with those--I asked, but I don't remember the answer--I think she said it just has to do with blood makeup. It is possible to be allergic to one drug in a family, but not others in the same family (but only in certain families of drugs is this the case). There are ‘challenge’ tests they can do to desensitize a patient so that they can indeed take the drug (something first doctor said needed to be performed in a hospital only if taking the medicine was urgent and something second doctor said would be performed in her office).

So today we drove an hour, waited an hour (despite being early for the apt) and after taking a history, the doctor order 12 skin prick tests and a control. Unlike doctor number 1, who had them performed on her back, doctor number 2 had them performed on her arm, which apparently is more sensitive in terms of producing a reaction. She tested for a whole slew of things from environmental to food including trees, nuts, shellfish, dairy, soy, etc. The only thing that showed a result was the control prick. Second doctor's nurse came in and measured the size of the welts and wrote all the notes on her arm in advance. Doctor number one brought these two comb-like devices in, rolled them across her back and walked out, then ran back quickly to draw with an ink pen a line down the middle of her back (see photo above). Josie did really well this second time (that’s not to say she happily sat there while getting each of the 13 pokes, but I upted the anti to promise not one, but 2 lollipops). They were cool multi-colored lollipops!

Then I told the doctor that with the other doctor she had shown slight reactions to a couple things and I mentioned Josie’s Aunt L, who apparently has had 2 rounds of skin pricks showing nothing, only to have things show up in a blood test. Poor Josie, she didn’t know what was coming and watched as the nurse tried (very hard) to find her vein in her arm, any arm, saying she was looking for the green line. Hearing her say that if she didn’t find something, she’d have the other nurse come in made me wish she would just cut our losses and get someone else. But she came through in the end on the very first poke and 2 viles (and not kiddie sized viles) of blood later and Josie will be tested for a whole battery of allergins. We get the results back in about 2 weeks and then the doctor will send us a letter containing all the results. If there are any allergies then we will apparently need to go back for more invasive tests to try and narrow things down.

The good news in all this is that the doctor thinks she may be outgrowing her dairy allergy since she showed no reaction. The bad news is that if she is outgrowing it, we will have to spend a day in the office doing a ‘challenge’ test of dairy before she is clear to have dairy.

Getting back to the drugs, that is the part where we are just plain out of luck. Doc 2 thought because 2 of the hive occurrences were in the spring that it might be related to allergies of some sort or some other unrelated issue and that she should potentially be treated for allergies--hence all the tests--basically they are looking for any indicator that could be controlled for to see if it is causing the reaction. She said we’re in a pickle because of Josie’s young age, and because each of the reactions were at the end of the course of treatment, there just isn’t a clear path. So, she is going to send a letter to our pediatrician with a cc to us that lists some drugs to try in lieu of those for which she has shown a potential reaction and that if the doctor feels it is medically necessary to give her one of the drugs she has had previously that we are to get it in powder form (before they add the water) and make an apt with her office to go in the next day and get essentially an all day challenge test starting at 7am where they will give her little bits of the medicine to test her reaction and that it will desensitize her for 5 to 10 days to complete to course of treatment. Of course if she develops a really bad reaction, then she can’t take the drug. This is where we wish there were a doctor closer. I am going to ask around and see if I can’t find someone who might be less than a one hour drive (in good traffic).

They can’t randomly desensitize or test because it’s good for only a certain number of days. So as she points out, if Josie gets sick while we are away, she can’t have the antibiotics she would need. So we would need to either return home, or hopefully try another drug that would have the needed results (she said sometimes these are the only drugs that will work).

So that dear readers (if you are still with me) is the scoop. I know there are parts of the nearly 3 hour apt. I left out and I am still left with plenty of questions, but once the blood results come back, we'll be able to figure out a path. Apparently when Josie gets older she'll be able t handle other drugs that she just apparently can't take at the moment.

The Doctor and Josie, take 4

Not sure where to start...J went in on Sunday March 29th (2 weeks ago) for pink eye. Don't ask me how no one else in the family or visiting g'parents came down with it. Wednesday, April 1, she had a raging ear infection. Since she's allergic to penicillian, she's been taking omnicef for her anit-biotic needs (ear-infection).



Last Wednesday, the 8th, J had her 2 year well visit. She received the Hep A and Hep B vaccinations. I should keep better track of all this, but we basically get whatever it is they tell us to give them (not sure what I'll do about some of the newer, more optional ones down the road).

Ear infection looked better and in all, a clean bill of health and middle of the road in stats (50th percentile range across the board). She's got a 19 1/3 head circumfrence; weighs 26.7 pounds and is 34 inches long. Doctor was impressed with her abilities (knowing her colors in Spanish and English), consistently saying 2 and even some 3 word phrases. There is a little checklist the parent fills out and I checked that we could do everything it listed. Sometimes I think it's a routine for him--act impressed, so the parents will be impressed, but then on earlier visits when she wasn't talking much, he was pretty mellow, low-key.

We seem to have to wait a long time to see this doctor and it really gets me bent out of shape. After waiting an hour for Ed's apt. last month, we actually left when we were told it would be at least another 30 minutes before we'd been seen. I understand doctors are in a pickle at the moment and all that, and I like that they spend time with me when I need it, but if you are going to keep me waiting 1.5 hours, don't ask me to arrive before my stated apointment time. Or better yet, call me/email/text or something to tell me to arrive a little later. My hairdresser and dentist seem to have that down, now I'd like my pediatrician to be on that page. They are opening a 3rd office so we're going to use the opportunity to switch to a different provider in the same practice.

Fast forward to this weekend. A couple posts ago I mentioned the welts. By Sunday morning some of the bruises had morphed into giant purple/blue bruises. She had them on her feet, the backs of her legs, around her diaper area, and a couple other places. Meanwhile, the welts kept coming and we kept giving her benadryl. This morning when I called in, they said to bring her in, which brings me to the 4th apointment. We were there for TWO hours today. Actually happy it was a late afternoon apointment because other than getting hungry, it didn't completely hose the day.

The nurse practionier used some complicated term to describe the viral reaction some kids get, but said she'd never seen them bruise. Meanwhile her ear looked like it was becoming infected and her throat meant Josie would be getting a strep culture (turned out negative). So we had to wait for a consult with a doctor, which never came because the nurse finally cornered a doctor who said bruises were a natural progression for the welts. She NP also thought it was an allergic reaction to the omnicef. That knocks out another family of drugs she can take. I think I need to get her a medic alert bracelet if this keeps up.

Genetically Josie is getting to be more and more like her Aunt in terms of drug allergies and such. Will have to phone for a consult. We'll round out the week with a follow up to check on the hives and bruising and check the ear to see how the infection is doing (they don't want to give her any meds until the welts go away--which at 3-4 days, should be tomorrow night).

And then next week, it's take 2 of Eddie's 4 year apointment...

J's Birthday Party...

Den and I learned some important lessons when we threw the party for J's 2nd birthday. It was to be a low key casual deal with some of the pals she sees most often. Unless it is just one other family, don't try and do this without g'parents!

The theme of the party was "The Best Nest" by Eastman. It's on J's top 5 favorite books list. It is joined by Make Way for Ducklings, 1-2-3- (where you trace the numbers and it has lots o pictures), Mike Mulligan and the Steamshovel, and The Button Book.

For the party, Den made a cake to match Mrs. Bird--despite my micro-managing of the assembly process, it looks pretty good. Come Thurs. night we decided to think about what to do at the party. Friday night I found actual birdhouses that looked just like ones in the book, so we had a reading of The Best Nest while everyone ate lunch, then the kids colored the houses and stuffed them with nest contents (down to the straws in the book). The Easter egg dying of 60+ eggs went off without a stain to the oriental rug under the dining room table (that we know of). We had such a good time watching that we think we'd like to have an egg dying party next year...I hate to see all those dyes go to waste for just a dozen eggs.

Then, as we prepared to bring out the cake...we discovered welts on J's stomach and armpits (see first picture at bath time). Of course it was an hour after the doctor's office closed for the day (Saturday hours), so we called the after hours line to find out if we should break in that new epi-pen the doctor gave us (that visit will be another post).
Long story short is that she is now on a round the clock dose of benadryl until 12-hours after the welts disappear (supposed to be in 3-4 days). Nurse said that sometimes kids can get welts like this after fighting something viral (like pink eye/ear infection). She just finished the meds on Friday night for that combo.

Poor kid. Everyone graciously stuck around until our little medical-drama was addressed and we could cut the cake. Josie decided she didn't want to blow out the candles, so one of the older kids suggested that Eddie take on that task. Happy to oblige, he (and a couple helpers) blew out the candles. I really think she wasn't feeling well--that or the benedryl had kicked in that we'd given her some time ago.


These are the houses, filled with nests and eggs. Eddie even wrote his name ont he back.

10 and 11 month updates

On the 'meaning to write' list are Josie's updates.
So here we go, starting with 10 months--that would be during the month of January, as she turned 10 months Feb. 3.



Kind of wild to think back that far as so much as changed. Will try and stick to just 9/10 months though:

eating broccoli. Early in January she was pushing through her second tooth and Cookie taughter her to dance-- 'bila, bila, bila' as she claps and Josie moves around. During January, Josie's night time schedule got more condensed and on Jan. 8 she made it from 8 to 5am. Just 8 months ahead of Eddie on this accomplishment. In addition to dancing, she was standing on her own and clapping (now of course she is just about ready to walk).

While in FLA she was consistently 'free-standing' for several seconds. and by the end of the trip, she was up to 20 seconds like this. Walking, we thought was imminent.



She was also starting to rely almost entirely on table food for her meals. She refused to be spoon fed for the first time.Then there is her second ear infection in a month--are we headed for tubes?



She was starting to outgrow her larger 6-month clothes at the end of January.



For his part during this time, Eddie began setting the table. Instead of Cheerios, he said 'Cheer-nose'. Cracked us up--still does. They are both cheerios and fruit puffs freaks. Occupies and entertains them both throughout the entire meal.



Eddie offically entered the "watch this!" phase. I think this phase will never end. But he actually said 'watch this!' as he drove his remote controlled car off a stool. Eddie was still wearing 2T without a problem, but I knew he'd need 3T before winter weather ended, so we started that transition.



The top pikkie is just before Den went out west on Feb. 6. I have no photo of her on Feb. 3.



The bottom 2 pictures were taken this past Monday, when she was offically 11 months. In fact they were taken a short time before her brother slammed into the garage.



We introduced yogart on Feb. 5 and on the 6th she broke out in hives--come to find she is allergic to the family of Amoxicillian/Penacillian, etc. Did I mention that I also got a flat tire that day and Den left for a 6 day trip? She broke out in hives while I was feeding her on Den's next trip and then we ultimately learned she also has a mild dairy allergy when she broke out in even worse hives after being fed yogart It's 2 out of a scale of 6, so the doctor said she has a good chance of outgrowing it, but we are to transition her to soy milk (the doc also tested for carrots and soy--which were fine) when turns one year.

It's weird, with the amox, the doc said the allergy doesn't necessarily show up with the first course of drugs, so when she had an allergic reaction 2 weeks after we had introduced yogart, I was almost positive it was the culprit.

J actively uses teething rings and rattles (whereas Eddie wasn't really interested). In a rather unremarkable way, Josie was weaned last month. I didn't exactly mean for it to happen, but I wasn't as upset as I was when it happened with Eddie. Both kids I nursed til 10 months and I feel good about that. I always had 6 months as my goal and I exceeded it in both cases. It just gets to the point where they are eating so many solids that somehow I feel like I'm not making as much milk.

Josie now will pull the high chair towards her, which is cute. Pretty much beginning in February Josie began sleeping solidly through til 6:30 or so--yipee! A couple times she has almost taken a step--often she'll step/lunge forward and reach for something in the same motion. She'll walk holding onto items and people's hands. She doesn't seem to like to walk for very long periods though.

During February she just about completely outgrew her 9 month clothes. She definitely had a growth spurt as even I notice that she seems larger. She consistently waves 'bye-bye' which is might cute. True she waves for other things too that aren't bye-bye, but she waves on command. Cookie thinks she is already doing pretend play, which I think is a stretch., but she definitely seems like a sharp kid.

Brace Yourself

First the pictures, because I wrote the text first. I think I still owe a 10 month update and it's coming...
Eddie loves playing with his leapfrog click start computer and is getting quite good with the mouse. J is eating chunkier foods.



A friend and I agonized over wether to get this adorable pink sweater--and I'm so glad we did. She looks so cute in it--wish I had clothes that hip.
Den decided to give the ergo a shot and he really liked it. I bought a used one recently and it doesn't seem to be working out as well as the other I borrowed. I"ll give it one more shot and then give up and buy new.

This last picture of the smiling Eddie is after he worked hard to stack all that stuff on top of the fire truck. I was just shocked he wanted his photo taken.

Brace Yourself is what I wrote in an email before I told Den his car had a flat tire. My life feels like a Country/Western song right about now. Den is out of town. He'll be gone til Monday. Fortunately I've imported G'parents Ohio since he'll be gone over the weekend. From Oct. to now, he traveled only one week in December. That's more time at home than since I met him--and it's been nice. He's already got a trip scheduled one week after he returns.







I decided to drive his car on Wednesday. Trying to get the car as close to the curb as possible in front of our house I manage to gauge the sidewall of the tire--mind you the car has about 1000 miles on it. I don't even have the door open and I can hear the air leaking out. Went flat in less than 10 minutes. This is the kind of crazy thing Den does, not me. :)

My Thurs. was so crazy, I literately had no time to have the spare put on, so our car sat in front of the house with a big 'ole flat, if I leave it too long like that, the neighbors will probably worry I'll put it on blocks next in the front yard.


Josie wakes up Thurs. morning with a rash in her diaper area that was spreading all over her body. After killing an hour with the doctor, turns out she is allergic to penacillion/amoxicillian/augmentan--that whole family of drugs. Apparently sulfa drugs are commonly used when thee is an allergy to penecillian--I'm allergic to sulfa--sure hope she isn't allergic to that too. So I guess it's okay that right after I gave her a dose of amoxicillian this morning I dropped the bottle and pick sticky stuff spilled not only in a puddle at my feet, but reminded me of the blood-splatter tests I learned about in another life--it left pink 10 feet from the place of impact.

You know you're at the peds office a lot when the staff knows you. I can't imagine families of 5 kids.

Also on Thurs. We heard back from the first of about 6-8 preschools we are considering for Eddie--we're number 28 on the waitlist. No, that's not a typo. Too bad because I really liked that one. Went to another open house Thurs. They wanted an $80 non-refundable application fee. I'm tempted not to apply on principal alone--$80!!! How much processing is involved to tell me that I'm on the waitlist? Too bad because it seemed like an interesting option.

On Friday went to yet another preschool open house. This one sounded more promising. There were more openings in Eddie's age group than any other school we've considered, and if I get there at 5am on the day of registration, we have a really good shot of getting in and at least I would know. But wait, there's more....

Friday I decide to clean Josie's high chair and run the parts through the dishwasher. By dinner time I'd forgotten to put the straps back on. While I was getting carry out, G'ma Ohio was feeding Josie. Well, after she got a bib. Problem was Josie managed to 'jump' out of the chair while g'ma was getting the bib. That's how Eddie described it. We're not sure if she hit her head or not because Eddie is the only one who saw her fall. I was remarkably calm, after all, Ed had fallen 32 inches from our bed a couple times and this was only 26 inches and we kinda think she fell on her bum.

Either way, doctor's office instructed me to wake her every 2 hours until I went to bed and then every 4 hours after that--for two nights in a row. Ugh. Talk about establishing bad sleeping habits. Oh well.

Saturday was a little better after such crazy Wed., Thurs. and Fridays. Only 48 hours till Den gets home and then another 7 days before he leaves again.