Allergy Shots

The older kids have now been getting weekly allergy shots for a month now.  I  can say that now with a sigh of relief.  I was DREADING them.  DREADING.  The kids would cringe and complain every time we brought it up and the fact that they'd have to do them weekly for 18 months-2 years.  I kept putting them off.  But then we sucked it up and made the appointment for our pre-shot start.  And then 3 weeks later we went back for our first shots.

Both kids were nervous but the PA who administers them was very non-nonchalant and reassured them it would be no big deal.  Bryce was brave and went first and then Caroline went.  And you know what?  It really was no big deal!!!  After their first shot you have to wait 30 minutes to make sure they don't have a reaction and all I kept hearing over and over was, "I can't believe it barely hurt!"  WHEW!  I can't tell you how much I was relieved and how proud I was of them.

Once the first shot is done, you only have to wait 20 minutes after a shot and it's working out perfectly.  My MIL picks the kids up from school, drives them to the allergist and the kids go right in and get their shot.  In the time they are waiting, Jason arrives from work and my MIL can scoot on home.  It works perfectly because she's now 15 minutes closer to home and Jason just packs the kids up and goes home with the kids himself.  It really couldn't work any better.  I appreciate my MIL being so flexible and helping with this.  And then once we move, we'll be within 10 minutes of the office so it will be even easier.

We had a trip up last week where we didn't know that shots were cancelled that day and then earlier this week both kids forgot to take their Zyrtec in the morning (you have to take it at least an hour before your shot), but we just changed the shots to today.  And with any luck, both kids will be no longer allergic to their high reaction allergens.  In fact, I'm hoping that maybe Bryce will even be a little less sensitive this coming spring and we can avoid having to do a course of steroids like we usually do.

Allergy Shot GO!

We finally had our "allergy shot launch" appointment this week with the allergist which I was completely dreading.  But, because the receptionist likes us she managed to squeeze us in before the doctor walked out of the office for some strange amount of time like he always does.  Anyway, we were in and out so fast that I didn't even have time to finish my insurance change of paperwork for each kid.  (Please tell me WHY I need to write all that stuff down when all the info is ON the card that you just copied??!?!)

Anyway, the good news is that because neither kid currently has issues with mold or dust mite, all their allergens can be put into one shot.  So only one shot a week AND they can alternate arms.  Whew.  I know the first few weeks might be tough, but they will be okay.  Caroline still has her eye on the prize of getting a cat when she's older so her's hoping that helps to boost her on days she doesn't want a shot.

Luckily too the office, which moved almost a year ago, is much easier to get in and out of and has hours five days a week.  (It's also going to be much closer to our new house when we move!)  And then her's the best news....I was bracing for having to pay a fee for each kid each week but my benefits now cover immunotherapy 100%!  No copays!

The biggest hurdle will be getting them there but I think that we are going to work with my MIL that she'll bring them and meet Jason at the allergist and then she can leave from there - it's on her way home and then Jay can just take the kids home.  I'm sure there will be weeks we can't work it out like that but we'll just have to take it week by week.  If this helps Bryce's allergies, it will be 100% worth it.  I hate the month of April for him.  Not sure if we'll see any difference this coming spring or not, but you never know.  Of course the doctor said, "Here's hoping when we retest them in two years that they haven't developed other allergies."  Um yeah, let's hope not.

Please Rain!

The pollen this spring is NO JOKE.  The levels are normal for this time of year but what is not normal is how dry it's been and how windy.  If you go outside, it's like a pollen tornado.  Not great for my kids, especially Bryce!!  We had NO issues in Orlando last week even though their levels were supposedly high.  One day outside playing in these conditions on Saturday meant instant allergy eyes for Bryce.  The Rx we have for his eye drops helped but he still looked bad so I went ahead and used the liquid Prednisone I had from last year and decided to do a short course of it like the allergist has done with him several times.  It quiets everything down, allows the other meds to work and when he comes off, the meds are at full potency and he's usually fine.   (We hadn't started the eye drops before his flare up.)  Here's hoping.  A little rain would do wonders for the pollen levels but I don't think there is much relief in sight. The weather for the coming week looks pretty good but without rain and more wind coming.  Where are our April showers????

I'll admit the allergens are getting me too although not as bad as I thought.  I had all this gunk in my throat with a cough that I attributed to allergies, as does Caroline, but then Piper developed it and then today mine seems to have started to get better.  I'm pretty sure we have some viral, cold-like thing going on too.

Poor Bryce though, he's started baseball practice and the weather is too nice to be inside (I have such outdoorsy kids!) so I just keep hoping for some kind of reprieve.  It's reconfirmed that we WILL start allergy shots this summer once our insurance changes over to completely cover them.  As much as it will suck getting them started, this will be so much better for him in the long run and I think they'll get used to them after a few weeks.

Allergy Angst

On Wednesday, Caroline and Bryce had a checkup with the allergist.  Dr. S told us at our last checkup that he wanted an updated allergy skin test done on both of them the next time he saw us because it had been so long since each of them had their last one done.  I also had a feeling that he was going to start drilling us about the possibility of allergy shots.

Thankfully both kids tolerated the skin test okay.  Bryce kind of freaked out a little bit and was close to refusing when Dr. S said it was happening, but thankfully Caroline put on her brave face and went first. They did 7 different "trays" of allergens and with each tray, she'd just smile and say something like "It barely even hurts, Bryce!"  I think once he saw that it wasn't a big deal (he doesn't remember previous tests), he built up some courage and did the same.  Then came the hard part - distracting them for 15 minutes while their arms itched like CRAZY.  Basically, because they are so allergic to many different things, it's like having terribly itchy mosquito bites all over your arms and not being able to touch them.  If you itch them, they will get more inflamed and then the doctor won't get a good read on your allergens.  Here's a photo of their arm that had the tree and grass pollens on them:

You can see how big the bumps are!  Poor kids.  Thankfully they were troopers and I was able to keep them distracted with a juice box, some Halloween candy, and lots of arm flapping.

As expected both kids are still super allergic to many things although Bryce takes the cake for tree pollen allergies.  Caroline continues to be allergic to horses (ha!) and Bryce now has a new allergy to rabbits.  Both results made me laugh since I don't think either kid has touched a rabbit or a horse!  However, upon seeing the results and knowing their ages, Dr. S recommended we start allergy shots.   Ugh.

Upon hearing that they would get weekly shots for 18 months and then monthly shots for 3 more years after that, Caroline got a bit upset.  And I understand - for a kid a shot is a big deal.  And even though my kids have always been great about their vaccinations, the thought of weekly shots for that long is overwhelming.   The biggest issue for us is going to be the logistics though - how much insurance will cover and actually getting them to the office.  The good news with the office at least is that they are moving to a better location just down the road so much easier to get in and out of, but still not terribly close.

I told the kids the earliest we'd be starting would be after the holidays but I need to figure some things out first.  If it was just Caroline, I might consider not doing it since her allergies are completely manageable with meds.  But poor Bryce's are not.  In addition, with the add-on of allergy induced asthma two years ago, I'd kind of like to take asthma out of the picture altogether.  I also think of him as a teenager and wanting to play baseball or something like that and how miserable he would be.  We have to turn the A/C on in April and put him on 3 additional meds just to keep him from feeling like total crap - and even that doesn't totally work.  Dr. S also said that allergy shots with kids are very effective unlike they can be for adults because of their immune systems still forming.  An adult doesn't have a guarantee that they will work whereas a kid my kids' ages will be practically allergy free after about a year or so.

One thing I'm keeping in my back pocket to help Caroline deal with this is the fact that when she is done with allergy shots, she will no longer be allergic to cats.  (I will still be though....) I'm going to remind her that because of that, it means that when she moves out of the house one day, she can get a cat without any worries.  Maybe that will help ease her pain a little.

Antibiotic Woes

Thankfully, the antibiotics I am on (the dreaded amoxicillin) are working fine.  However, the antibiotics Bryce is on for the finger infection are apparently not so good.  His finger already looks markedly better however this morning he woke up with an itchy head. (Yes, I checked him for head lice.)  This was one of the first things that started itching when he had the reaction to amoxicillin.  He's on Keflex which is a remote cousin to the cillin family and doesn't cause a reaction in most people allergic to the cillins.  Apparently Bryce may not be "most people."  The doctor told us to obviously stop the meds and see how he responds - crossing fingers that he's not hit with the immune storm that he was last time although clearly we'll be avoiding all antibiotics in the cephalosporin family now too.  Thank goodness we have an allergist check up on Wednesday!!!!  This is stressing me out beyond belief right now.  I'm scared.to.death. to give Bryce any kind of medicine in the future and have anxiety about him getting sick and needing antibiotics.

ETA:  Just found this excellent explanation online about allergies to cillins and now Keflex.  So maybe not all is lost when it comes to Bryce and other antibiotics.

Motormouth Bryce

So far, we've kept the rash at bay and we were actually able to enjoy our day together yesterday. (My MIL and I took them to see Rio and then she treated us to lunch at "Old" McDonalds.) Thank goodness!  It seems we're able to go the full 12 hours now on the dose of steroids and we've started tapering him down and, so far, no rash. We'll continue and hopefully we will find that we've weathered his immune storm.

I know on Monday morning I came very close to losing it.  When he'd had a fever on top of the rash that wouldn't quit (or stop itching), I just felt completely helpless.  I was just so upset and worried.  However, my mood quickly rebounded when I returned from picking up a few things to find that the double dose of steroids had kicked in and he was back to being Bryce.  Whew. My mom and I even took all 3 kids out for lunch at Ruby Tuesdays.  When we got home, he was feeling so good he ran out on the playground and was twisting and contorting himself all through the bars of the ladder.  Of course I had to tell him to knock it off because I did NOT want to be taking him back to the ER for something else.  He also resumed eating and drinking.  Boy did he.  He drank so much, I caught him out back peeing into the woods several times.  I was just so happy he was better, I didn't care!

Now my only worries are if the rash comes back as we decrease his dosage and if the strep comes back.  Dr. Q was reluctant to give him another antibiotic until his rash cleared up for fear of introducing another piece of the equation.  I feel certain it will come back, but maybe I will be wrong this time.  (The steroid will mask the strep for a short time.)

The funniest part of all this has been how Bryce reacted to the steroids.  They can make you jittery and in Bryce's case, they made him talk EVEN MORE.  I've always said that Bryce could talk the leg off a chair, but O.M.G - I couldn't believe the talking.  It was comical in many ways although it drove Caroline a little crazy (it's calmed down some as we decreased the dose) as he cannot control his outbursts and interrupts left and right.  When he crawled into bed with me on Tuesday morning, he turned on the Speed Channel (his fav) and couldn't stop talking to me about the monster trucks on screen.  And he couldn't stop hugging and cuddling me.  A tall order when Piper had me up several times and this was only 7am.  Geez. 

Moving Toward Recovery...I Hope

After a rough night, I took Bryce into our doctor's before 8am this morning.  He quickly surmised that the dose of steroids they gave him in the ER wasn't enough for his robust allergic reaction.  Because of all of his other allergies, he's just primed for this sort of thing, I guess.  The dosage they gave him in the ER was probably fine for any average kid having an allergic reaction but based on how sensitive Bryce is to all of his environmental allergens, it makes sense an allergy to amoxicillin would be bad too.  So instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons once a day, he's going to be on 2 teaspoons twice a day for 3 days.  The he'll taper down to 1 teaspoon once a day and we'll cross our fingers that will be enough.  Apparently, even though the meds have been out of his system for a while, the body's initial reaction can continue for days.  Bryce was starting to get really itchy again this morning and within an 90 minutes of the increased dose, he was feeling better. In fact, he's almost completely himself again.  Which is saying something considering how terrible he felt yesterday.  He was red from head to toe with huge raised welts.

I'll be honest, I'm a bit spent.  Not knowing how long this is going to last and seeing him so miserable has been tough.  I won't completely relax until he's off the steroids and back to normal.   No more "cillin" drugs for Brycey.

Rash is Back

He's been such a good sport.  I feel terrible for him.  Soooo itchy and swollen.

Ugh. Just over 12 hours after a dose of Prednisone, the rash is back as itch as ever. Apparently, even though the antibiotics are out of his system the reaction can rage on. And now it seems his seasonal allergies are kicking in giving him a stuffy nose.   I am completely tortured. He is smiling and in good spirits but this is hurting my heart to see him like this. He's so itchy and red.   Enough already!  This mother has had enough of her baby boy being tortured and I keep worrying he'll get worse. I'll be giving him his next dose of steroids in a little while. They work like magic but clearly they don't last as long as I'd expected.

Rash Update

After no antibiotics for over 30 hours and his rash getting worse, we decided after talking to the doctor to take him to the ER.  Thankfully our local hospital has a brand new ER with a special pediatric ER.  Just an amazing facility and they weren't busy.  My mom met us there thinking it could be a long night as ER visits can be, but it wasn't.  He was seen quickly and the doctor was kind of surprised at how bad his rash was.  2 doctors ruled out scarlet fever, which was what we were really worried about after having had strep.  He's on a short course of steroids now and I'm hoping will wake up feeling like a new man.  He's had steroids before for his allergies and they worked like magic.  Poor buddy.  He was so itchy today and we gave him Benedryl like clockwork.

He was adorable at the ER though and had a bunch of nurses helping him right away.  How can you resist him?

So now we wait to see if the strep comes back or not.  Sigh.  Poor kid.  Like he needs another bout with strep.  But the ER doc didn't want to mix a new drug into things, which I agreed with, and having 4 days of antibiotics might be enough (apparently there are some recent studies suggesting it might be).

Happy Birthday to Jason!  It was a nice day up at his mom's and I'm glad our day ended with a fast ER trip without drama.  Thanks to my mom for joining us and lending her usual nursing/grandmotherly support.

It Wasn't The Tree Pollen

Poor Bryce!  Yesterday at 4pm, Bryce developed a super red, super itchy rash on his neck, shoulders, and parts of his face.  Having a child that used to have food allergies, my first thought was WHAT DID HE EAT??  But after figuring out that he hadn't really eaten anything in a few hours and nothing out of the ordinary, I was pretty sure it wasn't food related.  The next culprit?  Pollen.  Seems a little far fetched to some, I suppose, but last spring during a pollen bloom, Bryce wore shorts and developed welts and itchiness all over his legs.  He's been diagnosed with a severe tree pollen allergy and because the rash was isolated to areas that were likely touched by pollen (and then spread as he itched it), we figured that HAD to be it.  We put him in an oatmeal bath, dosed him with Benedryl, and he was better quickly.  Or so we thought.

We took the kids to the local drive-in to see a movie and all was well. Until about 9pm. Benedryl was wearing off. Crap. He started itching EVERYWHERE this time. Scalp. Belly. Legs. Back. Oof. Thankfully, we'd stopped on our way out and gotten more Benedryl and hydro cortisone. We doctored him up and headed home. There's no way it was the pollen. And then I started thinking that maybe it WAS the antibiotics. I hadn't even considered it since he's been on them several times in the past and had been on his current course for 4 days without any issues.

I called Dr. Q and he agreed that it was most likely the antibiotics - amoxicillin. He said that it wasn't actually that uncommon for a penicillin/amoxicillin allergy to come out of nowhere. And after doing a little googling (thanks, Jay) we found the same thing, plus photos of the typical allergic reaction to penicillin/amoxicillin and how they looked exactly the same. So we skipped his bedtime dose of the antibiotic and Dr. Q said that he should be fine by this afternoon. If it all clears up, we'll know that's the problem and he'll put him on a different antibiotic to make sure we kick the strep.

Bryce woke up this morning still itchy but the rash is clearing up in the same pattern it started, His head/neck aren't really itchy/red anymore but the rash is still kind of raging on his lower half. We'll dose him with Benedryl as needed.

We have a checkup with our allegist, Dr. S, on May 4 so I'm sure this will be a topic of conversation. As an allergy parent, you're prepared for these types of scenarios with Benedryl, allergy creams, and, heaven forbid, an Epi-pen, but it doesn't make it any less stressful. I'm hoping this is the only drug allergy poor Bryce develops. Poor kid. He just can't catch a break. But, so far, his seasonal allergies haven't bothered him, which I'm hoping will be manageable this year given his recent strep bouts and now this allergic reaction.

Our Life After the Egg Challenge

So it's been 2 weeks since we found out that Bryce no longer has an egg allergy and it's been really great and weird all at the same time.  I can't tell you how many times I've grabbed something down from the shelves in the pantry only to instinctively look for eggs as one of the ingredients.  Each time I've done so, I end up with a big smile on my face. 

The timing of it really worked out well since we left for vacation a few days after getting the results.  Vacationing without food allergies is even better than just normal life without food allergies. On the way down to NC, we stopped at Bob Evans and Bryce was able to pick out anything he wanted on the menu - he had chocolate chip pancakes - something he'd only previously been able to eat at home when I'd make our special eggless variety.  I also didn't have any anxiety about any possible egg contamination while there either.

While on vacation, Bryce was able to eat my mom's wonderful Monster Cookies that she always makes for the beach. He also had his very first donut too - a Duck Donut at that!  (Take that Dunkin!)  He devoured it and kept saying how good it was!  (And to his credit, they were FABULOUS donuts!  I have never had one that good before!) 

And then when we got home from the beach we made our menu for the next 2 weeks and on that menu I could finally add some dishes I've missed so much - ravioli and frittata!  In fact, I put a dozen and a half eggs on the grocery list.  In recent years, we've bought a dozen of eggs here and there and it would last for months!  Now I've got a 6 egg frittata to make along with the ease of making regular pancakes and other types of egg inclusive dishes. 

However, I will say, I will probably still keep my good old pudding cake recipe in rotation along with the yogurt chocolate chip cookies.  The cake recipe is just soooooo good and moist and the cookies are great because they taste great and are fine to let the kids eat raw - a definite plus during Christmas baking! 

But now I can cook with the ease of eggs and not have to worry about Bryce getting sick or feeling deprived.  I'm already seeing a future where we can take him to birthday parties and not have to bring our own cake along.  I feel so fortunate that Bryce has outgrown his food allergies and it seems Bryce is pretty cognizant of it as well, which is pretty darn cute.  He still asks if things have eggs in them but now as a way of being excited about what he can eat.  In fact, sometimes he is disappointed when something doesn't have eggs in it! 

Having had the food allergy experience though, I'm definitely still sensitized to the issues that other parents and kids have and know how hard it is. I also feel very lucky that while Bryce had food allergies, they were never so sensitive that we had to completely alter our lifestyle as I know some parents have had to do with children with super sensitive reactions to nuts/peanuts. 

So while we will continue to battle Bryce's terrible seasonal spring allergies (grrrr, April!), we'll leave this chapter behind us.   I appreciate my family's support through these past 4 1/2 years and how much my mom and MIL had to learn as well to protect Bryce while in their care. 

C-c-c-c-c-crazy Week

Omg, this week has been exhausting and it's ONLY Thursday and I haven't even started packing yet.  I'm tired now just thinking about it.  So here's my week so far and all of this is in addition to getting up at 5:30am to work out and then me staying up a little later than usual (10:45) because I'm totally absorbed in a book - this is why I don't read - I just can't stop!

Monday - Piper had her 2 year checkup at 9am.  My chunka chunka is just over 28lbs which is 2lbs heavier than Caroline and Bryce were at that age - she's also a smidge taller (but I can't remember how tall she is now).  Piper was my smallest baby at 7lbs, 13oz so it's funny to me that she's bigger than her siblings who were 9lbs at birth!  After her checkup, I took her back to my mom's and got to work around 10:30.  My boss is out this week so I have a few more emails than usual which means a busier week in addition to another staff member being out and having to manage the general email account that we share.  We meet back at my mom's for a quick dinner (thank you, mom!) and then head home where the kids and I make cookies for the beach.  7 dozen cookies and a big mess later, we are done and kids are in bed. 

Tuesday:  Go to work on time but leave a little after 3pm for Piper's first speech therapy session at home.  (It's within this day that we also had that annoying fridge debacle.)  The session went really well and the SLP gave us some really helpful ways we can help Piper.  To say Piper is resisting speaking is a bit of an understatement though.  She seems to enjoy the whining/crying method to actually uttering words sometimes. This is going to be fun....  Then after the session is over and we have dinner,  I pull the van out of the garage and properly wipe ever surface down inside.  How do things get so sticky??  Then I take out all the car seats and rearrange them.  Bryce has now joined Caroline in the back seat and we transitioned him to a booster.  Piper has been moved to one of the middle seats and is now sitting in the toddler conversion seat (that is still 5 point).  The seat she had been sitting in was an infant/toddler convertible that we liked very much but upon taking it out, I noticed that it had expired in 12/2007.  WTH?   (The whole car seat issue makes me so crazy, I could spit nails.  Aside from the fact that you transition kids through different seats, then you have to deal with the fact that the dumb things expire after a few years???  WTH???  And then the whole issue about most people not even having them installed correctly.  Seriously, we can send people to the moon but we can't come up with a better, easier way of securing our children in seats?  No wonder someone with less than average intelligence can't figure these things out - they're a nightmare.  Having 3 kids and 2 cars, do you know how many car seats we'll end up having had when we are finally done in a few years?  Especially considering the dumb things "expire."  Talk about filling up our landfills b/c you can't reuse the dumb things.  I'm not saying I don't want my kids in a car seat because clearly they are important and necessary, I just get mad at how convoluted the whole situation is with how often you have to transition them and then the fact that if you were to buy one that they could use from infancy to 65+  pounds, that the car seat will wear out before they grow out of it, how stupid is that?)  Okay, that rant is over..whew.

Wednesday:  Bryce has his egg challenge at the allergists at 2pm and rather than have to go all the way back home to get him and leave work even earlier, I decided to take him to work with me.  He had been wanting to go so he was looking forward to it.  Overall, he had a good day but there is a reason people don't bring their kids to work - they drive you crazy!!  He understood that mommy had to get some work done while we were there and even though I brought things for him to do and let him play on the computer, he wasn't interested.  He wanted my attention most of the time.  Thankfully, everyone in my office is as sweet as can be and loved talking to him so he gave me little breaks and would leave my office to go and chat.   In the five hours he was there, he had to visit the bathroom 5 times which gets a little tedious since I had to take him each time.  (He has his father's bladder.)  I took him out to lunch at Panera and he refused the kid meal and ended up having a bagel with butter.   He was a fun little lunch date though and it was nice just to sit and talk to him because Bryce = constant chatter.  Got back to work and finished up and we left for the allergist.  I had taken a piece of homemade french toast along for the challenge - a piece of Texas Toast soaked in an entire egg.  Something I'd done the last time (and ended up not needing) and the doctor said it was fine.  But, when I got to the office, the doctor wasn't back yet and his staff gave me a hard time that I didn't bring "just eggs" for the challenge.  "What if he reacts to something else in it?"

Um lady, it's made with bread, milk, cinnamon, and eggs - all things he has every day except for the eggs.  The other nurse jumped on the bandwagon too - I seriously could have slapped them.  But, as expected when Dr. S arrived, he said it was a-okay!  (This is one of the reasons I like this guy - he knows what he's doing and isn't uptight!)  So we started off with a small bite - no reaction.  Had another bigger bite - no problem.  And a 3rd HUGE bite, no problem.  Dr. S gave Bryce the all clear - we are food allergy free!!!!!  I don't even think I can conceptualize what that means yet.  Bryce was cute about it though and said, "Mommy, next time you tell me something has eggs in it, I will say 'I can have eggs now!' and then I'll eat it up!"  So we're all excited about his first breakfast out on Saturday where he can have whatever he wants on the menu!!

In the meantime, while I was at the allergist with Bryce, my mom came to my house and took Caroline to get her first "toe makeover."  My mom is a regular pedicure girl in the summer and wanted to get Caroline in on the fun.  Well, to say that Caroline loved it was an understatement.  She came out in the garage to greet me when she got home so proud of her pretty teal toes!  So we had the toe makeover excitement, the egg test excitement on top of the mounting beach excitement and you have highly over stimulated kids.  The rest of the evening was barely manageable with lots of fits, fighting and yelling.  I could tell they were all tired too.  (I was.)  Jason decided to mow the lawn when it became clear there would be no thunderstorm that night and I finished up dinner while the kids continued to complain.  By the time bedtime finally came around, I told Jason I was ready to take the kids back to the store I got them from because I was so frazzled.  Bryce and Piper passed out but Caroline basically screamed herself to sleep - which we are good at ignoring now.  She wakes up fine in the morning.

So today I am running out at lunch to get a few things we need at Target and I will probably stop at the library on my way home because, for heavens sake, I need a book or two for the beach.  Then I think we need to make a quick Costco run in there too.  The beach lists have started as well, so maybe I'll have the kids get their toys together they want to take tonight.  I have a feeling I'm going to be up VERY late tomorrow night.

Steroid Boy

The doctor took one look and listen to Bryce and knew right away what I already suspected - seasonal asthma.   He even did his first Symbicort treatment right there in the office and his cough quieted down rather quickly.  We got home and Bryce passed out on the couch probably because it was the first time in 18 hours that he had stopped coughing.  He'll continue with a puff of the inhaler twice a day through the end of May and then once a day in June as the pollen finally dies down to manageable levels. 

He also put him on a short 5 day course of Prednisone and the magic that the drug works is unreal.  He woke up like a new man this morning.  So the combo of the inhaler and steroids really did him well.  The doctor also put him on a Z-pack since he thinks he could have bronchitis on top of this asthma mess.  So right now he's on 6 meds including his allergy medicine.  Thankfully we can do without the eye drops through his steroid course so it's one less med to put into him.  I hate dosing him so highly but at this point anything is better than what we were dealing with the past few days. 

I kept him home again today since I think he needs another day for his throat to heal.  He coughed so much it's raw and drinking anything besides water makes it burn.  Although he was rarin' to go when my ILs arrived this morning so I'm sure they'll be dealing with his new found energy all day.  I just hope it doesn't turn into 'roid rage with the steroids and end up in more fighting with Caroline.  (That was one of the first signs I knew he was better, he and Caroline were fighting already.  Sigh.)

The other good news at the allergist is that he wants to do a food challenge for eggs this summer.  Looking at how his skin tests have gone down each year he's convinced by now that he is probably over the eggs!  Woohoo!  Of course we're waiting until he's done with this seasonal allergy mess before we attempt any of this.  Bryce got very excited this morning when we talked about not being allergic to eggs anymore although I admit it will be weird cooking with them again after almost 5 years of avoiding them.  I even have a few eggless recipes that I'll probably continue to use in lieu of eggs because I think they are even better than the versions I have with eggs. 

Oh and I'm back on the sauce again too - Zyrtec - so I'm a bit zombiefied this morning.  I took it all last week when my ears started bothering me but stopped it over the weekend when I tired of feeling like an overly tired zombie.  But sure enough after a few days off the ear pain started again which means I could be on the road to ear infectionville and I will NOT let that happen again.  In this case, I'd rather feel like a stupefied version of myself than be alert and ear infection ridden.  I guess this is just the drill for me in allergy season.  It's weird though because I don't present with typical allergy symptoms in that I don't have the sneezing, watery/itchy eyes, or runny nose - I think it's just my sinuses and all that they are connected to get out of whack, hence the Eustachian tube issue which leads to ear infections.   Wake me when this is over, okay?

My Poor Brycey

I am convinced that Bryce is starting with signs of asthma.  While before I think he's had a cough as a result of post-nasal drip associated with his allergies, he now has a cough that will not quit.  He was up at 3am this morning coughing his head off (me too!).  I gave him cough medicine in hopes for some relief and it did help some.  He was only coughing about every other minute instead of every minute.  I think he did kind of doze off but I know I was awake until about 4:30.  Poor kid, I just couldn't send him to school coughing like that.  Eating, drinking or sucking on a cough drop didn't help either.  And then I had a realization - when I had a short term issue with asthma in high school I remember that I didn't have the trouble breathing you always think about with asthma but I did have an uncontrolled cough and my throat hurt.  My supervisor confirmed the same exact thing with his son.  I am sooooooooooooooooo glad we have that appointment this afternoon since the allergist specializes in allergies and asthma.  

My poor boy - he just hasn't been the same since Easter.  These allergies are kicking his little butt and he barely eats or wants to play.  My MIL said he's barely even talking today.  3:30 cannot get here soon enough.  I just feel so bad for him - it makes me want to cry.

Yack

Bryce's cough started up again overnight - wth?  Pollen levels were even supposedly lower today and are supposed to be sky high tomorrow - lovely.  I left work an hour early so I could take the big kids to family time at Caroline's school's Book Fair.  Bryce was VERY excited to be going to Caroline's school.  He hacked through the book fair, hacked through dinner and complained his throat hurt.  He hacked the whole way to the 3 of us getting our hair cut.  I used to love getting my hair cut, it was probably the most relaxing thing I did for myself.  But then I started taking Caroline to the same lady that does mine to save time and now I take Bryce too.  It's definitely NOT relaxing anymore - in fact, I hate haircut night now but it saves us time and money so it's worth it for now.  Obviously the only thing I have time for is a quick cut and very quick blow dry!

Anyway, so we walk into the hair salon and thankfully it's not crowded a all.  It was just Pam (our hairdresser)and one of the other hairdressers on the way out.  As I'm walking back to get my hair shampooed so it can dry out a little while the kids get their hair cut, Caroline yells and I turn around and there is Bryce standing there with a puddle of vomit at his feet, vomit all over his hand, vomit down his shirt, and vomit all over his chin.  Awesome.

Thank goodness I don't go to any hoity toity hairdresser!  Pam was great.  She threw me some wet towels and cleaned up Bryce and before I had a chance to start doing it myself, she was wiping up the floor.(She has 3 granddaughters pretty much the exact same ages as my 3 kids, so she's been there, done that.)  She then took him back in the kitchenette and got him a Sprite to sip on.  Thankfully his shirt only had a little bit of barf on it that came off and thankfully he hadn't eaten much for dinner and hadn't had any milk!!!!  He said he felt okay and he was fine the rest of the outing.  He coughed some through his actual haircut, but was fine for the most part.

Now I don't know if he is actually sick with what Caroline had last week or if he just happened to gag after all that coughing.  He looks an absolute allergy mess right now and I'm soooooooooooooo glad we are going to see the allergist tomorrow.  The plan is to send him to school tomorrow as long as we don't have any more barfing, but we'll see how he's feeling in the morning too.  He was just plain done tonight after we got home and fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow - but that has been the case since allergy season broke out.

My poor boy - I felt so bad for him at the salon.  He looked pitiful sitting there sipping on his drink.  I'm so thankful for such an understanding hairdresser and an empty salon.   I can only hope for some kind of relief from the allergist tomorrow too.  I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the doctor put him on a short course of steroids to just calm things down.

HEPA Relief

Last week we ordered a HEPA air purifier for Bryce's room in an attempt to help him with his allergies.  It arrived on Friday and our plan is to run it 24/7 and to keep the windows/door shut to keep as much pollen out as possible.  He insists his door be open for sleeping but still it's better than nothing.  It's been 2 nights now and while his eyes are still ready for the eye drops when he wakes in the morning, I noticed that he hasn't had allergy induced, middle of the night coughing fits the past 2 nights!  Woohoo!  Finally, some help for the poor kid.  We will definitely continue our protocol.

Yesterday the kids and I went up to the neighbor kid's birthday party and they had an outdoor moonbounce rental that the kids LOVED.  But, it was sooooooooo windy the pollen was OUT OF CONTROL.  Even my eyes felt puffy when I got home from the constant barrage of windy pollen.  By the time bath time rolled around last night, Bryce was a mess.  His eyes looked worse than I'd seen them and he was all itchy.  Thankfully a full dose of all his meds, eye drops, and a night in the pollen free zone (or significantly reduced pollen zone) helped and he looked much better this morning.

His allergy checkup on Wednesday and I am hoping for a stronger antihistamine to get him through this nasty season.  Although I know how a stronger one could result in making him more drowsy which is lousy considering that I am currently a bit of a zombie thanks to my Zyrtec popping and I'd hate for him to feel the way I feel. Zyrtec never made me feel like this when I took it in my younger adult days but then, a glass of wine or a beer didn't make me fall asleep back then either.  Isn't aging grand?

I do think Bryce would have an easier time dealing with his allergies if I could get him to stop touching his eyes.  But then, that's like telling a fish not to swim.  It's a never ending cycle - he itches his slightly itchy eyes and irritates them (probably putting more pollen in them) and then they get itchier, and then more rubbing.  I keep hoping the tree bloom is over soon.  April has been brutal.

And the AC is on....

Remember this from last year?  Well, more of the same today.  Poor kid.  He looks about the same today.  The problem seems to be these unseasonably warm April temperatures right at the peak of tree pollen season.  See, if the temperatures were seasonal right now (60's), we might have the windows open for a little while but not all the way open with ceiling fans going and crosswinds going through the house.  We wouldn't be spending as many minutes outside as possible either.  But because it has been so warm, we are doing all those things and tree pollen is everywhere.  And getting a 4 year old NOT to rub his itchy eyes, well that's impossible.  I love having the windows open and sleeping with them open, but after Bryce's symptoms have continued to worsen throughout the day, I knew there was no way around it anymore.  Aside from being tired, he was just plain done with all of his itchiness and stuffiness.  I can't imagine how bad his allergies would be without all 4 of his meds.  And thank goodness for those eye drops although his eyes are still pretty red.

I know the allergist is going to start pushing for immunotherapy in a few years (allergy shots), but I just don't know how we'd swing it.  You have to go weekly and with the office being open limited days/hours and being a little out of the way and then having to stay 20 minute after the shot and adding that it would always be in rush hour traffic, I don't know how we'd do it.  And let's not forget the expense, even with insurance.  If the allergist was a lot closer, I'd consider it based on how bad allergy season is for him.  Oh and have I mentioned how much Bryce hates shots?  Good heavens.  I wish there was an easier way around it.

Oral Allergy Syndrome

Poor Bryce, as if an egg allergy wasn't bad enough, it seems he is showing all the signs of Oral Allergy Syndrome. In the past year, he has has mild oral reactions to fresh carrots and last night, an apple. Not a true allergic reaction in that it doesn't affect him like ingesting eggs might, but it's not very pleasant either. When he ate the carrots (which he had done many times before), he got a rash all over his face. When he ate the apple, he immediately started complaining that his throat hurt and then he started coughing - there was a LOT of phlegm. He was miserable. Thankfully, Benedryl got him back to normal, but WTH?

We talked to our allergist about it and he basically said it's not a lot to "worry" about, but the only thing you can really do is avoid the triggers. It's highly unlikely he'd have any kind of anaphylactic reaction, just one that will make him feel pretty bad.

The reason he seems to have it (Jason has it a little milder), is that he has a very high sensitivity to tree pollens which closely resemble the proteins in fresh fruit and veggies. Thankfully, if you cook or freeze them, usually it changes the structure of the proteins rendering them safe again. But that takes all the fun out of eating raw fruits and veggies. It figures too since Bryce is my child who actually likes a lot of raw produce. And what worries me more is that he used to be able to eat carrots and apples without problems and it sounds like this problem could get worse (and spread to more fruits/veggies) rather than better.

Poor kid. I don't know what is in his future in terms of his environmental allergies but I know the allergist will probably start pushing allergy shots in a few years - something I have mixed feelings on.

No Eggs Today

Well we're back. No great news, but no bad news either. Essentially, Dr. S wants to err on the side of caution and not do a food challenge just yet. His skin test, while the egg reaction was lessened from years past, it's still not low enough for him to be comfortable with it. So while he isn't ready to have him eating eggs, he's not opposed to doing a flu shot(s) in a few weeks. He has a method of doing it with egg allergic patients and since he feels it's most important to get the flu shot, he's not concerned about Bryce having a reaction given his decreasing reaction to it. So we'll schedule that in a few weeks when H1N1 becomes available since the peak of that strain will more than likely peak before the regular flu strains do - he'll get that one later.

However, the big news is that now based on all these studies coming out of Duke University (the only good thing to come out of Duke???), about helping kids overcome food allergies that he's in the early stages of developing a protocol. Basically, in a few months, we will give Bryce a very small amount of a food that has egg in it - like a 1/4 of a cookie. If he can eat it without any reaction, we'll continue to give him that amount for a few weeks. Then go back and increase the amount and continue to do that for a while. With any luck, he'll outgrow it even faster!

I'm pretty satisfied with this approach since we know Bryce has had a cookie once before on accident with egg in it that didn't result in any side effects. So while I'm bummed that we're not in the clear food allergy wise, our life will go on and I'll continue making my eggless cookies, cakes, and muffins to rave reviews. The only thing that I am truly a little unhappy about is the future of more Dr. S visits. Some days you barely wait, and other days, like today, you wait a long time. Plus it involves me leaving work early and while I like half days, I don't like spending my time off in a doctor's office.

Oh and the other un-fun thing today was Bryce's actual skin test. He was nervously anticipating it and when we went into the exam room he started hiding his arms. Dr. S wanted a full "adult" food panel to rule out a bunch of things and that meant a lot more "sticking" than just an egg test. When the nurses came in to administer it, he basically went nuts. Screaming, crying, etc - I had to hold him tightly on my lap while they quickly did the 3 panels on his back. Thank goodness they don't have to do it the old fashioned way anymore where they had to prick you for each allergen and then put the serum on. This is so easy and fast, there's really no other way with an unhappy child. But he calmed down as soon as they left and he's fine now. Don't want to have to do that again for a while!

As long as he outgrows it by kindergarten, I'll be happy. And that's nearly 2 years away!

Eggs Today

Bryce has his annual skin test for eggs today. I'm not getting my hopes up. Mostly because I don't want to be disappointed but also because, for the most part, we do really well without eggs. I consider myself to be quite a good eggless baker and Bryce handles his egg allergy really well. However, it would be nice not to have to worry when we go out and ask a bunch of questions. And I really want to be sure he can get both flu shots this year. (I've decided I'm definitely FOR H1N1 now - more on that later.)

So the doc told us that at this appointment they will do the skin test and if he passes it, we can do a food challenge right away. Great considering that helps me avoid another visit of leaving work early, dragging Bryce out, and paying another copay. So last night I made a very egg laden piece of French toast. Haven't made that in years! It smelled pretty tasty, and I hope, if Bryce gets to eat it, that he likes it. I didn't want to go the scrambled egg route b/c, if Bryce is anything like me, he won't even like eggs. (Bryce seems to have inherited my taste buds.) I can't imagine going in there and getting to the food challenge and then having him refuse to eat it. And knowing Bryce, that would be entirely possible. Gotta make sure I put extra syrup on it before we leave!