I Need to Brag a Little...

I just got back from an all day trip to the allergist with Harrison. He gets shots, and has gotten them since age 4. The symptoms we originally went for had cleared up and we had hoped that he was growing out of his allergies. However, over the past year or so I had noticed that his symptoms had been getting progressively worsed. The eczema had returned in full force, he has been constantly stuffy in the nose and complains of having trouble breathing. The poor kid. Seems to me he is stuck with his momma's allergy problems. I breastfed him until he was a year old so I had hoped that he would escape this problem. The pediatrician told us that because one parent has allergy problems, that he had a 60% chance, even being breastfed, of developing them. Oh well. (I am still a HUGE proponent of Breastfeeding though).

Anyway, today we went back for more testing. The Dr. wanted to see if he had developed new allergies since he was getting worse again. If you have never been for testing or witnessed it being done to someone, it is NO WALK IN THE PARK. First, they come in and do a "scratch" test of sorts. The nurse had this rectangular thing that had 12 needle like things on one side that she fills with the allergen then pokes into the top layer of skin. Doesn't necessarily hurt, but try 60 or so allergens being pushed into the top layer of skin and boy does the itching begin. I have had the testing done myself, three times. It sucks. The itching is unreal. And the worse part is you cannot touch it. I had to do anything in my power to keep Harrison from messing with the places for about 20 minutes or so while the nurses waited the time needed to see if a reaction developed. Poor kid. My heart broke for him. They do this part on the back, so it was at least not easy for him to reach to scratch. From here, they judge if he reacted to the allergen by measuring the amount of redness and how big the welp is. The ones that are small, they then move on to the big guns. Some he reacted to right away, so no need to move forward with those.

The next part is where it got bad. The nurse actually gets the allergen and, using a syringe filled with the liquid allergen, injects it right under the skin until a little pocket type bubble forms. Harrison had a nurse on each arm injecting him this way to the tune of 30 times. He did GREAT until right at the end. You could just see the look on his face changing but he tried so hard to be brave. The nurse finally told him it was ok to scream or cry or whatever he needed to do. Basically, it feels like being stung by bees that many times. No picnic for an adult, much less a child. Poor baby. I just about cried myself when he started. He was SUCH a trooper. The nurses commented on how GREAT he was and that they had seen grown people act worse.

The results showed that he is now allergic to all tree pollens, weed pollens (ragweed, etc), and grass pollens. He is still allergic to cats, though he has developed somewhat of a natural immunity to them, and his mold allergens from the past are gone, but he now has new mold allergens. Yup, just like his momma. No wonder the kid is in a rotten mood all the time. I know exactly how he feels. LIKE CRAP!

They also sent us to the lab across the street for bloodwork. They test to see how much allergen is actually in his bloodstream. This is a new one for me. SO, after all those needles, he had to go have blood drawn to the tune of three vials. Again, not a tear. He even watched. What a trooper. He had all the nurses wrapped by the time we got home. I told him he was the bravest almost 7 year old I have ever met. Like I said, I personally, have seen adults act worse in the same situation.

SO, that is my blog for the day. I just HAD to brag on my brave momma's boy!!