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| A picture of Joseph when his eczema was under control |
We quickly realized Joseph's allergies were not just your typical seasonal allergies during the summer of 2008. Joseph spent the weekend with my aunt and uncle. My aunt and uncle have show ponies and horses and Joseph had helped my aunt clean out the horse trailer before they brought him and his twin brother Joshua home. By the time they made it to our house, his eyes were swollen shut and itching him like crazy. The next day, his pediatrician referred him to an allergist. After describing the event to the allergist, he stated that Joseph had a severe allergic reaction. Looking back now, I should have taken him to the ER however I didn't. I treated it with Benadryl and eye drops. It all ended up fine however looking back I should have been more cautious. Hindsight is always 20/20, right!?
The first round of prick testing showed that Joseph has severe allergies. Luckily, his severe allergies aren't related to food, but he is allergic to "all things Kentucky" which is where we live. For those of you that don't know, Kentucky is known for its beautiful horses, rolling hills of bluegrass, timothy and fescue as well as ragweed. Joseph is severely allergic to all of those things. (He is also allergic to dogs.) He was immediately put on 5 different types of medicines to get his allergies under control. We are lucky in the fact that his severe allergy triggers can be somewhat avoided.
Joseph's grandfather has always worked in the horse industry. Joseph was being exposed (directly and indirectly) to horses and dogs every time he went to his grandparents house. Joseph has 3 uncles that live close by that also work in the horse industry and they all have dogs as well. Every time we know Joseph will be exposed to things he's allergic to, especially horses whether it's walking through a horse barn or going into one of their homes, we have to give Joseph medicine so he doesn't have an allergic reaction while he's visiting. Please hear me when I say their homes are not covered in horse and dog hair. Joseph is just that allergic to them.
His second round of testing came after he broke out in huge hives all over his body after eating lunch at a restaurant. I had never seen or dealt with hives before so after speaking to the on-call RN with the pediatricians office, she suggested we give him Benadryl. The next morning, Joseph was still covered in hives and they had grown in size. He looked like he had three huge hives that covered his entire body. I called his allergist who met us at his office on a Sunday morning. At that appointment, his allergist gave me his personal cell phone number as well as his home number in case Joesph were to ever have a severe allergic reaction again. Needless to say, during the second round of testing, food allergies where on the allergist's mind. Luckily, he didn't have severe allergies to any foods that were included in the test. The down side to that is, we still don't know what caused Joseph to have the allergic reaction that day.
A few years ago, we were looking purchasing a bigger home for our growing family. I quickly realized that we have to consider the previous homeowners lifestyle before making such a permanent investment. The same considerations will need to be made if we decide to purchase a used vehicle. Joseph's grandfather allows their family dog to ride in the back seat of this truck however, it sends Joseph into an allergic reaction to take a 15 minute ride somewhere with him.
Joseph ended up being allergic to 29 things with 8 of those being severe allergies. I carry a gallon zip-loc bag of emergency medicine with me if I know he is going to be exposed to those 29 things. Over the past 3 years, we have been able to drop one of the five medicines. Joseph dosage has been lowered on others. Although it's been a blessing for him not to have to take so much medicine day in and day out, it also means he is more likely to have an allergic reaction. I don't think most people including family members truly understand the severity of his allergies and just how little his system can handle.
Having a child with severe allergies is extremely stressful especially when the allergies aren't controlled as well as they should be. This spring and summer have been extremely hard on him. He has had sinus infections, strep throat, ear infections and lots of wheezing. I would describe his allergies as getting worse instead of better and apparently the allergist agreed because we left the office today with an antibiotic for an ear infection--second one in a month, eye drops, another nasal spray and a note to increase the usage of both inhalers. Unfortunately and fortunately, all of this is a band-aid until his allergist can get him in to be re-tested to see if any of his allergies have changed in the past 3 years. Then, based on those results, the office will put together a series of shots which will take place over a 15 week period and will include several trips to the doctor each week for the shot to be administered.
It's easy for me to say "yes, it's time for the shots" however Joseph does not handle shots very well. In fact, I decided last fall when he was given his flu shot that it was the last year I could physically do it on my own. He kicked and screamed and punched...all of this from a child that normally isn't a physical contact type of kid.
I have started preparing him for the prick test and shots. So far he has taken it very well considering. And he is excited about the possibility of not needing all the medicines he's on. So, my question to you is, do your kids have severe allergies and if so, how do you control them?
