The girls, they are becoming quite a handful with all of their allergy and skin issues. I took Pierson in for her 6-month check up on Wednesday. She weighs 14 pounds, 9 oz and is in the 20th percentile. She is 27 inches in length and in the 80th percentile. She is on the same track as the other two kids. She has quite a flat spot on the right side of her head so we have to see a physical therapist soon to avoid her having to wear a helmet. I have to start doing neck stretches with her at home and will learn more to do for her from the PT. Her eczema has always been bad and has always covered her whole body so I was given a prescription for her and was told to bathe her more so I can put it on damp skin...like every day. The pediatrician told me I also needed to start feeding her more solids, i.e., breakfast, lunch and dinner. This is not a fun task for me because she doesn't have too much interest in eating. She loves fruits but I have a hard time feeding her vegetables so that takes forever. So that's Pierson's update.
On to Ella-Ann. Spencer and I noticed that her allergies seem to have gotten much worse so I made an appointment with the allergist, who we saw yesterday. They needed to perform another skin test on her (she had one when she was 2 years old), which I wanted to do so we could get her on allergy shots. She screamed as they pricked her skin and cried during the 15 minutes of "marinating" time. Her back immediately started getting red and the whelps started developing as soon as the serum hit her back. She cried and cried because she wanted to scratch so badly. It was torture for her and torture for me to watch her. The nurse came back in when the time was up and measured her whelps. Anything over 5 mm was considered to be an allergy....nearly every whelp on her back was over 13 mm. She was allergic to everything. The worst were dogs, cats and nuts (which we knew). Oak trees and grass were also bad. When the doctor came in to check out her test he immediately said, "Oh wow," and said it two more times when examining the whelps. He said he had never seen such a bad reaction, especially to dogs. Needless to say, pets are not in our future. The doctor said, when he sat down to talk to me after the test, "Let me first tell you what she's not allergic to....dust. That's about it." So in a nutshell, I have two new prescriptions to give her and Zyrtec, which she is already taking, two times a day. She will start allergy shots in 2 weeks and those will be three times a week for 3-6 months and then, hopefully, be knocked down to once a month for 4-5 years. The clinic is about 15-20 minutes away from our house, depending on traffic, so this is not going to be an easy in-and-out thing for me, especially since I'll most likely be toting along Rane and Pierson with us. We have to stay in the office 30 minutes after the shot to make sure Ella-Ann doesn't have a reaction. I was also given another prescription for two EpiPens because we need to carry around 2 now at all times. We've always had one with me and one at school but now there needs to be two with me and two at school, just in case.
I also have to start giving Ella-Ann bleach baths two times a week. The doctor said people with eczema have more bacteria on their skin so the bleach bath kills the bacteria. She has to soak for 15 minutes. After that I have to lather her up in her steroid skin cream and Aquaphor while damp, just like I have to do with Pierson. Please keep in mind that Ella-Ann cannot stand baths so a bleach bath is not pleasing to her whatsoever. I told the allergist about Pierson and how her skin is worse at 6 months than Ella-Ann's was at that age and he said she is on the same track as Ella-Ann and should get an allergy test between 9 and 12 months.
When I think about it all I am very overwhelmed with all of it. I know Spencer will be there to help me as much as he can, so that helps me feel better about the tasks at hand! I know that this is the best thing for Ella-Ann and we are on the right road to helping her feel like a brand new person. She has gotten so used to feeling miserable that I don't think she realizes that she is going to feel so much better and will be happier once the shots and all the meds get going in her system. I honestly think that a lot of Ella-Ann's whining and drama issues have to do with how bad she feels. I would be cranky too with all that she is allergic to! So, we will just take it day-by-day and I know God will help us get it all done...He has to provide all the time it is going to take for the girls, that's for sure!
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