Allergies......

Katelyn was diagnosed with a tree nut allergy along with many environmental allergies this November and we came home with an epi-pen and inhalers for her to use. Pretty overwhelming, but good to have some answers and a plan. We will reassess her allergy situation before she attends Kindergarten.

We decided it was time for a specialist after she broke out in hives around her mouth from cashews. She has had some ongoing issues with rashes, eczema, and did have a major scare at 13 months with a reaction--but the blood work was "negative" for allergies. We were very impressed with the allergy office that we took her to. She had the scratch testing done on her back--it was a 3.5 hour appointment and I am so glad Steve and I went together to help her and each other through it. Steve was encouraged to get testing done and has benefited from his consultation--discovering that he has many environmental allergies too.

Here is the picture of her back after the testing---our poor baby.

She did well. We struggled at first with her accepting the use of the inhaler--which she calls "ducky" because of the mask that covers her nose and mouth. But, we have a system down, and she does fine taking it before bed now. It seems like she was always coughing at night this fall, and now we know that she had some asthma. With the inhaler, she sleeps better at night because she doesn't cough anymore.