The Reason for the Snuffy Sniffles

As you might remember, Cooper had a severe allergic reaction in March. We went to our ped. and got a referral for both of our boys to go to the Asthma and Allergic Clinic in OKC. Well, after the long month wait, our appointments finally arrived. Early on Monday we trekked to the City and my boys were tested for allergies and to see if their asthma was in check. My eyes were truly opened to see what they are allergic to. I really thought that we would walk out of there with little or no allergies...boy was I wrong.
First, our doctor talked to us about the boys' histories and Cooper went and took a breathing test. They had him blow in a tube with a mouth piece hooked up to a computer and blow out candles on the screen. Then they gave him a breathing treatment and waited ten mins. to see if his lung capacity improved. While we were waiting Greyson was able to get his scratch test done. If you are unfamiliar with the whole process, they take their arm and write numbers and letters on their arm (to tell them what the allergen is) and then next to the symbols they "scratch" or prick their arm...not even prick, but dot their arm with a point that has a allergen on it. They wait for about fifteen mins. to see if there is a reaction. If there is, you will see what appears to be a welt or hive, if not, there is no reaction and they are not allergic. Poor little Grey's arm popped up with quite a few hives. He wanted to scratch, but you can't, it would spread the allergen. So, you had to blow on it. About this time Cooper and I walked in after his breathing test. Not wonderful timing. Cooper's eyes got as big as saucers 'cause he knew it was his turn next. Poor Cooper has had a couple bad experiences with needles and now it's a mind game with him. After the the skin test is given the child gets to go to a closet and pick out a prize, and Grey did. He chose a shiny, new sand pail and shovel. We showed this to Cooper and there was a pretty strong lure of the new prize, but as soon as the nurse walked in with the test the tide definitely changed. Cooper has thrown a GIANT fit over a shot before and this was quite the repeat performance. Long story short, Phillip and I ended up pinning him down and the nurse quickly administered the test. My poor boy ended up singing, "just say ow, say it now, just say ow and it's over". It's a song off of "Bear and the Big Blue House". He did admit that the test didn't even hurt, though. What did hurt and cause discomfort was the allergens. When the test came back it showed that Cooper and Greyson are allergic to nearly all environmental allergens. Yep, grass, tree pollen, mold, dust, weeds, cat, dog and horse. So, in the next year or two Cooper will need to get an allergy shot and they are currently on Zantac, Nasonex and need to clean out their sinuses everyday. We went and got the boys Hypo-Allergenic pillows, because we were told we spend nearly 1/3 of our lives in our beds, zippered pillow cases and are bathing the boys every night. If you bath at night, you wash out the pollen and allergens that are on your skin and in your hair. I am very grateful though, that their allergens are environmental and not food.
As far as the asthma goes, I am pretty much in top of it. The only suggestion that was given, was that I might need to give the boys Albutural fifteen minutes before they exercise. We also asked about Ella. She has been diagnosed with asthma as well, and allergies and asthma usually go hand-in-hand. We were told that we could come back with her maybe in a year, but no rush. So, we'll just wait and see for our little princess.
One last thing...I have to give MAJOR props to the Asthma and Allergy Clinic. They were so wonderful and kid friendly. Our doctor was so very, very sweet and warm. She was very patient with my children and kept telling me I had wonderful precious children...even when they weren't acting that way. I am thoroughly pleased and grateful with our experience there.
Life is good, a little changed, but good. I am grateful that we were able to go to the clinic and get them tested. I had an incling that they had allergies, but really no idea. So, I am glad that I am able to give relief to my little men. We will go back in about three months, so...I'll keep you posted.