I walked into Jackson's room today to find him holding up his inhaler (connected to the child-use contraption thingy) to Elmo and counting to five. When we have to use it on Jackson the rule is one puff and then count five breaths and then do it once more. He's got it down!
I would hate for Elmo to be wheezing and coughing on the food when Jackson is cooking me "Pizz-ie" and "b-ocli".
A few weeks ago, I took Jackson to the allergist, because his eyes were really red and puffy and it was right at the time that Derek's allergies were acting up. I was expecting a simple prescription for Benedryl (since it isn't available OTC for infants anymore...), but I got so much more than I bargained for!
Instead, Jackson had a food allergy test, where they pricked his back with about 16 different food allergens to see which would cause a reaction. It was tough for me to watch him get pricked so many times, but it was only frustrating to Jackson because I had to hold him still for them to do it. Jackson is allergic to eggs, tree nuts, and soy. His allergy eggs and soy will cause an skin reaction, such as welts and rashes, He seems to tolerate both eggs and soy when they are mixed in a product like cakes and cereal, so we plan to mainly stay away from direct intake of like scrambled eggs and mainly soy products, like the SoyJoy bars, etc.
The food allergy test-- the red welts are the reactions to the nuts, eggs, and soy.
Jackson's allergy to tree nuts is much more prevelent and the blood results showed came in last week. His highest allergy is to cashews and is ranked as a class 5 allergy. Other nuts he is allergic to include walnut and pecan, but the doctor strongly mentioned that he avoid all nuts to be on the safe side. And although the skin test didn't show, the blood test discovered a peanut allergy (separate from tree nuts, because technically, it's not a nut). Since the tiniest trace of nut can cause such a severe reaction, it is important to not only avoid food with nuts, but also those labeled "produced in the same facility that uses tree nuts". Fortunately, food companies are required to label products and often the allergen information is in bold underneath the ingredients.
Unlike the egg and soy allergies, the reaction to a nut allergy is anaphylactic, which means the swelling in the mouth, tongue, etc. can ultimately block the ability to breathe. The doctor prescribed an Epi-Pen that is now with Jackson wherever he goes. For those of you who spend time with Jackson, I ask that you watch this quick video on how to administer the Epi-Pen in case of an emergency.
Along with the allergy diagnosis, Jackson was also diagnosed with asthma due to his past wheezing and also family history (not mine!). :) We were also given an "plan of attack" for the asthma and just the name of that alone, sent me into shock as I didn't even know we should be worried about asthma at all. We have an inhaler (with a contraption thingy) to use every day- two puffs. Then, when he has a little wheezing or coughing then we have another type of inhaler to use. And if that doesn't solve the issue, then we have liquid Prednisone.
Jackson's daily asthma medicine- Qvar
It has been a few weeks since our original appointment and all of this has had some time to sink in and doesn't feel so overwhelming. The doctor has hopes that Jackson will grow out of several of his allergies (eggs, soy, peanut butter) and it is possible to grow out of the tree nut allergy, but it isn't as likely. But we still have hopes. I am so glad that we were able to find out all of this information before we had a major crisis! Fortunately, Jackson's pediatrician recommended early on to avoid nuts, peanut butter, and egg until age 1 because they are the most common and I am so glad that we did!!
As soon as we were finally recuperating from our vacation, Jackson started getting a nasty cold that turned into a horrible cough, wheezing, and a fever-- so we ended up in Urgent Care at the doctor's office. He had blocked airways and after asking about the family history of asthma, allergies, and excema the doctor concluded that this was probably Jackson's first encounter with asthma. Lots of babies deal with asthma when they are little and grow out of it, and we hope this will be the case. Since babies can't quite use an inhaler, we give him breathing treatments when needed. He wears a little oxygen mask and we use a nebulizer, drop in the perscription, and the medicine is like a vapor that he inhales. Doing this feels like it takes hours, but in all reality it's probably only 10-15 minutes-- but it's still a long 15 minutes!!
The whole Urgent Care, asthma diagnosis all happened on the day of my midterm.... It really threw me for a loop and it was really hard to concentrate. Fortunately, I still pulled a B on the test, and I am okay with that.
Four days after the urgent care visit, Jackson's cough was better, but he was still having horrible problems sleeping at night-- ever since our California trip. It was only at night that he was upset and during the day he was SO happy. I thought he might have an ear infection, so back to the doctor we went. Jackson did indeed have an ear infection. After only a couple of days on the antibiotic, Jackson started sleeping though most of the night again-- thank goodness!!
And while we were there, the doctor also prescribed a medicine for Jackson's excema, as it has gotten worse. So when you see blotchy, red checks in pictures-- blame his father! :) It is normally not so bad, but it flares up and down at times.
Jackson is better and he really is a healthy little guy. He is doing great and we are SO thankful that these are just minor little things that are treatable and easy to deal with. It was just that one week that we felt bombarded with all of this!! But, I suppose that is just how life goes!
