Making progress with allergy shots

(From my Close to Home calendar)

 Today was the day I was worried about, the day daughter Kitty had to be re-tested for her allergies. For those of you who have not had the allergy testing done, you can read the previous post (I explain everything there.)

Having to be go through that all over again is no fun. When we got there today, Asthma Doc asked if she was ready. I told him it had been a LONG and itchy week and she was ready to get back to taking her antihistamines! He had given her a prescription for prednisone to help with the reactions. But she was still miserable.

So, as Shot Nurse was about to start the testing, daughter Kitty was a little nervous. "Last time, you said it wouldn't hurt-and it DID!" She complained. Well, Shot Nurse said it wouldn't hurt. She draws four rows and numbers them on your child's back (I think there were 43 in all today.) That part tickled. But then she pull out the allergy serum plastic vial with a pointy end and scratches your child's back with a different serum on each number. At least that's how it looked to me, I was trying to stay out of the way. Then your child has to wait on their stomach for 20 minutes to see how big the welts get. Shot Nurse comes back to "read" the results by seeing how big the welt is on each number. The number for cats was by far the biggest welt.

The good news is that 4 year's worth of shots seem to be working. Kitty is no longer allergic to grass, trees, flowers and bushes. But she is still allergic to cats. And she LOVES our neighbor's cats. Asthma Doc said she needs to wash her hands after she pets them. Kitty does that and then changes her shirt if they rub against her. It makes her sad that she can't have a cat to love. I told her sorry, it's my fault-well and Hubby's fault. We both have allergies and we passed them on to our kids. It's crazy how your genetics can impact your kids.

Oh well, to quote our family motto, "Things can always be worse!" There are a lot of other things that we could have passed on to our kids, but so far we have just passed on allergies and asthma to all three of our kids.Well, and being short. And having naturally curly hair. And most important, our sense of humor to deal with it all!!