Yesterday morning I get up and rush around and yell at everyone because I was running late. We rush out the door and arrive at where I thought Daniel’s allergist appointment was to be. We are at the wrong place; they had moved over a year ago. Ten minutes before the 9:00 a.m. scheduled appointment I call the correct location only to find out that the appointment was TODAY and not yesterday. Well, at least I knew where to go and I wouldn’t be late.
Daniel has had chronic eczema since about 2-3 months of age. It started with a few spots on his feet but has progressively gotten worse as he’s gotten older. Finally at his well-child check up last month his doctor decided it was time to refer him to an allergist since the topical creams from the dermatologist never really treated the cause of the eczema, only the symptoms. Today we met with the allergist for what I thought would be a consult, but turned out that they wanted to do skin testing on him. I had promised Daniel that he would not get any shots; he was still traumatized from his immunizations at his last appointment, only three weeks ago.
After consulting with the Nurse Practitioner we decided what we would test for. Daniel ended up get 17 skin pricks on his back. He kept telling me “I said no shots”. I felt so bad for him. It was a pretty draining experience for both of us, but moreso for him. The test results revealed that Daniel is allergic to cats, peanuts, green beans, peas & soy. The soy result was a very mild positive. The NP said there is no way to cut soy out of his diet so we’re not even going to try, but from here out no more peanuts (goodbye Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Bars) and no more green beans or peas (I’m sure Daniel is heartbroken). Additionally, we need to re-home our two cats. The only alternative to that was for Daniel to get 1 shot a week for the next 6 months, and that’s not even a guarantee that he’d be able to tolerate the cats. There’s no way I would put him through that; it’s not even an option for us.
So as sad as both Neely and I are about it, we are going to try to re-home our two kitties this weekend. I will miss them terribly, but we have to do it.
