Allergies

All of my children have allergies. It's weird to me, because I don't have allergies. Every spring they start dripping, sneezing, coughing, red eyes, tired, it's no good. It started about 3 years ago with Orion and his asthma. We wanted to know if there were things he should be avoiding so his asthma wouldn't be as bad. Ian also seemed to have severe allergies. He came home from school one spring day and I thought he had been in a fight because his face was all red and swollen. I took them in to the local allergy specialist. They were then tested for a wide variety of allergies.

This is how allergy testing goes. They lay you down on a table and make several marks on your back with a marker, then they have several vials of different allergens with tiny needles in them. They take those needles and poke them into the spots on your back and then you have to lie still for 15 minutes while the spots swell and itch. Then they come in and read the results and put cream on your back to calm it.

At that time we found out that Orion was most allergic to dogs, cats, dust and mold. We had 2 dogs and 1 cat at this time and I was totally up for getting rid of them except for the fact that out of all our kids Orion is the animal lover. He is the kid that would just go and curl up with the dogs. I knew that he would hate to have allergy shots, but I didn't want to take away something that he loved so much and make it impossible for him to enjoy them in the future. Ian was allergic to grasses, weeds and especially tumbleweed. I think we might have some of those around here.

We decided at that time to start with the allergy shots. Orion would get 2 each time and Ian 1. This is how that works. In the beginning you are going 2 days a week. You have the shot(s) and then sit in the doctors office for 20 minutes to make sure you don't die. After a few months you change to 1 time a week. After the first frost it changes to 1 time every 2 weeks. Once the temp gets over 32 in the winter/spring you go back to every week. We have been doing this now for almost 3 years. Except now we are disobedient and just leave after the shots. The worst reaction we've ever had is Ian's arm swelling a bit at the injection site. "A bit" is the size of a golf ball.

Last year we had Sophia and Theron tested. They are allergic to pollen, dust, cats, but not as bad as the other two, so we just treat it with meds from April through July.

This year we had Ian and Orion retested. Orion just cried and cried. I felt so bad for him. Ian took it like a man. No, I don't mean he screamed and whined. He did fine.

The results on Orion were good-ish. This is his back at the end. His reaction on the animals has gone way down, but he is now allergic to pollens. So in the spring if he plays outside or it is a windy day, then he is wheezy. The decision there is to try and treat the seasonal stuff with meds and if he does okay then we will stop the shots in July. If he seems to be struggling then we would change the shots and keep doing this for 3 more years. Ian's results were pretty good. He will have one more year of shots and then be finished.

I can't believe that we have made it this far. I'm grateful that the shots are helping them. Orion used to cry every time and I had to bribe him a lot in the beginning. Now he is able to sit on the chair by himself. It's amazing. I can't imagine getting shots every week. They are tough guys.