Allergies

I have been meaning to post on Allergies and my family but I just haven't yet. However, this past week a friend of ours little boy was bit by some ants and had a horrible reaction. So here is our story.....

Anyone who lives in East Tennessee can attest to having some sort of allergies. Oh my word.....the allergy meds around here go like hotcakes. However, my Isabella has a few more than her share. We knew she had a mold and cat allergy after being tested in NC. However, when we moved back to TN she had to be retested. She had 82 sticks on her back. They tested her for Misc. Inhalants to food items. Out of those 82 she tested positive to 27 and 22 of those being highly allergic. (all the really red circles are ones that are REALLY bad for her) During her visit they also tested her for asthma. Guess who tested positive for asthma. (she had a touch of it as a little girl) Her doctor put it like this....."Imagine you were standing on the edge of a cliff with one foot on and one foot off and you were teetering trying not to fall. Well that is how your sweet girls asthma is." She now has a rescue inhaler that she can use at anytime. (she gets this from Travis, he had asthma as a kid) However, her asthma will probably never go away. A lot of children out grow it by her age but hers has gotten worse as she has gotten older. Her allergies only add to the shortness of breath. When Dr. Don (Dr. Don Ellenburg) handed me her allergy skin test record it looked like someone had fun with a highlighter. Here are her allergens: Cat Epithelium (cats), Kapok (a tree bark found in/on antique furniture), Penicillium Mix (mold), Epicoccum (mold), Alternaria (mold), Cladosporium (mold), Stemphyllium (mold), Fusarium (mold), Phoma (mold), Chaetomium (mold), Acremonium (yeasts), Trichoderma (yeasts), Timothy (grass found in hay/straw which is all around us), Bermuda (found on the greens of golf courses, which there is one down the hill from the house), Ragweed (weed, most people in TN suffer with this one), Cocklebur (weed), Lambs Qrt. (weed), Pigweed, Marsh Elder (weed), Ash (tree), Beech (tree), Hickory (all around us), Locust (tree), Mulberry (tree) and Box Elder (tree). So now she goes twice a week and gets 2 shots to help her body build up a resistance to all these. Dr. Don said that cats and mold are her worst. Her mold is considered and eppy pen level but they don't give one for mold because mold is everywhere! However, we have mold avoidance instructions. So I would say my girl has her fair share.

Travis, Olivia and myself all just suffer with seasonal allergies thank goodness. (*****New update, Whitney we found is allergic to Morphine. Found this out after her gallbladder surgery.******)