Another year goes by....

About three weeks ago now, Iz and I made the yearly trek to the allergist in Durham. Ski could not accompany us so I got to drive the entire way by myself. I had planned to leave early the day before and take Iz to a museum. But things did not work out that way. The Saturday before the appointment, we decided to visit a peach orchard and pick fruit. Silly me....I did not check the place out ahead of time. We had 1) bugs flying around 2) people doing stuff with fertilizer 3) guys boiling peanuts and 4) people walking around with ice cream cones. We tried our best to keep Iz away from the food stuff, but it was an unexpected glitch. After we were done picking and paying, we were in the van off to find some lunch. Lyd was scratching because she got stung by something. Iz was scratching all over his face. So, I dug out the benedryl and discovered that I had forgotten both the medicine spoon and the syringe that I usually carry. This was a blessing in disguise. From previous experience of having to syringe from the lid of the bottle, I knew that the lid did not hold a full dosage. So, I poured some in the lid and gave some to both of them. The only problem with this is that Iz was not supposed to have any benedryl or other antihistamines for 4-5 days before his appointment. How long have I been doing this? And I still forgot!! Well, he had less than half of a regular dose so there was hope. On Monday bright and early, I called the allergist office and left my question. I waited and waited and did not get a call back. At about 1pm I finally left hoping that we would be ok for the appointment. Of course, I got to Durham less than an hour before the museum closed so that was pretty disappointing. The drs office did call back around 5pm and we were cleared to still come.

Oh, and I went through a McD's drive through and ordered apple dippers for Iz. It's the only thing that he can eat there. Of course, we chuck the "sauce." They gave me most of my order, but told me I would have to pull up and wait. I could not figure out why. Turns out, they brought me TWO APPLE PIES?!?!?! That made for one sad kid. I promised to stop again on the way, but never did because I ended up getting lost a zillion times and I forgot.

Another fun aspect of this trip is that the temp was in the high 90s and the ac in my car decided not to work. Well, it actually worked, but the blower would not blow. It wasn't too bad if I was driving 70 mi/hr, but in the city it was terrible. We were a pair of sweat balls. Silly thing is that the air has been working fine in the car ever since we got back. Go figure!!!

Iz and I stayed with a couple that I had never met before. They were super nice and Iz liked it there alot. A few funny things about that stay. They live in a lovely neighborhood 10min or less from the hospital. Besides people and lots of dogs, there are also highly disputed chickens and a mule/donkey wandering around. Very odd. We went swimming at their club. We didn't bring suits, but she was able to find something for me to wear and Iz swam in shorts and undies. Shhhhh....don't tell!!! Because it is so hard to cook for Iz, I stopped at Whole Foods and got food for both of us. But, Iz did end up eating all of their applesauce. John now calls him the Applesauce Kid. Oh, and Iz thought it was hilarious that their little dog eats gobs and gobs of Cheerios. (Vet approved, of course....)

The next morning, we headed off to the hospital. This entailed alot of sitting, waiting, some talking, no skin tests, and a blood test for RASTs. He was glad not to have to endure the skin testing, but the pic below is his opinion of blood tests.



We had a hard time with the blood test. He remembered and had told me that he would be good. I knew that if Ski was there, we would have done well. But Ski was not with us, so he cried, screamed, kicked, and the nurse finally got him calm enough to draw some blood. I promised a visit to the museum (I should have looked at my watch first), but that didn't help either. I guess butterflies don't sound interesting when there is a nurse coming at you with a needle.

I couldn't believe the time when we got out of there. It was LATE!! We got the kid some lunch and I thought I would wait to get something for me. Silly me. Once again, by the time lunch was over, it was too late to go to the museum and have it worthwhile. So, I drove to Raleigh and checked out a homeschool store and met a lady in person that I had met online. By that time, I was starving so lunch/dinner for me and then off we headed for home. I was exhausted driving home so called Ski to find the nearest Starbucks. They overcharged me and I got a free drink coupon and some coffee and Iz had some dinner. And finally we arrived home about 10 or so.

So.....three weeks later, I called to get our test results. Sigh.... Everything is the same as last year. They might have gone up a smidgen or down a smidgen, but still in the same classes. There is a slim possibility that we could challenge egg, but the nurse thinks that the Dr. will make us wait another year. Better to wait than challenge too soon and fail. I am not hopeful since his score actually went up .17. Not much, but up is up. Besides, last time the dr told us that he would not challenge unless his RAST was a 1 and it isn't a 1. Nothing else is near challenge level. I suppose that I should be glad that we did not go up a bunch on everything like last time. But we still love that little guy no matter what. We think that he is cool beans with or without allergies. So, we are the same old same old. Don't change anything. Keep avoiding. See ya next year......




PS....I did take him to Rita's where he got a yummy treat. In fact, he had TWO yummy treats when I took him. He traded mine for his and then he twisted my arm to get another one. Lucky for me, they were all free!!!!