No. This post has nothing to do with food allergies. It has to do with those environmental allergies (Let’s see…..trees, weeds, grasses, dust mites, and cat and dog) which we’ve been told sort of go hand in hand with food allergic children. So once we finished our OIT, we decided once again to try something else that may eventually help her asthma.
Let me back up and explain how we decided on the shots and why.
First of all it was simple….two asthma attacks that landed her in the hospital. That really was enough I guess…….and then…..
Nearing the end of our OIT journey, my oldest daughter and son-in-law came home for a visit around Thanksgiving that year. They also brought their cat, Elsa (Yes, she is the Queen). 
We’d been told she had an allergy to cat and dog dander, but had never really had an issue. (Then again, we’d never had one inside the house at any time either). So we decided that it should be ok to confine Elsa to a room of her own while she was here and just keep her away from Nat. So we did. She was put up in my office and that’s where she remained for the visit. However, there was one incident where the door was opened and she decided to venture out a little, and my husband, being the cat “softy” that he can be, decided it was ok….just for a minute. So she did. She was shortly returned to her room and all was well. Well,….that is until they left and the door to my office was opened!!!
This was before the Benadryl and Epi. Oh, and a call to 911. I was really hoping that it was going to clear up and get better (and so was she!), but it just wasn’t happening. As minutes passed, it just got worse and worse. Once the episode was over, (and we figured out what caused the reaction by a great deal of “process of elimination), I knew then what had to be done. So I began the next day.
I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. I removed EVERYTHING from my office. I wiped down walls, blinds, and window sills. Then vacuumed every INCH. I then began to put everything back, but not before wiping off every PIECE that went back in. At this point, I thought “Ok, we should be good”. And it seemed that way for the next few days. However, the weekend came and Nat decided she wanted to sleep on the couch that night so she would be able to stay up late and watch T.V. So we gathered her blankets and also the extra blanket we always keep on the back of the couch to make her bed for the night. Now….this is also the blanket that my daughter and son-in-law used while they were here with Elsa. Can you guess what happened next?……Yep! We were once again administering Benadryl and Epi and calling 911. It was Nat who finally figured out what the culprit was. ~Our smart girl~. So here we go again. I threw out the blanket, couch pillows and any other piece of cloth in that room that wasn’t attached to something. At this point, I took the cleaning to the next level – Stanley Steemer! I needed the professionals for this one. Simply instructed them to clean anything and everything they could. Carpet, furniture,…whatever!!! Paying them was way cheaper than all the Epi I was buying. In case you haven’t heard…It ain’t cheap! In addition to them, we also bought an Air Purifier.
And THIS my friends is why we decided on the allergy shots. You see, she also takes about 4 meds a day for her Asthma. I know that one day she’s going to say, “I’d like to go spend the night with….” and we want to be able to tell her “Yes”. However, it’s going to make her life a great deal easier not having to drag a bag full of meds with her everywhere and trying to take time out to take them. Hopefully, these allergy shots will allow her to eliminate a med or two (or wouldn’t it be lovely to get rid of all of them). So she will continue her weekly shot appointments I guess until further notice. However, the shots have not been that easy either.
There are days you want to quit, but how can you. It’s your child and their life that you are trying to protect. Even when she says, “I don’t want to do this anymore”, you give that pep talk once again and just keep going.
Thanks for reading and feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
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