No Chickfila!?!?!?!

So my precious Lydia may have a food allergy.

Last week...after feeding her salmon and a couple other things, she broke out in a rash and had a gushing running nose. Praise the Lord that she didn't have any respiratory distress and Ryan was home to see how serious or mild her case. Her reaction wasn't bad by comparison but significant and cause for concern about a future reaction. Our first thought was that she is allergic to seafood. Upon thinking about it more...we realized it might be nuts due to some other things I fed her at the time. To show you where my priorities rest, my mind instantly went to Chickfila - "What?!? Lydia will never be able to have Chickfila!" (Remember they cook all their stuff in peanut oil.) We made an appointment with her pediatrician to get an epipen as an emergency until we saw the allergist.(PS - Two epipens cost 150 bucks!) Ryan and I have since spent our time rehearsing what we have given her in the past few months, trying to reassure ourselves that it wouldn't be a nut allergy. Not many schools and play groups serve shrimp primavera, but how many places serve PB&J! I am extremely sympathetic to the mothers and families who deal with food allergies now!

Today... we had an appointment to see the allergist and there were great praises! First off, Lydia woke up at the exact time I needed her too....since the time change her schedule has been a wreck and if I have to wake her up she gets so upset and it takes a while to calm her down. Secondly, our physician was absolutely precious with Lydia which was comforting to me! Ryan was also able to go to the appointment and for the first time, bow ties out numbered the ties I saw for the doc had one like Ryan was wearing. The nurse wrote numbers and symbols with a black sharpie on her back and did 18 "pricks" ranging from mites and dogs to salmon and pecans. The good news is that none of the picks were responsive! However, the control didn't respond strongly either...the doctor said the results were still a good sign and sometimes happens. They drew blood which serves as a less sensitive test; they will test the same 18 categories and hopefully it can catch negative "pricks" from the skin test that should have been positive. We should find out the results next week. The whole appointment took a couple hours and after several attempts to draw blood from her tiny arms, Lydia as well as mommy, had had enough. Today was good, but exhausting emotionally and physically...and I am only dealing with a food allergy! It is at this moment I am reminded of the few moms I know who have children suffering with chronic illness and how doctor appointments for them are a regular occurrence. My prayers for these moms will now be more specific as I pray during their child's doctor appointment....to find the right office building, to arrive on time, for kind doctors and nurses, to remember your child's social security number, to have the paperwork filled out completely and correctly, patience with your child, skipped nap times to not matter, plentiful supply of toys while waiting to be seen, and extra supply of milk, to get the arm stick on the first try, trust while reports and labs are pending, faith that we serve a good God no matter what.

Please pray for the results to be negative and the rash which sparked all of this to be coincidental with her diet.

On a much lighter note...Bronco was the guinea pig for me to practice how to use an epipen. Obviously, I was using a trainer which dispenses no medicine but the applied pressure and "click" did not reassure him. Such a good boy!

I'll post a couple phone pics from the appointment later :)