After a minor (ok, ok...major) breakdown on the secretary of the allergy office yesterday afternoon, she magically found me an appointment for Hayes this morning at 10:00 AM. I wasn't suppose to get in until March 16th, and his eczema has been really bad here lately. She must have heard the panic in my voice, or perhaps it was the way I was hyperventilating into the phone after she told me "no, a nurse cannot call you back because you have not actually been seen in our office yet". It was after this statement that I lost it. I cannot even describe to you how alone I have felt when dealing with his skin problems. It just seems as if it just isn't "bad enough" for the medical specialists to really do anything. However, it is just "bad enough" to make him lose all of his hair from rubbing at his itchy, dry scalp and to keep him from sleeping more than 3 hours at a time at night. It's "bad enough" that he is 5 months old and I still have to put socks on his little hands to keep him from scratching himself to the point of bleeding. Anyways, I had just about had enough of people basically telling me to "deal with it". So, when that secretary told me that I could not get a return call from a nurse, I had my meltdown. Thus, an appointment was found. I was able to calm down, thank the woman a million times, and then hang up to feel just a little silly over my dramatic interpretation of a worried mommy.
We are home now from our appointment. As usual, Hayes was such a trooper. The doctor is concerned that his eczema could be the result of either a milk allergy or an environmental allergen. However, because I gave him some benadryl on Tuesday when he was so miserable, we were unable to perform any skin tests until the antihistamine is completely out of his system-BOOOOOOOO! I knew that was going to be a problem, but still wanted to get into see someone to get the ball rollin'. We will go back in a week and a half to have the skin tests performed to determine if he has any allergies or if this eczema is purely a topical issue. Either way, he is getting some help. I can breathe a little easier now, and I don't feel so "alone". I am thankful that we were able to be seen and prayerful that he is on the road to becoming healthier!We'll keep you posted...Thanks for thinking of us!
(Oh...and thanks to Dan and Christen for the Seahawks gear! It's Tim's favorite jammies of course!)
even if it does involve a very big High Chair and a toy he can't reach or play with due the annoying socks on his little hands..
and even though he wasn't thrilled with the taste of the mushy, cold rice cereal his mommy kept forcing on top of his little tongue, he gave it a shot...
and he didn't complain...
and he always finishes up with a smile! What a happy little man!
The allergist has asked me to try one type of food at a time for a full week each and to keep a diary of these little baby steps. This means no mixing foods or trying to sweeten up rice cereal with bananas or prunes, but instead trying one type of food at a time so that we can be confident which foods he may or may not be allergic to. How sad! So far we have tried rice, which he absolutely hates, and oatmeal. He seemed to like the oatmeal a little better yesterday, and today will be attempt #2. Addie never liked the rice cereal either. They seem to have similar tastes! Tim and I are hoping the solids will fill up his little tummy more and maybe he will sleep more at night????
