From E.R. to Allergy Testing

From the emergency room to allergy testing and all to no avail. 

About a month ago McKenzie and I ended up in the emergency room.  It was morning, I had gotten the kids up and we went to the kitchen and Zeke and Kenzie sat up at the bar to eat breakfast like any other morning.  I fed them their usually breakfast, a banana and yogurt, but this particular morning I gave them 'cherry' yogurt and that flavor was a first.  They ate their food quickly and I wiped them up with a clean rag, turned away for a minute and when I turned back and looked at McKenzie my first thought was "I don't think I wiped her face that hard."  I immediately went to go look at her face to see what was wrong and I realized she was having an allergic reaction.  Her face wasn't red from me wiping it but from hives that were beginning to break out on her face and hands.  In between the phone calls to the doctors office, Nate, my mom and the Paulson's (to see if they could watch my other kids while I took Kenzie to the E.R.) and getting everything ready to go, I kept watching her closely and asking her if she could breath.  Thankfully it was just hives and they went away rather quickly.

You can kinda notice the rash on her face and hands.

Hives on her hands.

Also on her feet, but they never were on her chest or back.

My poor sweet girl, the one prone to ailments.

I called the doctors office and the nurse told me to go to the E.R. so then I called the Paulson's to see if they could come and watch Zeke and Janessa, which they promptly came over so I could leave with McKenzie.

At the hospital

By the time we made it to the hospital after our 15 minute drive into town the hives and rash were faded and almost gone. She sure didn't look like she needed to be there. And apparently benadryl is essential to keep in your medicine cabinet at home. After we checked out from the hospital I made a stop at CVS to pick up a bottle.

So after all that happened, I quickly made an allergy testing appointment for McKenzie.  Funny, at the time I thought I should have originally made our first allergy testing appointment for McKenzie instead of Ezekiel (which you can read about his testing here) since we had just had him tested for allergies and his results all came back negative and apparently McKenzie was allergic to something, hence the hives and rash!

Well we had her tested and the results were also negative... what?!?!!  She was tested for banana, dairy and cherry.  Negative, nothing.  Which I suppose is actually a good thing, but something did make her break out in hives, so what was it?  Probably a die in the yogurt, or one of those crazy odd ingredients that you can't even pronounce the name of and they can't really test for those.  Oh brother!  So I'm thinking homemade yogurt, maybe. 

Anyways, she had a bit of a rougher visit than Zeke, aside from being painfully shy with strangers the doctor was a male, and all you who know McKenzie know that males are not her favorite.  (That's why I took pictures of her on your lap Brian, because you just don't see that everyday, it's pretty much a major breakthrough for her if that happens and it must be documented!)  Well, that and Zeke kept reminding her that she was going to get poked, over and over again.  This all did not add up to a great combination and a little muscle was required to get her to lay down on the table.  But once we got her there she was a trooper and made it through the drawing and poking and waiting pretty well, with only a small pond few shed tears!

Waiting for the poking to begin...

Of all times to have to wait for forever, I had all 3 kids with me and it was during nap time! 

Toys, and snacks and more snacks and more snacks.

Getting drawn on.

Getting poked, I think all the build up was worse than the actual moment.

My sad girl who just wanted her Mommy to make it all go away.

Waiting for the results...

still waiting...

McKenzie's crying and wants me, Janessa's crying and wants me, Zeke's a boy and just wants to touch everything.  God I think you missed a couple extra arms when you made us moms!

What a trooper.

A little sister love.

So the good news, the kids do not have allergies!!  That I am truly thankful for.

It still makes me a little nervous not knowing what caused the reaction for McKenzie, but I am now prepared with benadryl on hand!

And what I am still unsure of: how to handle an extremely shy little girl.  I feel like we've taken two steps backwards in this area recently.  She wouldn't even let the doctor look in her mouth with his little flashlight, I mean would not open her mouth, I had to force her head up so he could look into her nose and when he just looked at her... she could barely handle it.  Her solution to it all: mommy.  I'm having flashbacks to infancy days with my Kenzie girl... help!!