19 JUNE - Iowa City Visit - Allergy and Pulmonary

Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Iowa City Ronald McDonald House

We made reservations to stay here overnight for $20 since Jaren's appointment was first thing in the morning. Ed said, "I wonder if the Hamburglar will be jealous that I'm spending the night with Ronald tonight..." Hehehe

So, here is where we stayed for the night. Unfortunately Jaren does not sleep anywhere, but his crib so it was a LONG night for Ed! He was exhausted the next day, poor Papa!

Some different views of the room we stayed in. Since they don't have housekeepers, we were in charge of cleaning our rooms before we left for Jaren's appointment.

Jaren and I playing a little game they had there.

LOVE this pic!!! He's such a ham!

Friday, June 19, 2009 - University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics - Allergy and Pulmonary Visit - Skin Poke Test

Room 19... here we stayed in a TINY room for over 4 hours!!! Thankfully they brought in a TV and DVD's for the kids. They also had some toys for Bear to play with while he waited for his results.

They tested him for 46 different things, on his back and his arms, poor guy! If a hive formed, they measured how large it was and they also measured how large the red blotch surrounding the hive was. This tells us how severe the allergy is. As you can see in this photo, his allergy to cats and dogs is pretty bad.

They mark with a pen on his back to tell them what allergen was placed there. They place a drop of each allergen that is being tested on the skin and prick it so the allergen can enter the skin. If a hive forms, it's most likely an allergy. Not a test that I like to see my kids have to undergo! I took Oliver by myself at 18 months old and he SCREAMED for 20 minutes while I had to physically restrain him. I MADE Ed come this time and Jaren was mellow as can be! The kids didn't want to stay in the room to hear him cry so we walked a little ways to see my favorite nurse, Perla, who took care of me during my stay for my parathyroidectomy in January.

Here were the positive results: Cats & Dogs, Milk, Eggs, Peanuts, Wheat (barely visible... Ed doesn't think there was even a hive there!), Chicken (yeah... chicken... who'da thunk?!), Mold, Chinese Elm trees, Hickory trees, Pine trees.

Waiting for the results...

Jaren's new inhaler! He did really well and didn't fight using it!!!

Asthma Strikes Again - April 2009

Well, it's Springtime, also known as allergy/asthma butt-kickin' time! I HATE this time of year for my boys! Oliver and Jaren's allergies go haywire and of course that all triggers their asthma attacks as well... soooooooo of course we end up in the hospital for a couple of days with Jaren. He was also admitted on May third of last year because we could take him home on our anniversary which falls on the fifth! Poor little guys!

I thought this was a good idea for them to have this on Jaren's door!!!

He looks so peaceful when he FINALLY falls asleep!

Jaren pointing to his wristbands. I know they probably bug him like crazy!