Day 21: The Allergist

Today was our long-awaited appointment with the pediatric allergist recommended to me by another mom with an eczema baby. This was the first doctor's appointment in a long time that I or any of my kids have had that didn't feel like a waste of time.

LA Children's Hospital is on Sunset Blvd right in between Silver Lake and Hollywood. It's a bright, airy building that has life-sized colorful blocks outside and my favorite thing with two kids - valet parking. With this doctor being so incredibly difficult to get an appointment with, I had no choice but to take an 8am Monday appointment. Not an ideal time; since daylight saving's time, the girls easily sleep until 7:15-7:30 (C sometimes sleeps until 8) and we are still in pajamas at 8am, not getting to school until 9am. An 8am appointment meant that I'd have to leave by 7:30 to account for rush hour traffic. And of course, E insisted on coming with us and not being dropped off at school, so I had to get two little girls into the car to get somewhere on time. Well, I had to wake up C - I walked into her room and she was sleeping sideways in her little crib, snoozing away at 7:15. It took a lot to wake her (I never wake my kids up, ever!) - I went from gently saying her name to having to shake her and lift her out of bed because she was sleeping so deeply! She definitely is her father's daughter!

The doctor actually listened to me talk on and on about the history of her eczema and everything that we've tried to battle it. As we talked, E asked for a snack and I pulled two granola bars out of my purse - one chocolate and one peanut butter. E chose the chocolate one so I gave the peanut butter one to C.

Now, I have never bought these peanut butter granola bars before. Paul got them when they went to TJ's this weekend and I was away. C promptly started eating it, which I was glad about because it kept her quiet for the 20 minutes or so that I talked to the doctor. He asked if we knew of any allergies. I replied that I'd never noticed anything that made her eczema flare except citrus fruits. 

He explained to me that kids with eczema need longer baths, not shorter baths as my pediatrician had told me. Her baths had to be 10-15 minutes long (rather than our usual 3-5) so her skin could absorb water. Eczema skin has trouble retaining water in it, and has high amounts of staphylococcus bacteria, so the trick was to have a long lukewarm bath, followed immediately by a thorough application of an emollient (we use Vanicream). 

Then I noticed that C had finished her peanut butter granola bar, and was scratching. Her neck was turning red and she was saying "Ouchie. Owie. Owie! Owie!" and scratching the places that flare up when her eczema is triggered - her belly, back, and neck. I looked at the wrapper of the granola bar that I was holding. She hasn't had anything with peanuts for awhile - unlike her sister, she hates peanut butter sandwiches.

Could it be this simple that all this time my kid has been allergic to the food that is the most common food allergy of all, and I never had her tested because our pediatrician and dermatologist told me that her eczema isn't food related? 

The allergist observed her scratching and seemed to get interested. "I'm going to give her a shot," he said. He returned with two nurses, one holding a shot of something. 

I hadn't asked what the shot was, as C's crying was pretty loud at that point, and E was tugging on my arm saying, "I want milk. Milk. Millllkkkkkkk!" I had left the diaper bag with all our snacks and drinks in the car and was feeling a bit frazzled. 

After the shot, the doctor told us he wanted to observe C for two hours. We were sent into a little playroom waiting area that had a TV and every dozens of kids' movies on DVD and lots of toys. The girls kept busy watching Curious George and building train tracks. C was looking pale, paler than I had ever seen her. She normally has a redish hue on her cheeks from the eczema. But she was happy, bouncing around smiling, saying "Bye-Bye!" to every one that walked by. She seemed buzzed.

The nurse came by to check her vitals. "The shot will make her a little hyper," she said. "It's epinephrine." 

We then were asked to get C's blood drawn to test for various allergies. So we'll find out in a week if she is indeed allergic to the most common things (eggs, dairy, peanuts, dust, pollen, etc.)

I have to say that watching her skin clear up so quickly and seeing her get all happy and giddy from a drug injection was a weird experience. On one hand, I felt so sad - like that was supposed to be her "normal" state of being, no more itching, no more redness, no more irritation. I love it when she's happy. She's such a delight - sweet, funny, cuddly, adorable. But it seemed terrible that it took this drug injection to get back there, and that everything else we've ever done couldn't beat the immediate effects of the beloved epipen.

I then got home and told Paul all about my experience at the doctor's office, and he was in disbelief that they would give her epinephrine because of an eczema flareup. I was also in disbelief that the Target pharmacy asked me for a $405 co-pay for two epipens. After a long discussion, we are still wary of trying a new steroid cream that this doctor has prescribed. Paul is convinced that the horrible rashes she has had on her back and tummy this past month were from steroid withdrawl after we took her off of triamcinalone. I told the doctor this today, and he politely dismissed that idea, saying that withdrawl does not happen in young children. He then prescribed us a lower strength steroid cream, which happened to be out of stock at our Target pharmacy.

So who to believe? Doctor who deals out drugs like it's Christmas morning? My extremely knowledgeable husband who has made a career out of analyzing the drug industry? Our daycare teacher who swears by apple cider vinegar? I don't know who to believe anymore. One of the topical creams that the allergist prescribed today has a cancer warning and says it should not be used in children under 2, so our insurance did not cover it. I walked out of Target with a bunch of hand soap and t-shirts, not wanting to pay $405 for two epipens.

I don't know if we have more answers now than before, but I am looking forward to seeing the results of her lab tests and we will see if longer baths help, even though she hates baths. I only wish she could be who God made her to be all the time instead of having these irritations to deal with. I wish it so badly and I can't help but feel that perhaps the American pharamaceutical industry is preying on my desire to have my child be happy. We left Children's Hospital with no lollipops - instead, they gave our full-fledged age appropriate toys, which the girls were ecstatic about. There was also a McDonald's inside the hospital, though we didn't go there. Something just doesn't feel right.