I got a call from UNC this morning regarding Nate's allergy testing/x-rays that we went up for last week.
I was very impressed with the amount of time they spent with us, both the resident and the attending...as well as all the ancillary staff (respiratory therapists, lab techs and x-ray techs were wonderful!). They want to see him again in a month and he will need to be off his zyrtec a couple of days so they can do skin prick testing at that visit (sshhhh, don't tell him!) The biggest goal at this point seems to be to decide if his asthma is "true asthma" or asthma caused by allergies.
The results gave us some great news, some unexpected news and things to watch:
Nate is not allergic to any grasses, weeds or trees. I think a positive here might have led down the path of desensitization shots. ((YUCK))
He is allergic (mildly) to dogs & cats---for now Dr. Duncan said to not allow the dog to be/sleep in his room (which she doesn't if we catch her!) and to have him wash his hands after any contact w/animals. This will mean some changes for Bella girl...and we may even HAVE to invest in that $40 dog bed and train her to sleep there instead of being sneaky and climbing on the beds!
He is allergic to dust mites (which are running rampant esp in NC, they like our humid weather!)...so we have a trip to Wal-mart to purchase mattress, pillow and comforter covers...washing bed linens every week and we have to choose only one or two washable stuffed animal to love...dust mites love those breeding grounds as well.
He is allergic to fungus...not much action to take there.
His chest xray looked good, his Pulmonary function test was great for his age (they told me it's really difficult to get accurate results on that test at his age, and they just wanted a baseline to use for the future). His sinus x-ray was "equivocal for thickening" which just means the results weren't clear and it will need possible follow-up (maybe even a Sinus CT scan), treatment for chronic sinusitis is 3 weeks of antibiotics (which, if I'm not mistaken, he was given either last winter or spring---because he was going through a really rough patch that wouldn't clear up).
As far as foods he is still strongly allergic to peanuts and he should completely avoid them. For some reason they left off the test for eggs, their error Dr. Duncan said, which she was very apologetic for and they will test for that at the follow up visit. She didn't mention tree nuts and I didn't think of it while we were on the phone...but she said to feel free to email any questions I think of later.
All for now, thank you so much for all your prayers as you walk through this journey with us! We are so very thankful for EACH one of you...
I was very impressed with the amount of time they spent with us, both the resident and the attending...as well as all the ancillary staff (respiratory therapists, lab techs and x-ray techs were wonderful!). They want to see him again in a month and he will need to be off his zyrtec a couple of days so they can do skin prick testing at that visit (sshhhh, don't tell him!) The biggest goal at this point seems to be to decide if his asthma is "true asthma" or asthma caused by allergies.
The results gave us some great news, some unexpected news and things to watch:
Nate is not allergic to any grasses, weeds or trees. I think a positive here might have led down the path of desensitization shots. ((YUCK))
He is allergic (mildly) to dogs & cats---for now Dr. Duncan said to not allow the dog to be/sleep in his room (which she doesn't if we catch her!) and to have him wash his hands after any contact w/animals. This will mean some changes for Bella girl...and we may even HAVE to invest in that $40 dog bed and train her to sleep there instead of being sneaky and climbing on the beds!
He is allergic to dust mites (which are running rampant esp in NC, they like our humid weather!)...so we have a trip to Wal-mart to purchase mattress, pillow and comforter covers...washing bed linens every week and we have to choose only one or two washable stuffed animal to love...dust mites love those breeding grounds as well.
He is allergic to fungus...not much action to take there.
His chest xray looked good, his Pulmonary function test was great for his age (they told me it's really difficult to get accurate results on that test at his age, and they just wanted a baseline to use for the future). His sinus x-ray was "equivocal for thickening" which just means the results weren't clear and it will need possible follow-up (maybe even a Sinus CT scan), treatment for chronic sinusitis is 3 weeks of antibiotics (which, if I'm not mistaken, he was given either last winter or spring---because he was going through a really rough patch that wouldn't clear up).
As far as foods he is still strongly allergic to peanuts and he should completely avoid them. For some reason they left off the test for eggs, their error Dr. Duncan said, which she was very apologetic for and they will test for that at the follow up visit. She didn't mention tree nuts and I didn't think of it while we were on the phone...but she said to feel free to email any questions I think of later.
All for now, thank you so much for all your prayers as you walk through this journey with us! We are so very thankful for EACH one of you...
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