Long winded rant

I've got some s-h-i-t I need to get out into the open. 

This is going to be long and whiny and full of pictures.  If you're popping in during your 5 minute break at work you should go check your facebook instead.  This post requires your children to be in bed for the night or your husband to be out with the boys and not bugging you.

We'll start when Spencer was 15 months old.  Eczema.  We took him to our pediatrician (whom we LOVE) and got a prescription ointment.  We soon realized that we were going to need to do more.  We tried all sorts of home remedies that were worthless.  By the time Spencer was 17 months and his cheeks looked like this:

And his ankle looked like this:

we admitted defeat and took him to the best pediatric dermatologist in the state ($30 co-pay).  He doesn't have the greatest bedside manner (he basically called us crappy parents for letting Spencer get to this point), but dammit he's a good doctor.  That man knows what he's doing.

So, we started with the eczema regiment:

Dye free shampoo

Dye free body wash

Benadryl, as needed for itching.  We used it a lot in the beginning.  1-2 doses a day for probably 6 months.  Then 1 dose a day for the next 6 months. 

Derma-Smoothe scalp oil ($40 co-pay) for the eczema on his scalp.

2.5% hydrocortisone ($10 co-pay) for the eczema behind his ears, in his ears, on his face and on his neck.

Triamcinolone cream ($20 co-pay) for the eczema all over his body (mainly belly, back, ankles, shins, toes and a couple patches on his upper arms).

Vaseline,

mixed with Original Eucerin cream and applied all over his whole body.  We've tried many different brands and types of lotion/cream and find the combo of eucerin and vaseline to be the best feeling and most effective.

This is nightly and sometimes extra triamcinolone, vaseline and eucerin in the morning.  As a result, something like 80% of my wardrobe has strange grease stains.  It doesn't matter that I wear an old t-shirt when getting him ready for bed- this stuff still finds a way to make it onto the rest of my clothes.

Continuing on......

Spencer is now 20 months and we start going to My Gym and taking swim lessons.  Every time Spencer runs or becomes the least bit active he starts coughing.

 Back to the pediatrician.  Spencer now has asthma.  Did you know that asthma and eczema are the same disease?  Asthma attacks the lungs and eczema attacks the skin, but they are the same illness.  Interesting, huh?

Spencer is prescribed an inhaler spacer and mask ($50 co-pay) that this child that is not Spencer is demonstrating.

He's also prescribed Proventil (which is albuterol and a $20 co-pay) to be used before physical activity and as needed.

This works until Spencer is 2-years-2 months old.  Then, it doesn't matter how much we use it, his cough won't go away. 

Back to the pediatrician (have I mentioned that each one of those co-pays is $15?) where we are prescribed Flovent ($20 co-pay)- one puff in the morning, one puff at bed time with the inhaler spacer/mask.

OK.  Asthma is under control.  Eczema is under control (with yearly visits to the dermatologist).  We've got it, right?  Hell no.

2 months later- the allergies start.  Constant runny nose, itchy palate, itchy/watery eyes and constant black circles under the eyes.

Back to the pediatrician.

We're given a prescription of Nasacort ($20 co-pay), 1 spray in each nostril at bed time. 

And we're back on Benadryl which we worked so hard to get off.

Allergy eye drops- at bed for sure and through the day as needed.

 Eczema is under control.  Asthma is under control.  Allergies are under control.  For close to a year.

Then we get to Thanksgiving Weekend 2010.  And Spencer starts hacking.  It lasts for like a week.  Then in the middle of December it started again.  And was HORRIBLE.  We couldn't go anywhere.  He missed school.  He coughed so hard he threw up.  Several times.  Back to the pediatrician.  He has SEVERE post nasal drip.  She puts him on

Afrin for 2 days,

 and Dimetapp for 5 days (both free, 'cause the pediatrician gave us samples).

Just as these medications are starting to work the time limits are up.  Cough is back.  2 weeks ago Spencer woke up at 4 am just coughing his guts up.  He came into bed with us.  After he coughed in my ear and on my face for 2 hours (4 am- 6 am.  Have you met me at that hour?  I'm not pretty) Michael went and got a can of saline and shot that up his nose for as long as Spencer could stand it.

Guess what?  Immediately- no more cough.  It flushed all the drip away. 

The next day we convinced Spencer to start doing the neti pot ($15) with saline packets ($10 for 100).  We've been doing it every day, sometimes twice a day.

I also spent about 10 hours researching post nasal drip on the internet.  Based on what I read (and us living in the desert), we bought

An elephant humidifier for Spencer's room ($40)   

and a penguin humidifier for our room ($40)

We've also allowed unlimited access to sugar free candies ($6)

But, even with all these things the cough didn't get better.  So, last week we had an appointment with a pediatric allergist ($30 co-pay).  She called Spencer a "really allergic kid", diagnosed a raging sinus infection and confirmed the post nasal drip.  She told us to double his flovent inhaler (morning and night- we had gone down to just night), double his nasal spray (morning and night- he's always been just night), continue everything else and to take him off benadryl so he could come back in a week for allergy testing. 

She also prescribed an antibiotic for the sinus infection.

($10 co-pay)

So, back we went today ($30 co-pay).

Spencer had fun building with legos while we waited.

He WAILED when the nurse did all the pricks. 

Then calmed down right away when I put on a Little People DVD. 

These are the results. 

Want to guess what he is allergic to?

Yep.  That's it.  No molds.  No trees.  No grasses.  No weeds.  No cockroaches or feathers or mites.  Just dogs and cats.  Cats a little bit more than dogs, but this won't be allowed any more. 

This is what the doctor said, in a (BIG) nutshell.  1) Spencer has allergies for sure, but the cough is most likely a result of his asthma not being as well managed as we had thought.  But... the asthma is caused by the allergies, so we have to treat both. 2) He will most likely develop more allergies (to all that other stuff) as he gets older.  3) We can start allergy shots when Spencer is 5 (I'm all for that). 4) On a scale of 0-4 with 0 being no allergy and 4 being horrible allergy, he is a 2 for cats and dogs.  So it's not as bad as it could be. 5) People are not allergic to pet hair.  It's pet skin (dander) and saliva that is the problem.  We could get rid of Ginger, but Spencer would still be exposed to the allergens in any public place, including the mall, the grocery store, the library and school (since the majority of the population has pets and pet owners carry the allergens with them wherever they go).

Here's the plan of action.

We'll continue the eczema regiment.  We'll continue the nasal rinses.  We'll continue all his previous medications and continue doing the nasal spray twice a day and the flovent inhaler twice a day.  We'll add the proventil inhaler at least at bedtime and more during the day as needed.  We may increase the dosage of the flovent inhaler.  We'll stop giving benadryl.  Then we'll add this:

Zyrtec ($10 over the counter) at bedtime

HEPA Air purifiers ($150 or more, in Spencer's bedroom, our bedroom and the living room.  Did you add?  That's $450+) 

A HEPA filter vacuum ($500 ish)

HEPA filters ($20 +) for the central air/heating system. 

Anti-Allergen Pet Shampoo ($10) for baths for Ginger every 14 days.

Allerpet/d for rubbing all over Ginger 7 days after her bath.

A HUGE margarita for me, because, well, did you read all this?

   

Forget about the cost of college tuition or feeding a kid until they are 18.  Michael and I can't have another baby because we simply can't afford their medical care.

I am incredibly grateful that Spencer doesn't have leukemia or autism or Type I diabetes or cystic fibrosis or spina bifida or any of the thousands of other childhood ailments there are.  I am grateful that despite all of this is he actually a healthy little kid (I know that sounds like an asinine statement). 

But honestly.  I've finally reached my breaking point.  I've been able to manage all of it up to this point, but I now actually need to make a chart to keep it all straight (especially the two mornings that I work and I'm lucky to remember to take Spencer to school).  I'd like to feel like breastfeeding him for 2 years was worth something.  Actually, did you know that years of research has shown that breastfeeding and extended breastfeeding leads to a higher IQ and protection from a bunch of childhood illnesses, but NOT allergies, asthma or eczema.  Damn it!  And I'd like to, for just one night, feel like I could trust a baby-sitter to put him to bed, which is just ridiculous because his bedtime routine is like 45 minutes.

Thanks for letting me bitch.  I know the post title said "rant", but by the end of it all I feel like "bitch session 2011" is in order.

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