The Doctor Appointment

Well, in January we had our appointment with the immunologist.  She was very encouraged by Bee's progress.  Bee is growing well and her eczema patches are almost nonexistent.  She's had a good few months with very little itching.

We discussed her allergies and are still avoiding everything on our list.  Bee's coconut allergy seems to only be to coconut products that have not been cooked.  She has successfully eaten coconut yogurt baked into biscuits.  The doctor was going to do some more research into coconut allergies and wanted to retest her coconut allergy through a skin prick test in April.  She will also be testing her soy allergy to check the level.  We also decided to test coffee since Bee recently reacted to coffee.  The last think we'll be testing in April is dog allergy.

We discussed allergen detection dogs with the doctor.  She mentioned that at the recent conferences animal allergies and service dogs had been a popular topic.  We discussed Bee's possible allergy to dogs and the pros and cons of a service animal for her.  Our doctor was going to discuss our options with some other colleagues to help us make our decision about whether or not to continue looking into service dogs for Bee.

The doctor discussed current studies and desensitization methods.  Unfortunately Bee has too many allergies to be considered a viable candidate for any of the current options.  We're still hopeful that new research will provide some answers or a method to help Bee overcome some of her allergies.

At the end of the visit I had to ask the doctor a nagging question I had.  So often when dealing with others and explaining Bee's allergies, I am made to feel like an overly-protective and paranoid parent.  I just had to know where Bee ranked in the allergy world.  Is she average as far as allergies and reactions go?  Is it possible that there are children with many more allergens than Bee?  Or is Bee a somewhat unique case?

The doctor confirmed what I suspected: Bee is one of the worst cases the doctor sees currently.  Bee has one of the longest lists and is one of her more sensitive patients.  However, she thought that we were managing the allergies well and encouraged us to continue doing exactly what we are doing.

So, I'll continue with the cooking and the researching and the lotion applications, knowing that we're on the right track and I'm justified in being slightly neurotic.

We'll see what April holds with a skin prick test for soy, dog, coffee, and coconut.