Our sweet girl has been seeing an allergist for about 4 months now for help with her allergy to fire ants. We absolutely love her allergists and feel very confident in this therapy. The good news about it is that it is highly effective (meaning she will be de-sensitized to the fire ant venom, and therefore not respond as severely when bitten again)...but the bad news is that the therapy can take anywhere from 2-5 years. This means that our girl will endure anywhere from 2-5 years of shots, depending on how well her body responds.
I have to say "so FAR, so GOOD". Maggie goes to the allergy clinic twice a week for a shot. We have to do the shots at the clinic, and not at home due to the possibility of a reaction with each injection. We get the shot, and then have to wait in the waiting room for an observation time of 30 minutes and then we are released to go. Maggie does exceptionally well for a 2.5 year old. She rarely cries, if you can believe that! The anticipation of the experience upsets her far more than the pain of the injection. So, I have learned not to discuss where we are going before hand. Most of the time, I just tell her we are going to run "errands". It also helps, that we now have a treat bag that we only dive into for shot days...a bag full of gummy bears, suckers and gum!
To tell you the truth, Maggie has actually bonded with one of the nurses at the clinic. Her name is Ms. Stacey. She has helped make this process much easier. Maggie runs in the door, and starts saying Ms. Stacey, Ms. Stacey...and they give each other a hug. I feel very strongly that God put sweet Ms. Stacey there in that clinic just for our Maggie. I am so thankful that our God, is in all of the details of our lives. HE is so good!
The plan is to go to just once a week shots in about 1-2 more months. We will do that for 3-6 months, then go to one shot every 2 weeks, then once a month shots for the duration of the therapy. They draw blood work every 3 months or so to measure her antibody levels and judge her response to the therapy.
We are so thankful for modern medical therapies such as this. We are so hopeful to never have to go through another terrifying anaphylaxis episode ever again...but never fear we have enough Epi Pens in house to endure many!
Maggie and her pal Ms. Stacey
Our allergy clinic in Southlake
2 comments:
I can't believe that Maggie does so well with her shots! She amazes me! Precious girl... :)
Maggie is so cute with Ms. Stacey! I'm sure Ms. Stacey loves Maggie's shot days - that would be a bright spot for sure! I'm thankful Maggie does so well. That's so impressive!
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