Trying to decide which food Kara is going to trial next has been very difficult. I'm trying to go by the foods that she had safe, or so we thought, in the past. Our latest food trial pass was driven by Kara. I was in the pantry, at a loss as to what to make for supper (As usual!) and she was right there with me when I asked her what she wanted to try next. She said "Peas, Mamma!", so peas it was!
Generally you are supposed to start with a small amount and work in a little more each day. We haven't done that with Kara with the re-trials because we have a general idea that they are going to be passes, with the exception of corn. I gave her a small bowl of peas at dinner and she wanted more, more more. It was hard to stop her and I didn't want to deny her food, when she was actually eating!
After a week and a half, we felt comfortable to call peas a pass! She was eating large amounts each day and was symptom free, bringing us to the magic number FIVE! Sweet potato, white potato, beef, apple and peas are the foods that consist of Kara's tiny, yet growing diet! Bring on number six!
Yesterday at breakfast I asked Kara what she wanted her next food to be and she replied "Nana's, Mamma!" Banana it is! I'm half tempted to call banana a freebie but will stick with it for at least a week, I think, just to make sure. Banana has never seemed to cause her any problems and she loves them. It's so much more exciting to trial a food when I can have her input on it! It's not worth it to me, to trial a food that we are going to struggle getting her to eat!
Monday, February 20, 2012
Influenza
A few weeks ago, Kara woke up from a nap not feeling the best. By bedtime she had a pretty high fever, and by 2 am, it was 104.2 and she was grunting with her breathing. Panicked, we got up and headed in to the ER. Kara definitely had croup and was given a dose of Decadron after a clear chest x-ray, but before we left, I was talking with the doctor a little more about her IgA deficiency, the fact that we never did have a good time to get her a flu shot, and maybe, what if, do you think, that she could possibly have the flu? He said he doubted it, but given her history he would swab her for the test. He instructed us that we could leave after she was swabbed and he'd only call if it was positive, but again said he doubted that's what it was. We had the test done and were on our way home.
I got Kara back to bed and just settled in myself when my phone rang. Sure enough, it was the doctor. "I can't believe I'm calling to tell you this, but her influenza test was positive!" He had a prescription for Tamiflu at the desk for us to pick up in the morning when the pharmacy opened.
I was crazy worried about giving this to her, but the benefits were going to greatly outweigh the risks and with Kara's respiratory history this was something we needed to do. Kara made it through the five days of Tamiflu exceptionally well and we were able to get her through the virus at home until the following Monday when I brought her back in to her primary. She had another chest x-ray which showed questionable pneumonia, but again, we were able to get her through it with the nebs and medications at home.
Close to two weeks after the flu diagnosis, we were still noticing that she had a really icky cough but seemed better otherwise. The conversation between Kara's Primary and myself, and the Allergist and myself was whether or not we should put her on Prednisone to help with that. If she went on Prednisone we wouldn't be able to do a food trial and at this point, we are trying so hard to build her tiny diet. I ended up not filling the prescription and went on with a trial. She is still having some barking cough symptoms here and there but the nebs are doing their job and we are hopefully through this!
I got Kara back to bed and just settled in myself when my phone rang. Sure enough, it was the doctor. "I can't believe I'm calling to tell you this, but her influenza test was positive!" He had a prescription for Tamiflu at the desk for us to pick up in the morning when the pharmacy opened.
I was crazy worried about giving this to her, but the benefits were going to greatly outweigh the risks and with Kara's respiratory history this was something we needed to do. Kara made it through the five days of Tamiflu exceptionally well and we were able to get her through the virus at home until the following Monday when I brought her back in to her primary. She had another chest x-ray which showed questionable pneumonia, but again, we were able to get her through it with the nebs and medications at home.
Close to two weeks after the flu diagnosis, we were still noticing that she had a really icky cough but seemed better otherwise. The conversation between Kara's Primary and myself, and the Allergist and myself was whether or not we should put her on Prednisone to help with that. If she went on Prednisone we wouldn't be able to do a food trial and at this point, we are trying so hard to build her tiny diet. I ended up not filling the prescription and went on with a trial. She is still having some barking cough symptoms here and there but the nebs are doing their job and we are hopefully through this!
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Last Month
Wow, nothing like leaving you hanging!!! So sorry!! It seems like I could name every post lately "Update" because I've been awful about updating!
Kara's second set of labs turned out to be ok. She does have high antibodies so we are keeping a close eye symptoms, which is actually quite comical if you know the symptoms of hypothyroidism, Kara, and two year olds in general! We will be going back to the endocrinologist at the beginning of April for another work up to see if we can truly relax about all this thyroid business!
Kara continues to be up and down. Her moods swings are terrible but when she's happy, she's the best little girl, playing nicely, entertaining herself. Her appetite is non-existent one day and we can barely get her to drink her formula, some days all she will drink is formula, and other days we can't seem to get enough food into her. Again, typical two year old but what IS typical with her?
We did a beef trial and it seemed to go ok. We called it a pass two days ago, however she has her days where she is all over the place - lots of crying, clinginess, all out of sorts and we finally give her some motrin after not knowing what else to do, and she settles down. We know she still has some stomach pain but that slowly seems to be getting better as well. All in all, we aren't getting very far but she has been stable and not losing foods again, so that is all that matters, right?
Kara's second set of labs turned out to be ok. She does have high antibodies so we are keeping a close eye symptoms, which is actually quite comical if you know the symptoms of hypothyroidism, Kara, and two year olds in general! We will be going back to the endocrinologist at the beginning of April for another work up to see if we can truly relax about all this thyroid business!
Kara continues to be up and down. Her moods swings are terrible but when she's happy, she's the best little girl, playing nicely, entertaining herself. Her appetite is non-existent one day and we can barely get her to drink her formula, some days all she will drink is formula, and other days we can't seem to get enough food into her. Again, typical two year old but what IS typical with her?
We did a beef trial and it seemed to go ok. We called it a pass two days ago, however she has her days where she is all over the place - lots of crying, clinginess, all out of sorts and we finally give her some motrin after not knowing what else to do, and she settles down. We know she still has some stomach pain but that slowly seems to be getting better as well. All in all, we aren't getting very far but she has been stable and not losing foods again, so that is all that matters, right?
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