Well ‘monks.  You’ve had a long day.  And, this is one of many proud moments you have given your mom and dad.

In the last year you’ve broken out with SEVERE hives along with a stomach ache and nausea a few times.  After the last round your mom took you to see an allergist.  They did the standard back scrapes and we found out you were allergic to virtually nothing.  Not pollen, cats, dogs…nothing.   They took your blood to do more detailed analysis, which is another story.  This is the second time you’ve had blood dawn recently.  Both times the nurses had trouble finding your vain.  It took A LOT of poking and prodding. They finally found the vein, but you were not a happy camper.  There were lots of tears, very rightfully so.

The Dr called your mom the SECOND she got your lab work back.  We found out you are beyond allergic to fire ant venom.  But not just a bad reaction kind of allergy.  A potential life threatening allergy.  A high reading less than one…read in tenths and hundredths.   Your reading…OVER one hundred.  Yes, completely off the charts.  The Dr immediately prescribed you an EpiPen and instructed us to carry at all times.  Fortunately your prior symptoms never included any breathing issues.  However, the Dr said with your allergy being so severe that difficulty breathing is something that was a real possibility.

With your numbers being so high, the Dr recommended a fast track session that condensed four months of shots down to one day.  That meant 6 shots in 6 hours.  So, we packed a bag full of coloring books, reading books, and your tablet.  You and daddy headed off the allergist.  Dad took the morning shift and mom the afternoon.   We had to spend the entire day in the doctors office for shots and continuous observation today.  You were such a trooper.  As always with new things and new situations you were very apprehensive last night and today.   But at the same time you were so, so brave.  You did FANTASTIC.  Not a tear, not a complaint.  You colored in between your shots while daddy worked this morning.  4 shots in and you were happy and giggling.  Mom relieved me of my duties for the last two shots and a subsequent final two hour waiting period.

There was about a 10 – 20% chance that we were going to have some kind of negative reaction and we’d have to stop the process.  Despite your arm getting pretty red and swollen at the injection site, you made it through the entire 6 hours without any issues!  For the next 8 months you’re going to have to get a shot every two weeks.  After that you’ll need a shot a month for the next four years.  This should greatly reduce the chances of you having a severe reaction in the future.  In the meantime we now carry an EpiPen everywhere we go.

We are so blessed to have have such a happy healthy family.  And mommy and daddy are so proud of how brave you were today.