Grace had her first visit to the allergist the other day. We were able to see to test results almost immediately, so we know now that Grace is allergic to cats (as am I; this we suspected already) and mold (this was a surprise, but not a shock). She also has mild asthma. So she’s now on an Advair inhaler twice a day and a nasal spray once a day. Plus, she has eye drops, an albuterol inhaler, and Zirtec to be used as needed or in emergencies.
Poor kid was a real trooper when they shot her up with cat, tree, grass, dog, mold, and ragweed. Then they poked her with histamine, and the nurse explained that it was her positive control, which meant amazingly little to Grace. She then explained that she was going to come back and check which ones got red, puffy, or itchy. The “positive control” immediately began to bother Grace, so the nurse pointed out that itching was forbidden. Grace nearly cried at that news.
About twenty minutes later, the nurse returned and said it looked she was allergic to cats and mold. But they needed to run a second test to be sure, so they gave her a few more injections on the other arm. A few tears trickled down Grace’s cheek, she didn’t make any noise, even though the nurse and Jen and I all told her it was OK to cry if it hurt (like the kid in the next room who wouldn’t quit wailing). But Grace was absolutely stoic (a description that’s been used for me recently under very different circumstances).
The second round confirmed it: cats and mold. The cat allergy isn’t severe, nor is mine. Grace gets a runny nose and watery eyes around cats. I get slight congestion in my chest. Nothing serious, but nothing either of us wants to live with. Fortunately (and I mean this on many levels), we don’t have a cat. Even more fortunately, she’s not allergic to dogs in the least. Grace and I were happy to hear that. Jen was strangely disappointed.