First of all, I want to say that the reason why I have not posted a January picture slide show is that all our pictures were on my DELL laptop which we needed to get rid of. We needed to give up my DELL a little while ago because it was pooping out on us...we got a MAC instead. All pictures were transferred from the DELL to the MAC; however, they don't have a way to transfer the photo albums...they can only transfer individual pictures. So now I have thousands of pictures on my MAC - unlabeled, without dates...just individual pictures...and I am just beginning to learn the photo center on my MAC and have not had much time to play around with it. Not to mention that organizing all my pictures will mean fighting with my old DELL laptop while working on the MAC and trying to figure out the picture system there..Fun...
Okay. Alex and I went back to the allergist this afternoon to have her food allergy patch test read. I had to take tape holding little round containers of different kinds of food off of Alex's back on Sunday afternoon. This tape with little food containers was applied to her back on Friday afternoon. Alex had 2 rows of food containers on each side of her back (all the way from her upper back down) and a milk on the back of her neck, all labeled with a marker. This didn't look very comfortable but Alex handled it extremely well. She is a little trooper! Alex of course had a reaction to the tape they used even though they used the most allergy friendly tape available on the market...Unfortunately, Alex has all my odd skin sensitivities. Poor kid...Alex screamed bloody murder when I was removing the tape and the little containers from her back on Sunday evening...I felt so bad for her. She got a bath after all the pulling and tugging was over. She loves baths and I was glad to be able to bathe her especially because I was not allowed to give her a bath since Thursday. The patch test was read 72 hours after it was applied and about 24 hours after the tape with the little food containers was removed. This puts us to this afternoon at 3:00 p.m. Alex's little back and neck were still all read from the tape but not as bad as on Sunday night. The test revealed 9 food allergies! And get this - it does not mean that Alex is not allergic to more kinds of food...because they obviously did not test her for every kind of food out there...and apparently if Alex never ate a food before the patch test is likely to show up negative on that food even though Alex may be allergic to it. We are to proceed with caution when giving her the food she is allowed to have (once we get to that point) because she may be allergic to it...This allergy test means that when Alex eats these foods her G.I. system swells up and gets irritated...It makes eating and swallowing very painful and can cause vomiting. This is why Alex when I was giving Alex baby food (before the g-tube) Alex would eat and then not eat for a week...It is also why she associated eating and drinking with something negative - pain...and decided that she does not want to do it. And this is interesting - because we didn't know Alex had all these food allergies until now, I was eating all the foods Alex is allergic to while nursing Alex which means that Alex was getting those foods in my breast milk causing her allergic reaction to flare up! This explains why, even though she enjoyed nursing, she did not drink much...or enough. So what is Alex allergic to? Alex is allergic to milk and soy...which is why she was vomiting all the formula she was on. She is also allergic to peas, white potato, chicken, corn, peanut, wheat and egg. She loves to chew on the crust of my wheat bread...but no more. When I was making baby food for Alex and feeding her she really enjoyed all the foods (except peanuts and eggs, I never gave her those) she is allergic to the most...The allergist said that unfortunately that's how it aways seems to go...Kids grow out of most, if not all, their food allergies. So what now? Now we have to meet with G.I. Nutrition once a month as we were doing before so that I can learn what to feed Alex, how to make her food, how to read labels, etc....The thought us being able to meet with G.I. Nutrition once every 3 months and check in on the phone monthly was nice while is lasted for that week or so...back to more appointments...It's all worth it though. We will also continue to meet with our Child Psychologist from the Feeding Team once a week in order to work on Alexandria's eating aversion due her having associated food with pain. Baby steps. But at least now we have reason! Praise the Lord! Thank you for all your prayers!
Alex is seeing a chiropractor tomorrow morning (which she looooves) and then the Child Psychologist in the afternoon. On Wednesday I have an appointment in the morning and in the afternoon we go to the Special Babies Clinic in Philadelphia. On Thursday we have a P.T. re-evaluation. And on Friday, God willing, my friend Amy and her son Isaiah are coming over (third try this month I think...?). Then on Saturday we go to the Circus!
Alex is walking more and more! She walks across the room now and is walking frequently. We keep cheering her on, even when she falls, and she is getting her confidence up and walking more as a result. She also now grabs my nose when I ask where Mommy's nose is and squeezes it and does the same to her nose when I ask where Alexandria's nose it. Keep on praying! God is been really gracious and kind. I think it's so amazing to watch Alex grow...despite all that has been and is holding her back. She is so determined and so full of life. She is also really working on that 12th moller breaking through...drooling a lot and chewing and congested...her gum in that area feels like a big bubble and like its going to burst! I had to give her Motrin for pain on Sunday...She cuddled and laid around with me for a good chunk of the day which she does not do unless she is not feeling great. I asked her if something is ouchy and she pointed to her mouth and said 'ouchy'. So cute!
I will fill you in on all the other appointments we will be going to this week as I can.
Enjoy the Winter Olympics! And have a great Monday night!
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