Allergy Testing-Part #2

OK - now to yesterday. Madison had literally been watching the date, counting down to her appointment. She KNEW too what the day & time was of her appointment!! She took her binkie with her (her favorite blanket) and her DS video game machine, and we actually arrived early (I really didn't want anything to get either of us hysterical!) They called us back into the exam room about 15 minutes later, got her vital info, and had the doctor come in just a little later. The doctor is a "woman", as Madison requested, and she was very personable and knowledgeable (more on that later!) Now the reason that a "woman" doctor is important is because Madison told her pediatrician that she wanted a woman doctor; then, they ended up referring her to a male doctor, so I had to call & correct that. I told Madison upfront that I would tell her everything I knew about the whole process if she acted like she could handle it. She did very well & I actually think for her, treating her "like an adult" in this case, helped take away the unknowns that scare her so much. So, we start talking to the doctor and she listens to everything. (I love a doctor that listens!) So, she tells Madison about the "caterpillar" that will actually have the food samples on it. It was an 8-prong little white square thing with jagged ends on the prongs. They will put liquid dots of different foods on the ends and then push them on the undersides of her arms. No needles, no piercing of the skin, nothing scary. I think this is what made it all go well for Madison, and she even let Madison push it down on her arms to see what it would feel like. No pain!! (Praise God!) So, we headed back to a "prep" type room, where several other people were getting either allergy shots or allergy testing. (In the middle of all this, they asked Madison to participate in a laptop questionnaire about asthma, where they are conducting a study to help underpriviledged children get diagnosed with asthma more efficiently-no, we're not the underpriviledged, we're the test group!) They sit her down, take out the food samples, and we begin the testing.

Allergy Testing-Part #1

(Although I use this blog primarily for my scrapping adventures, I wanted to get into writing what happened yesterday...from my point of view...in hopes to one day put on a scrapbook page.) We have been putting off official allergy testing for our daughter, Madison, for years. We have suspected since her first birthday that she has a food allergy, and specifically a peanut allergy. On her first birthday, we had the typical little cake (which was homemade in this case) that you set in front of the 1 year old and let them dig in. She did, and suddenly hives starting appearing everywhere that the cake had touched. As soon as we washed the cake off, the hives starting going away. Several months later, we were having chili, and it's a midwestern custom to serve peanut butter sandwiches with it. So, we gave Madison a bite of the sandwich, and she almost immediately began vomiting and got hives all over her body. The third instance, she was at church in Sunday School, and they were doing crafts, where they put peanut butter on pinecones and add birdseed. Well, the helpers had peanut butter on their hands and had washed it off - but because Madison was crying about something, they picked her up. Where they had touched her under her arms immediately broke out in the biggest hives. The last instance we've had was from a bottled V-8 smoothie. I had read the label to make sure it was clear, and it looked OK. But Madison drank it, and again, got hives all over her body and had a little trouble breathing, but just when I was going to whip her up & take her to the emergency room, she started to get better. All of these instances pointed to Madison having some kind of food allergy. And she is petrified of needles, so we had put off the allergy testing - until this summer, it became apparent that it was time to do it. Her school wouldn't acknowledge her allergy until we had it in writing from a doctor, and the chances we were taking just were not worth putting her life in jeopardy. So, yesterday, she went for allergy testing.

New Challenges for me!

I've been hanging out at Scraplove.com some, and I have committed to a "Summer of Scraplovin" 6 week challenge. It starts July 13th. I am excited about it, but hope that I can finish all 6 weeks. Also, starting that same week is our Arts Smarts Camp - a camp devoted to encouraging students to use their creative talents for Jesus. I love this camp. This is my 4th year to teach a scrapbooking class to 3rd, 4th, & 5th grade students. The project this year is a calendar, whereas other years we've done scrapbooks. I am looking forward to doing something different, however, I really need to get my sample started!! Finally, I have a Disney vacation album that I need to get started on, but it will all happen in it's own time!!

Latest altered item

OK - anyone that knows me "scrapbooking"ly knows that I am not much of an alterer. I would rather just do my pages. But I got this idea from a magazine, and took it from there. We made these for M's teacher, bus driver & after-school care person. There were so easy & a lot of fun!

SISF Blog

Started a new blog recently for our local scrapbook club, Southern Indiana Scrapbook Friends. I hope that people will contribute to make it successful for all of us. I'm excited about how it's looking. Here's a link to the SISF blog.

L = Loves to Laugh

Yes, I do love to laugh. Laughing, for me, is a much better option than crying or being depressed. And sometimes I take life just way too serious. So, I laugh. I don't think I have an overbearing laugh, or a laugh that sounds awful - just a nice comfortable laugh. I do think laughter is a medicine that we need to take more doses of daily!! Sometimes a good comedy movie, or a clever joke is all I need to lift my spirits and have a good day! Join me in having a good belly laugh - 1, 2, 3...

K = Kidding

All joking aside, I like to "kid". I like to laugh. (My favorite quote being "Live, Laugh, Love"!) In the sad things of like, I like to relieve the stress with a little bit of laughter. I like to be flirty by joking around. I think it keeps life from getting too serious, which I have a habit of doing. So the kidding around is my feeable attempt to keep life on the lighter side.