OUCH!

My poor Ryan, she is such a trooper. She's been getting sickly for a while now and we've been giving her an over the counter medicine for sneezes and stuff and even took her to an allergist at the advice of our doctor. After our initial visit, he suggested that she probably does have allergies and the best way to figure out what she's actually allergic to would be to have an allergy test done. I was hesitant but eventually agreed and went home that day trying to prepare Ryan for what she would be having done the next time we went to her allergist.
So, that day came last October and I picked her up from school and took her to the allergist. I prepped her as much as I could up to the second it started but neither of us was really prepared for what was taking place. The nurses drew small blue lines and numbers all over Ryan's back to correspond with the allergen that they would be testing. Then, they started to prick her back with "small needles" (their words not mine, because with children, all needles are HUGE!) Thankfully, the pricking nurse brought a backup nurse with her because Ryan didn't like to be poked and she started to cry and tell and try to get up and leave, anything to get away from that nurse! I had to hold her hands and the back up nurse had to hold her legs so the pricking nurse could finish pricking her back. The actual pricking only lasted for a minute but to hear Ryan's screams, it sounded like hours of pain! She settled down quick and the nurses told her to lay on her stomach and not scratch or touch her back, even if it itched. They gave her lollipops and coloring pages while we waited for the results. We found out she is allergic to grass and trees, especially pollinating trees. Really?, it's Tallahasse, FL, I don't know hardly anyone who is NOT allergic to those things. I have probably become allergic to those things since living in Tallahassee even though I grew up around the woods my whole life! In my opinion, we could have skipped the whole torture skin pricking session and just had the allergist tell us to take an antihistamine until she was 35 years old!!! It was horrible and I hated to consent to let them do it to her, it was just too much for me to put her through.
After the appointment, mommy tried to make her feel better by taking her to McDonald's and taking it back to school to eat lunch with her since she wanted to go back to school anyway. I needed to take an antidepressant and go home and sleep off the trauma I had just been through but Ryan was in great spirits again. How could I go home and wallow in self pity now? The rest of the day was as if nothing had happened and I can't say enough times how my Ryan is one tough trooper!














**MSL**