NagMummy

M went for her skin prick test at KK Hospital last week and the results showed she has developed mild allergies towards some common foods and environment factors. She tested positive in varying small degrees to all 13 items – 4 environment and 9 food, including house and dust mite, cockroach, cat hair, cow’s milk, soy milk, egg (whole), egg (white), peanut, sesame seed, wheat, fish, shellfish.

Her allergic reactions are considered mild. The paediatrician said that there is no need to abstain from the food items because she needs a balanced diet but that we should give them less frequent and not in big amounts. We had been suspecting her allergy to cow’s milk and have switched her to goat’s milk for about three months now. But the other food items kinda surprised us. Both Matt and I are ok with them, except for shellfish, which occasionally causes some itch.

M was actually very afraid of the test. We had earlier bought her a book on asthma to help explain why she needs the inhaler to breathe in her medicine (Ventolin). In the book, allergies and the skin prick test were also mentioned. She even asked if the test was painful. So, when we told her we’re going to bring her for the test, she was resistant.

But the lab technicians at KK were very prepared – with DVD player, sweets and stickers. They also showed respect for the patient by always informing them what they were going to do beforehand. Although we still had to physically restrain M while the technician conduct the test, I think their approach helped minimise whatever anguish she felt. For example, when the technician had to draw some dots on M’s back with a pen in order to take measurements, she told M ‘see, I’m going to draw a smiley face only, it won’t be painful’. M wittily responded with ‘No, angry face, not smiley face’.

After the visit, we decided we must minimise her intake of processed foods, including sweets and biscuits, which we’re guilty of using as rewards often for being co-operative. These foods usually contain milk, egg, wheat flour. As for the environmental factors, we’ll keep her room and bedding items as clean as possible. But we have less control outside…

Still, M has to continue with another 3 more months of the anti-allergic medication – ketotifen before her next review!

If it’s difficult having a sick child at home, it’s worse when both parent and child are sick. Last week, my sore throat turned into a bad cough. In fact, I cough just like M and it’s driving Matt crazy having to take care of us both. Needless to say, visits to the doctors became our most frequent outings.

M’s on-and-off cough has now gone on for months and it’s really tiring us out. We’re trying both western medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) but things seem to be progressing too slowly. We actually made an appointment for M to get a skin prick test at KK but was not able to do it because she had some anti-histamine couple of days ago. The test has been rescheduled to 3 months later and we went home with 3 months worth of an anti-allergic drug – ketotifen.

Coughing now is umpteen times more painful (around my abdomen area) than usual because of my surgery. I almost have to crouch down every time I cough to minimise the pain. I even wonder if my wound might rupture because it can get so painful!

Just can’t wait to get well!