Ben's Medical Stuff

So the last two months have been a jumbled mess of medical issues and appointments for both kids.  Here's what's been happening with Ben:

A few weeks ago Ben seemed to be coming down with a bug or something.  He was coughing a lot and wheezed a little, and he was very lethargic (very unlike him).  We kept him home from school.  The next morning he wasn't any better, so we took him to the base peds clinic.  The doctor didn't like how his lungs sounded and had him get a breathing treatment.  His oxygen levels were a little better and he did another treatment.  Right after that one, he puked.  The doctor said that was good, that a mucus plug was dislodged and he'd feel a little better.  The doctor was pretty sure it was asthma but wasn't sure what triggered it.  It could be this particularly bad allergy season in Ohio, or maybe that we had stayed with friends over that weekend who had multiple furry pets, or maybe all of the above.  She said it was a good thing we brought him in because if we hadn't he would have ended up in the ER later.  Scary.  For the next week we treated Ben with various inhaled meds and a liquid med including a steroid (that was fun) and Ben went back to the clinic every couple days.  Right now he gets inhaled meds twice a day.  Last week he got a peds panel skin test at the allergist showing that he's not allergic to dust mites, but he's definitely allergic to cats and dogs.  The allergist suggested we get rid of our cat.

That was just the beginning of his allergy problems.  Ben has never wanted to eat anything with peanuts or peanut butter in it.  But a couple weeks after we got to Dayton and were staying on base, Ben ate a single Reese's Piece candy and did not react well.  He compained of feeling "yucky," kept scratching at his throat, then threw up.  Then red spots developed on his chin, chest and legs.  Luckily we were two blocks away from the ER on base.  His symptoms had pretty much disappeared by the time the doctor saw him.  The doc said it was a possible allergic reaction and sent us home with an epi-pen.  Ben saw the allergist last week and got a skin test that confirmed that he is allergic to peanuts.  We weren't totally surprised, because Mike's dad has been allergic to peanuts since childhood.  (Mike's dad also had asthma as a child but grew out of it.)  Thankfully, Ben's preschool classroom is already a peanut-free room.  Ben is super cautious of eating peanuts again so we don't have to worry about him intentionally eating something he shouldn't.  Still researching all the many foods that he needs to avoid, though.

So that's the gist of Ben's latest health concerns.  We're also having problems with him "holding it in" (not wanting to go to the potty or even in his diaper) but that's another story.  Next up: Maddy's medical stuff...