Had our yearly visit with Anna’s allergist, Dr. Leibhaber, a lovely man despite Anna’s protests to the contrary (“I NO like that doctor!”)–though, who can blame her? He has a track record of poking her with things that hurt and itch like crazy.

Anyway. We decided to repeat the pokey itchy test thing* (where several of the suspected/common allergens are scratched/poked/applied onto the back of the victim patient and then you wait to see what happens. Ooh, the suspense.

“At least we know she has a good set of lungs!” the doctor joked, as Anna screamed and kicked to escape, as Adam held her down, as I soothed her, best I could, with kisses and caresses and promises of good things to come. That’s sort of a double joke because, actually–ha ha ha–the asthma thing kind of makes that not exactly true, at least not all the time. Ha ha.

We decided this morning, Adam and I, that as much as we dislike bribery as an everyday parenting event, this was one of those occasions for which a small bribe is not only perfectly acceptable, it is actually probably the only way to make things even remotely ok. So before the appointment we prepped Anna with all that was expected (get weighed, measured, have lungs and heart listened to, have temperature taken, look inside of mouth and ears and, of course, the dreaded “poke on the back”) and then promised a “special treat” of her choice should she comply with these things. This was in anticipation of the behavior displayed the last time we were in the office, where Anna fled from the scale, would not COULD NOT stand up straight to get measured, etc. She screamed, she kicked, she flailed. It was terrible. This time at least the screaming and flailing was reserved for the stuff that actually hurts.

Overall, she did great.

Poor thing, she does have display a “strong allergic reaction” to tree nuts, so we are still avoiding. She has some allergic reaction to some types of grasses as well (evident to us on those days that she plays around outside and it is one of these spring days with wind and sunshine and everything blooming and then the wheezing and the coughing turn her miserable). So. Exactly what we suspected but it is good to know what the plan is, what we need to do (which is, basically, carry on as we have been doing, avoiding all tree nuts, carrying an EpiPen in case of accidental exposure; dose with Benadryl or Allegra as needed).

*Apparently, there are some cases of kids outgrowing nut allergies, though usually not until the age of 5 or 6. There is nothing that can be done, no shots to give, etc, with this kind of allergy because even a small dose of the allergen can send the person who is allergic to nuts into full-blown anaphylaxis. We are waiting and hoping that someday she will get to enjoy pecan pie…..and handfuls of walnuts….and Frangelico….