They are working!

One of our obstacles we always incur when we visit family in Utah are allergies and asthma attacks. Almost every trip Sydney ends up in the emergency room or in a doctors office needing to be put on steroids to keep her lungs open so she can breath and is sick for the rest of the trip and when we get home. One of the main triggers Sydney has is Milo, my brother's dog. Sydney can't be in their home, ride in their car and sometimes not even hug uncle David if he has been around Milo. The dander and hair on David's arms and shirt will put Sydney into a bad asthma attack.

We have made it possible for Sydney to be in David's house for short amounts of time by using a mask and have her not touch or sit where Milo may have been. This is also true for her friends at home who have dogs. We basically keep her out of their homes and have her friends come to our home.

Well....this last visit went really, really well. Remember this post? It seems like the shots are working! When we first landed we made our way over to David's house to see our cute little niece Lily. About fifteen minutes into our visit I looked over at Sydney and she had the biggest smile on her face. I asked her why she was smiling and she said, "Mom, I don't even have a mask on and I feel really good!" "I can breathe good here now!" I was so happy for her. She recognized on her own that she was in a home that she doesn't get to be in too often and when she is, it is with A LOT of precautions. It was a big victory for her. Even though she didn't have an asthma attack while we were there, she did have a delayed reaction later that was very easy to control. The shots may or may not take away her reactions to dogs and her other allergies completely, but just enough she can feel a little bit normal and have short visits to places she has been forbidden to in the past.

Side note: We had a visit with her allergy doctor last Friday and he has decided she needs to go back to weekly shots for the next month or two. We were trying every other week, but it seems she needs to go more often. Once a week is better than twice a week though!