This morning (whose bright idea was it to schedule these appointments so early--oh wait, it was mine!) Kaitlyn and I met with Dr. Johnson, the immunologist/allergist we've been seeing. He took one look at Kaitlyn's skin and also pronounced it Atopic Dermatitis! He also feels confident that it is to blame for the multiple infections. He ordered blood work that will pinpoint what she's allergic to food-wise, and blood work that will see if she's zinc-deficient. (We had her blood drawn after our appointment so we should get the results in about a week. She was SO GOOD, hardly any crying at all, just at the very end.)
He said that there are really rare immune-deficiencies out there that would make someone prone to staph infections, but that he doesn't feel like he wants to get into testing for those (pretty invasive) because people who have them have repeat respiratory issues, pneumonia, etc., and Kaitlyn's healthy as can be. Not to mention, he said that now we have an explanation for the staph that fits.
Dr. Johnson's biggest concern is Kaitlyn's weight-loss. He said if she's not vomiting and doesn't have diarrhea then he really doesn't know why she'd fall off her growth curve. Some possibilities he threw out there were a fast metabolism, her getting ready for a growth spurt and needing more calories than maybe she was getting. Or, food allergies.
So, that's that. We'll wait for the results of the blood tests. It felt good to have the immunologist confirm the dermatologist's findings, and I'm so happy that we did some more testing. I'm experimenting with some Burt's Bees products and so far am happy with them. I guess I still feel worried about the weight loss, but she eats so well, is developing fine, has eight teeth, and never stops crawling around and playing, so I'm resting in the fact that for now, she's okay, and we'll keep our eye on it.
Thank you so much for all your kind words, prayers, and thoughts. We are blessed!!! (Oh and I just thought I'd share some pics of my sweet baby girl.)
7 comments:
Yipieee.. at least everyone seems to agree! Atopic dermatitis sounds much better than an auto-immune disorder like Lupus. She's looking as cute as ever!
8 TEETH. Wow, she popped them out quickly. Aubrey didn't get her first tooth until 11 months (after she was walking) and Ainsley is still toothless at 8 months! I love the pictures!!!
WOOHOO! So glad that it's not something life threatening! That was scary for a while!
She is sooo stinking cute!
Although I am sad that you won't be in the no-dairy club with me...
Hi, Brianna,
Our Isa, who is eight and a half, had a terrible rash when she was around 5 months old. At first I thought it was a drool rash, but it progressed into an itchy, oozing, scaly mess, and it took us a few months to get it correctly diagnosed as eczema. It was virtually covering her entire chest -- they treated her for fungus and other things before finally deciding what it was.
Her skin is extremely sensitive, too -- turns out she's very allergic to nickel, which is in a lot of costume jewelry, and was actually in the snaps on her sleepers. She would get little round bumpy red marks on her skin just under the snaps -- so that may have been what set it all off.
Anyway, we never use soap on her skin -- only Cetaphil -- and we were told that water was her skin's worst enemy because it's so drying. Through the years her eczema has lessened, and now she gets rashes mainly in the winter when the air is dry, on her cheeks and elbows. We slather her with Eucerin every chance we get, and it really seems to keep the rashes at bay. We rarely have to use steroid cream any more. When we do, it's just the tiniest bit.
Kaitlyn looks so healthy and happy! I can imagine how worried you've been -- eczema can be a pain, but it's fairly easy to manage once it gets under control. She is absolutely ADORABLE -- I hope you're resting a little easier! Take care.
Great news Brianna. I'm glad the doctors are agreeing, it's nice to hear the same thing twice. How did the allergy testing go. I was supposed to take Matthew today, but he had to take benadryl yesterday, so we have to wait 24 hours. I hope you are able to pinpoint exactly what she's allergic to and that solves the other issues. Darn allergies!!!
she's way too cute!!!! good thing she's so stinkin' happy despite all of this!
fast metabolism... gee, where would she get that from? (oh yeah, BOTH her parents!!) ;)
I don't know if this helps, but my first daughter also started losing weight. We started adding a bottle of formula every day (or two - 8oz. in total, sometimes she only wanted 4 oz.), and she started putting weight on again. She was 9lbs.13oz. at birth, and now at 29 months is only about 21 lbs. She's just destined to be small. Everything else about her stayed on track. We did some testing, including for CF, so I know how scary it can be, wondering what's wrong. I hope you can find peace in the drs' diagnoses. From your description, she seems perfect.
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