18 Months Old
Posted By Jill on August 13, 2009
Mac had his 18-month check-up today with our new doctor. Our old clinic in Hopkins is closing, so we decided that location, along with this clinic having an allergy clinic attached, were signs that it was time to make the move. And although I had to wait a while for the doctor (I had been warned this doctor was usually quite busy), overall I was very happy with the visit.
Mac is slowing a bit in his weight and height on the charts, but his head is still big! He is 27 pounds (70th percentile) and 32 5/8 inches (65th percentile), and that noggin is a giant 19 3/4 inches (92nd percentile)! The doctor is very happy with his health and commented on what a great personality and disposition Mac has. He said his teeth are good and he is walking well, responding well to me (us), and he even could see some of Mac’s signs and how he communicates with me (us). He didn’t have any concerns about his lack of words, only said if he doesn’t have words by the time he’s 2, he’d probably recommend screening at that point if we would be interested. He’s very informative without being pushy or alarming. We talked some about Mac’s suspected peanut allergy too. He said they can do a blood test for that now, and we could have that done as soon as we wanted to. They can test up to 6 allergens with one blood test. He said with these types of allergies (like peanuts), typically there is no reaction the first time they are exposed, then the next couple of times it gets worse, and after three or four exposures it can be a really bad reaction. So his recommendation was to do it sooner rather than later, since this can be one of those that can be dangerous if you don’t know enough. We also talked about his sensitive skin and my susceptibility to hives and urticaria. He is familiar with urticaria – has a form of it himself actually – and I was glad to hear he will watch that.
So even though Mac was getting hungry and tired, I decided since we were already there, we’d give that blood draw a try and get the allergy testing done. The doctor said he only has his nurses try three times, and I could tell them to quit at any time. I had to hold his legs at the end of the table and hold his shoulders down while the two nurses held his arm and put in the needle. As expected, and I didn’t count the number of times, but the nurses said a lot, “he’s so strong.” Um… uh huh. But they got it done on the first try, and he cried a lot. At least it was better than the last blood draw we had. They are going to test for peanuts as well as common pediatric allergies – milk, soy, egg yolk, egg white – and dust mites (I have that one). The skin tests for any seasonal allergies would come much later if we notice him having issues there. We should get the results of the blood tests in a week or so.
Oh! Then he had a shot. Poor kid. We came home, had some lunch, I gave him some motrin, and he’s been sleeping since about 1:45, two and a half hours now. What a half-birthday!
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