D & A- EXPLAINED

It has come to my attention that I should clarify a few things...
***D*** is our oldest daughter, she just turned 5 years old and will enter kindergarten in the fall. She's a Girly girl & so smart! (I'm not just saying that either, the kid spoke full sentences at 12 months old!). D loves the color pink, kidz bop songs, barbies & digging in the dirt. When she grows up she wants to be nothing less than a "stage star!". D is our child with the sun allergy. And although we've always known something may be wrong with her we never knew, until late, what was wrong. (okay thats not entirely true, remember that denial is a powerful thing and that sometimes we only hear what we want too) Now, if nothing else, we know... She is an awesome vibrant child!

***A*** is our youngest daughter, she is almost 3 years old. A is a little wild child and an angel baby all wrapped up in one mighty Package! Her hazel eyes and toothy grin warms everyone's heart! Like her big sister she too is very intelligent!  At five months old A was diagnosed with Mastocytosis.  Initially we were devastated by her diagnosis but have since learned to live with it.  She takes daily antihistamines and has to have an epi pen near her at all times.  Children with Mastocytosis have too many mast cells in their bodies. Mast cells release histamine and causes itching, diarrhea, vomiting, flushing, and in severe cases can lower blood pressure.  Some mast cell reactions can be life threatening.  For A we have to avoid any insect in the hymenoptra classification (bees, wasps, fire ants) these are known to cause anaphylaxis for her.  Heat is another thing we have to avoid because heat triggers her mast cells to release histamine and then we have an itchy, sick child.  So A wears a cooling vest outside in temps over 77 degrees.  Her disease is far more complex than I can explain and I don't know how it is that I understand it but cannot explain it, but thats how it is for me.  In the past ten months she has had two hospitalizations, multiple er visits and at least 3 dozen office visits... Aug 22, 2011 will mark one year OUT of the Hospital for A!!!  Fingers crossed that we get to celebrate that victory!  I should also mention that ppl with masto sometimes have spotted skin, A does, and that there is NO known cure

you cAN LEARN MORE ABOUT MASTO AT WWW.MASTOKIDS.ORg or www.tmsforacuRE.ORG  (A IS PLAYING WITH THE caps lock button...)