Trick or Treat for Food Allergy Research

Hi All, I hope this day is finding you well. I am doing great and was out shopping today for my weekly supplies and happened to notice all the Halloween stuff out there. There seems to be a ton of candy for sale and it got me thinking of my annual fund raiser. Each year instead of trick or treating for candy, I do it for your loose change. Everything collected is donated to FAAN ( The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network). They have been a great resource for my parents and they are helping schools and companies understand the impact of food allergies on kids like me. I will have a box I will carry as I trick or treat this year that will have the logo above printed on it. Callie is doing it with me! So save your change or donate online at:
http://www.foodallergy.org/Support/Halloween/Donate.html
If you donate online, please use the comment field and add donation for Lynda Dee Taylor- Center Point IA. Based on our fundraising I can win safe prizes for me and Callie. Our goal this year is $200.00 so dig deep and give what you can. Help us all find a cure and make other kids lives better too! There is also more info about the program on the FAAN site at:
http://www.foodallergy.org/Support/Halloween/index.html

If you would like to start a collection at your work or school, let me know and I will help you get started.

Hugs and Kisses-
Lynda Dee

Croup YUK!

Well it's that time of the year. On Monday and Tuesday I had to goto grandma and grandpa Meyer's to "hang out". Something about being really sick and not going to preschool. I feel pretty good now though, I can't wait to goto Matt's next football game and cheer for the pointers with my sister Callie. I am sure we are in training, we do the GO C-P-U cheer really really loud. Callie does not like Stormin Norman the mascot much, but mommy tells us there is just a person inside that dog costume. I gave him a high five last week, so we are on our way of becoming friends fast. We are just about ready to start collecting for the Halloween fund raiser for FAAN. Remember to save your coins when I come trick or treating (not like I can eat candy anyway). We are raising money for research for food allergies and education in schools for tolerance for people with food allergies. Some people don't understand how life threatening it is, so it is our job to educate! As daddy always says "Knowledge is Power".

Have a great day!

Hugs and Kisses
Lynda Dee :)

Done with oral steroids

Lynda's pediatrician called on Friday and has removed Lynda from taking oral steroids. We are extremely excited about this. Evey since coming home from National Jewish we have been going every two weeks for blood work to see if her cortisol level was coming into the normal range. Once it hit the normal range that meant we could stop giving her Orapred. Her zinc level is still low so we are to continue to give her a liquid zinc supplement.

It was a short night last night. Lynda woke with the Croup cough. We went outside for the fresh cool air, gave her one albuterol treatment, went back to bed. 10 minutes later she was back again coughing and wheezing, so we gave her another albuterol treatment. She is sleeping now. We will see what the morning brings when I wake her. It might be a stay home day with grandma and grandpa Meyer.

Well I better finish getting ready for work. Have a great week everyone!

My first Bus Ride

Thursday was a big day for me. At preschool we had a field trip to the apple orchard. This was my first ride on a real school bus like Matt used to ride. We had to sit real still and not mess around. Cheeks on the seat! Did you know there are no seat belts on those buses?? I decided that when I got there I was going to get my daddy an apple. My teacher said I could only bring one home. Most the other kids ate theirs. I did not like at the little kitty cats running around, but did like to see where the bees used to live. We got back on the bus and I showed my teacher my apple. Daddy and Mommy picked us up from daycare and daddy and I ate the apple together. He said it was the best apple he had every tasted. I must of picked the right one. Friday night has a football game so we are looking forward to seeing Stormin' Norman again. Have a great weekend.

Lynda Dee

What a great weekend!

Well we had a blast this weekend. We did not see much of daddy. It was his birthday and on Friday he went golfing with his friends ( Thanks Jake) in some kind of tournament. Then he went to watch Matt's football game. I was totally asleep when he came home. I heard it was after midnight! So then on Sat. morning we got to hang out with dad because mom had to work. Something called a "release" they were working on. When she got home we played outside and grandma and grandpa came up. We played some more then daddy left again. He went to the hawkeye game (Thanks Bryan) and cheered on the hawks to victory. We could not see him on TV? Not from a lack of trying. Sunday we had a great picnic at church. They had a bouncy house and dunk tank. I dunked Paul from across the street. Served him right he was wearing an Iowa State sweatshirt. My skin is a bit broken out, but seems to be getting better slowly. Mom and dad keep wrapping me and putting on lotions. School is going well, I like my teacher. Just wanted to say "hi" to everyone.

Have a greay week!

Lynda Dee

It's Labor Day weekend

I don't know much about it other than it is another stay home day from daycare. Callie and I helped Mom & Dad around the house today. We painted our shutters and re-hung them, we power sprayed the house to get all the dirt off of it for the winter. Friday night we went to Matt's game and we screamed and screamed when he ran out. We had CPU pom poms to practice our cheers. Stormin Norman scared Callie so we headed home, but sounds like they lost (totally bummer). Matt has had a real hard time this week with his allergies, it is the height of rag weed season and he has a rough time. Hope you all enjoy your extra "stay home day". Also a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to grandpa John who turns 60 something on Labor day this year....


Love Lynda Dee

Old McDonalds Farm

We took the kids to Old McDonalds Farm this weekend. That was fun to walk around and see the animals. Spent most of the weekend outside. We know that the summer is coming to an end and the time outside is going fast, so we are going to stay outside and enjoy it as much as we can before we have to head inside. This coming Friday is Matt's first football game of the season. We are looking forward to walking over to the football field and watching him play. Lynda's skin got patches of red yesterday after pulling out toys from the neighbors shed. I am sure it was from the dust.

Have a great week!

What a good day to wake up and read the paper!

Hello everyone, I hope you are all enjoying your cup of coffee and the paper this morning. I don't know if you noticed, but there are a ton of pictures of me in there today! Me, Callie and Nicole next door. If you don't get the paper you can get it online here. Callie and I have had a good week at our new daycare. Our new friends are getting used to working with me and all my extra rules. Yesterday we spent most of the day doing chores, daddy mowed the lawn, was cleaning up the front of the house where we took out some old bushes that were prickly and did some laundry. Late afternoon I got to goto my friend Allie's 3rd birthday party. Daddy got me cotton candy to have when everyone else had cake. It was fun, Callie and I were tired when we got home. Matt went to something called a bonfire for church after we got home and he was back after we went to bed. Those high school kids sure do stay up late. He comes home after football practice each night and is very sweaty. Things are good at my house, keep in touch.

Lynda Dee

First week at my new daycare and Keep an eye out...

This is almost the end to my first week at daycare in Center Point. We are having a ton of fun at Little People. We are helping mommy and daddy teach them what is safe for me. Callie and I get to play at recess together ( I love that). There is a rumor going around that I need to tell you all to watch your paper on Sunday. I am not sure what that is all about, but watch I guess.

I am so glad it is going to be cooling down so my skin will be less likely to break out. I start preschool on Monday. I have my Dora backpack and my supplies ready to go. Wish me luck as I try to get smarter. I seem to have way more energy now and I have been keeping everyone up late, I'm young and pretty and don't understand why I need a bed time.

Oh well, maybe I will learn at preschool

Hugs & kisses

Lynda Dee

Great Weekend

It has been a while since I posted, I will let you know it is because I have been so busy being a kid again. This weekend we went to Grandma & Grandpa's on sat morning to play, then we went to Pioneer Coop store in Coralville to get me some of my special stuff. We got some wheat & egg free noodles. (They ROCK!) Sunday morning we got up late, so daddy made breakfast - I love sausage and a fruit smoothie. The off to church, pastor Mike graduated from something called seminary. We had a party for him and we had fun, then off to get ready for pre-school. Yep I start tomorrow in Center Point! We loved our time at Growing Years, but this is where I am going to school. Callie is going there too so we can stay together. Mom says we are joined at the hip. Matt turns 16 tomorrow. I am sure he will have a cake. He has been busy at football camp. He comes home all sweaty. The humidity has been rough on my skin this week. It has been patchy red by only about 3-5%, manageable. We did a little time in the pool this afternoon while dad was mowing the lawn and picking rhubarb. What a weird plant. Have a great week.

Love,

Lynda Dee

National Jewish Medical and Research Center

For anyone who is suffering from allergies, asthma or eczema you need to check out their program.

This is a link to their main web site http://www.njc.org/

This is a link to their pediatric web site http://www.njc.org/patient-info/progs/peds/index.aspx

Matthew has returned!

We drove to uncle Jed's house Friday night. Saturday morning daddy and uncle Jed went to Nebraska to pick up Matt from his dad. We were so excited to see him. Matt sat between us on the way home and Callie and I both fell asleep holding his arms. We feed him potato chips and corn chips. Matt was excited about all of the new foods I could eat. While we waited for them to return mommy took our cousins Bethany and Cassie shopping in Sioux City. We went to Linen's and Things, Bethany and Cassie had never been in that store before. Can you believe they had pink measuring cups and measuring spoons and many other pink things for the kitchen. Callie and I really like pink. We are waiting for grandpa Meyer to come over and paint our room sometime. He painted Matt's room and it looks really good. Tonight for dinner daddy made turkey tacos. I have never had tacos before. They are really messy. The food keeps falling out of the other end. I am taking the leftovers to daycare with me tomorrow. Well got to go mommy is calling for Callie and I to get in the bathtub, seal and soak is the best way to keep my skin healthy so I can go out and play.

Chat with you all later.
Lyndee

Real Busy Weekend!

What a weekend, Friday night was the block party, what a blast- we played outside until almost 10 pm trying to catch fireflies and playing in Nicole's garage. We did not want to goto bed, but mom & dad were pooped. Sat. morning we got up early and went to Pickle Days in Walker (about 7 miles from Center Point) and mom was going to play in a horseshoe tournament. We got there and found out it was a doubles tournament so Dad became her partner. There were 20 teams and mom & dad got 4th! Dad even got 2 ringers (not bad for his first time). Sat night we went back to Pickle days and they had an AWESOME fireworks display. It lasted forever and was very loud! There was big fire balls that went up in the air and huge, high fireworks! We had cotton candy and watched them from a park near where they were being shot off. Sunday brought another busy day, my cousins Joshua & Sophie were in town from MN so we went to grandpa's house to swim. Even though I had sun screen on, I got burnt. Mom says it is from my medicines. So my back has a big white X on it from the straps and my face is really red. I am done with outside for a few days while I recover, but I had a blast in grandpa's pool... Shout outs to my dad's friend Bryan who turned 40 this weekend :)
Have a great day
-Lynda Dee

Outside Time

It is so nice to be able to be outside with the kids. Seeing them run, jump, swing, and play in the water is a wonderful blessing. Lynda's face has decided to flare up, so we are implementing the skills that we learned at National Jewish. Wet wrapping her face three time a day, hoping that within a few days she will be back to normal. I know you are going to ask yourself, what happened to cause a flare on her face. That is the most frustrating thing about eczema it will flare up without us ever knowing what the cause is from. Sometimes you can figure it out, but there are other times were you just never know the answer.

Asthma

Now that we have more food in Lynda's diet and we have her skin under control, her asthma has decided to make an appearance. We learned at National Jewish that an asthma attack can be triggered by rainy weather and humidity. Well it certainly has been rainy and humid here this last week.

Today is Callie's 3rd birthday! She is so excited to be 3.

Tuesday

Lynda was happy to be home with her sister and back at daycare with all of her friends. Last night Lynda said to me "Mommy I wish they would have tested me for pop. " "I would really like to try it." I giggled with her and said "maybe someday you can try pop."

Reunion

Hi All,

Well we pulled into Center Point this morning about 9:30 am. Sorry we have not posted in a while, we had to go to a funeral and there was no internet access there. We got all cleared to leave NJ and I can add soy and pork to my diet. I am really loving the lunch meat honey ham. Between that an potato chips I could live on those two alone. Mommy & Daddy keep telling me I need to eat other things though. I can also have grapes and raisins too. We went to the Ranch to say good bye to great grandpa on Friday and then the funeral on Sat. It was really cool, we got to follow a horse drawn carriage to the cemetery. We were glad to see family & friends it had been way to long since we had seen. Thank you again to everyone to helped me get to National Jewish, it is really changing my life! My sister Callie was so glad to see me! :)

Keep watching we will keep you updated on how things go here!

Love Lynda Dee

Wednesday

Today we had food challenges with pork, shrimp and we re-challenged soy. Lynda did not have any reactions to these foods. Tomorrow we will have our discharge meeting. During this meeting we will go over Lynda's personal action plan regarding the new foods, the allergic foods and her skin treatment plan. Sean and I are so thankful to have been able to bring Lynda here. They have been able to do so much for her in such a short amount of time.

Tuesday

Today was another good day. We got two tests completed and we are a go for green beans and we are waiting on a final ok tomorrow for Soy! Lynda spent the day doing crafts and hanging out and driving the nurses crazy. I think she is getting a bit stir crazy. Lynda was making mommy & daddy laugh this morning, she split the green beans in half and ate the seeds first. Kind of inside out. Daddy got some very sad news today, his grandfather Milo Rypkema took his place in heaven. I guess they needed another tough cowboy up there to ride the big range.

Love & Kisses

Lynda Dee

Monday... A new week

We were very fortunate today. My reaction to Bananas yesterday did not cause any delays. So this morning we went back and I started more food challenges. Today I was cleared for Rice! So right now and I eating rice cakes daddy got me from Wild Oats. I had turkey and had a mild reaction so we are going to hold off on that for a while. I am officially cleared for:

• Lettuce
• Corn
• Potato
• Rice
• Oats
• Raisins/Grapes

Tomorrow I am being tested for green beans and pork and if that goes well and they may throw in one more. I am loving my new foods and enjoying my crafts. I am also posting a picture from yesterday.


Loves and Kisses

Lynda Dee