We received Ian's endoscopy results today. His stomach and duodenum are fine, but his esophagus is very inflamed. You're not supposed to have any eosinophils, but Ian had more than 60 eosinophils per high power field (which she said is a LOT). This means he definitely has more food allergies than just eggs, because we've already eliminated eggs from his diet. We have to return to the allergist to have patch testing done. After we've eliminated from his diet whatever he's allergic to for a few weeks, he has to have another endoscopy. Joys unconfined. Her best guess is that he's allergic to milk because he isn't currently eating any of the other foods which often produce this strong of an allergic reaction (wheat, soy, fish, etc.). If he's allergic to milk we have to put him a very expensive formula. She said it doesn't taste good and some toddlers refuse to drink it. If that happens, he'll have to have an NG tube. She wants us to see a Dietician after we get the results from the Allergist. I will be calling the allergist tomorrow and hopefully we can take Ian back there to start the patch testing next week because we want to stop feeding him whatever he's allergic to ASAP. I'm hoping it's not milk because Ian's diet currently consists of drinking milk plus eating yogurt, pudding, applesauce, baby cereal, and baby food fruits and veggies. A huge percentage of his diet has milk in it. She said it's no wonder he doesn't like to eat. It is painful for anything to go down his esophagus. She said how would I like to eat if I received an electric shock every time I took a bite. Poor guy!!! We stopped at Bed, Bath, and Beyond this morning (prior to getting this phone call) and bought Ian a Magic Bullet food processor. I imagine we'll still work on teaching him to eat table food in the coming months even if he has food allergies.
I put in a call with Karen (OT) and Dr. Williams (feeding team psychologist) to see if I should change the feeding regimine at all while we wait for the allergy results. Hopefully I'll get some guidance tomorrow as it's going to be really hard for me emotionally to force him to eat 6 times a day now that I know how physically painful every bite is for him to swallow. To add insult to injury, he must have done something to my mom's cat while I was on the phone with Paul as the cat retaliated by scratching Ian's forehead (more than once). I am ever so grateful she didn't hurt his eye. The scratches stop at the bottom of his eyebrow. Needless to say, I don't think I'll be taking any pictures of Ian the next few days until his scratches heal, and we're going to be extra careful to keep Ian far, far away from Patches!
On a happier note, would you believe that Ian slept until 7:15 this morning. I was in SHOCK! Way to go, Ian!! That's a new record for him! He slept from 7:45pm to 7:15am! He did cry some around 11:30pm, but still that was a great night.
3 comments:
I have followed your blog for many years. Your kids are so cute and such a blessing. I have read your struggles with Ian and food. It just breaks my heart for him and you. You might want to look into Food protein allergy. My daughter has it and a lot of what you describe sounds familiar. We are blessed because to discover this because she is only 7 months old. Food protein allergy doesn't show up on skin test or blood test. That is why it is so hard to diagnose. A child that is breastfed it will not show until they start solid foods even if the mother is eating it. If you have any questions, let me know and I will try to help where I can.
Aw poor guy! Praying.
Jennifer, I posted a question to you s few times in the blog posts after reading your comment, but maybe you didn't see them. I'm not sure how else to contact you. My email is pekrrk at yahoo.com. I'd love to hear how your daughter was tested for the food protein allergy. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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