Thanks for the many people who have expressed concern, prayers, advice, and just plain listened to my whining about Cooper!!!
Well, I got a call from the Pediatric GI doc, and the biopsies are BACK!!! His esophagus showed a lot of "allergy cells" as well as a lot of inflammation. Strange that this showed up in that spot when all his symptoms were in the lower.... but oh well? The good news is, this means that Cooper is definitely having an allergic reaction of the GI tract. I say good news because YAY! we at last found something to go on. It's not deadly-serious, and it's treatable. We can now form a plan of action!
Now... WHAT exactly he's allergic to is still in question. The doctor told me that for starters, we begin by totally eliminating from his diet the top 5 things that most kids are allergic to:
1. milk
2. soy
3. eggs
4. nuts
5. wheat
He will go on a very restricted diet -- obviously, can you dream up much that little kids eat that doesn't include any of those 5??? -- until we can go see the Allergist doctor and hopefully begin to narrow down and pinpoint what IT is exactly. More testing.... etc. He is starting a special, VERY VERY expensive formula that will supplement his nutrition. Cross your fingers that insurance will pay for it!
Sooooo.... I've been in touch with a few of my friends who deal with food allergies and gathered LOTS of good ideas. The doctor gave me a huge stack of info and websites. I went to the special organic whole foods-y type store and spent $40 in dairy-free, egg-free, wheat-free snacks, meals, cereal, and rice milk! Yipee!!!!!! Then I went to the pharmacy and spent $60 in his new medicines. The Allergist appointment will be coming soon. My hope is that once we figure out what the culprit IS, we can add back in the foods that it ISN'T, and life will not be so hard.
WISH US LUCK!
6 comments:
Ahhh, it's nice to have some answers! I baby-sat (daily) a girl with allergies to nuts, eggs and citrus. Fun times trying to figure out what to feed her - BUT, I got the hang of it quickly and soon it wasn't a big deal at all - it's just that beginning point when it seems so overwhelming.
GOOD LUCK!!!
And BTW I am pretty sure that the formula you speak of is NOT covered by insurance! I have a couple of friends that have had to use it for lactose sensitive babies and it wasn't cheap, or helped by insurance.
You will figure things out and it won't be so difficult to find things to feed him after a while. I'm just kinda surprised you're having to get rid of all 5 at once. How will you know for sure which one is the problem if you get rid of all at once?
I love that you are grateful that at least you have some sort of answer. I wish I had some great knowledge to share but I seriously have no one close to me allergic to anything. I guess I'll just listen to you vent about it when you need to. :)
You know, I'd wondered if he was allergic to something. As a kid Brian was allergic to milk, wheat and eggs. Supposedly he's not anymore, but even now those things affect his GI tract. So that's what made me wonder about Cooper. Anyway, I like all the encouragement you've received on here and I want to add mine as well. You'll get it all figured out and then life will feel more normal. Sorry about the medical expense though - I can relate to that too. :(
My cousin's little boy is allergic to everything, but they're used to it now.
Also, don't forget to search blogs for allergy-friendly recipes. There are lots of them.
Good luck!
Arg. I hate food allergies. Anna has a peanut allergy, and I thought that was bad enough. Then Katie came along...she was allergic to peanuts, eggs, milk, and nuts. Oh joy. The doctor also recommended that crazy expensive formula and gave us a couple samples...Katie would not touch the stuff. And I don't blame her. The smell is horrible. So, we never ended up buying any. Thankfully, we could do soy. She actually started outgrowing many of her allergies at 18 months...she can now have things that have milk and eggs in them, although we haven't tried the real thing straight. But just that has made a huge difference. We will take her to the allergist again in a few months to have her tested again. Whew! Sorry to leave such a long comment!! But let me know if I can offer any thoughts...we hate dealing with food allergies, but we do! :)
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