Appt. with Dr. Irani...

Today we met with Nathan's allergist, Dr. Irani. He's doing well and she is pleased with his progress with growth and weight gain since the last time she saw him 6 months ago. For now, we aren't changing anything with his diet because he appears to be tolerating things for the most part. Since our last appointment with her we've added broccoli, white potato, rice, spinach, and his most "normal" kid friendly snack ever, Welch's Fruit Snacks to his diet. From the outside he seems to be doing well with these foods, however, he has thrown up from  time-to-time these past 6 months and Dr. Irani thinks that it could be a sign he has active eosinphils in his esophagus.

Nathan is scheduled for his next endoscopy this month on the 29th with Dr. Williams. We will know for sure after we get the results from the biopsies he takes during the scope whether or not Nathan can continue with the foods he's been eating. We've added so much and it's been well over a year since his last scope, if this one isn't good it's going to be a major setback trying to figure out what is triggering his EoE reaction now. But for now, I won't consume myself with worry over the many "what if" scenarios.

Today's visit did throw me for a loop however... she did skin prick allergy testing for environmental allergens because Nathan has shown signs of being symptomatic with an EoE flare during high seasonal allergy times. She also tested peanut and soy since they showed up last time via skin prick testing (peanuts 5mm wheal) and IgE blood work (soy).

Today, the peanut was a whopping 47mm wheal! I was given a new Rx for 4 EpiPens and told to always have on within reach of Nathan. After his first allergy testing, I was concerned about peanuts, but not too worried because the reaction was mild and didn't require him to have an EpiPen according to Dr. Irani. Well now, there's no other word other than terrified to describe how I feel about this. I am so, so, thankful that Nathan doesn't attend daycare anymore even though they were peanut free. The only time he's out of our sight is when he's in Sunday school which, I'll have to learn to be okay with. He loves going, and so far they've been great about only giving him food we bring for him during snack time.

We've always been concerned about Nathan and food when he's been at daycare in the past, but felt like he was being watched over closely and taken good care of. There were two missteps in the weeks before we left the daycare, but they were honest and straightforward about what happened each time. I was thankful that they were just foods that trigger his EoE.

It's been almost two years since we learned of Nathan's diagnosis, and while we are used to the day to day, and meal to meal worries of living with a fear of food for our son. It never goes away completely. It's always there, food... you can't escape it. How can the very thing that's necessary for life cause you harm? It's mind boggling and until there's a cure it always will be.

Knowing food could damage Nathan's esophagus with his EoE was one thing, it concerns us, but we knew it wasn't immediately life-threatening. He'd just throw up for a few days, maybe refuse to eat for awhile, but we still had our Nathan and could remove the food and try something different. Now, it's a whole new concern over the possibility of a food taking his life.