I stayed up late Wednesday night to read Stephenie Meyers' newest book, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. It was short, as the title implies, and I finished it just before 2 a.m. My sister was reading the book at the same time, so I am sure we'll be talking about it today somehow with each other. Staying up late always makes me want to sleep in, so I did. Izzy (our son) got up shortly before I did, but waited for me to come downstairs before he got breakfast. Thursday's first meal was 2 slices of wheat toast with organic ricotta cheese and butter, followed by some fruit juice- sounds good, huh? Izzy's meals are fairly simple- he has some pretty basic things on his "safe" list that are quick for him to prepare on his own, and some others that I always prepare for him, still. I'll run down a list of his allergies (or- foods that bother his stomach enough to avoid- as it's not an "anaphylactic shock" type food allergy for most of his allergies) so you can see how interesting meal-planning can be: He cannot eat peanuts or tree nuts of any kind, all kinds of fish (although he tolerated canned tuna for a long time- and was still eating it at the age of 5), eggs, corn, (he supposedly can have corn syrup and corn oil- but not corn starch, cellulose, and other corn products- they're hidden in most foods!) oranges, bananas, coconut, garlic, onion, legumes (beans, peas, soy, lentils, etc.), oats, and is also allergic to grass, our dog, and trees.
We noticed he was allergic to something when he started getting eczema behind his knees and in the bends of his elbows when he started eating solid foods. One of the first problem foods for him was bananas- and this was a tough one, because he really loved them. He was about 7 months old when we began feeding him solid foods, and 8 months old when we noticed the eczema. Being our first baby, and having no real food allergies in our immediate families, we just shrugged it off and put on some ointment and lotion to try to control it. He was introduced to peanut butter at a younger than usual age, too- he was about 15 months old, and this one was a mild anaphylactic reaction. I should mention that he stopped gaining weight at about this time, too-in between 12 months and 24 months he did not gain a pound, but still grew taller. He was just 22 pounds at 2 years old. We were definitely concerned, as he had started out his life a bit heavier than the average baby and was pleasingly plump up through this point. We saw the doctor every few months during his second and third years to monitor his weight gain. His family doctor couldn't give us any real advise except to keep adding more fats and proteins to his diet, and keep up the higher quality carbohydrates.
His next big reaction was to white bass at about 2 1/2 years- home caught, home cooked, but blister-producing nonetheless. Both peanut and fish consumptions warranted and received trips to the ER. The next allergies weren't discovered until his first visits with an allergist, who recommended and performed "scratch testing"- oranges, eggs, all nuts (which we had been avoiding anyway), coconut, and pineapple. We avoided these foods and he was still having problems gaining weight. At 4 years old, he was about 30 lbs, and at 5, about 38 lbs.- a very thin little boy. We still used a stroller for him for longer walking trips, and carried him if he got tired without the stroller.
He was a reasonably healthy child, though- he nearly never was ill, except occasional colds, and never had stomach flu like other kids his age. At Christmas time, though, when he was 5, he had a horrible night- he threw up every hour or more often. We thought it was the stomach flu- we knew it would happen at one point in time or another. He recovered, and then a few days later, relapsed and was sick again. He continued this way for a week, and I consulted with our family doctor. We did tests for H-pylori and other stomach ailments, and all were negative. Our doctor recommended Tums for upset stomach. When his stomach upsets continued, we started carrying plastic shopping bags and small buckets with us in case they were needed. We were at a loss for what was causing this problem, and decided to make an appointment for him to see a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children's Hospital.
He has since then seen the gastroenterologist many times at offices in Green Bay and Milwaukee (his doctor used to travel, now we travel instead), and has had numerous stomach "scopings" (with a micro-camera to see what's going on in his belly) and some samples taken from various parts of his upper and lower digestive system to rule out or confirm different possibilities for his diagnosis. He's done a barium swallow test, and many scratch tests and one round of patch testing. None of these tests have been comfortable, but he is such a trooper and just goes through with it without complaint- I know he is looking for help from his sometimes daily misery more than we are, and knows that the tests he has to go through will bring us all a baby step closer to finding some answers.
I think this post has gotten long enough- I'll let you "digest" it and post more about his history later. I hope to be able to post some recipes that I want to try this summer, too. Thanks for reading!
Bea
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