Some Answers, Finally!

After many, many months of not sleeping and of knowing that something was going on with our baby boy, we finally have some answers (and, still, lots of questions).  Jack's bloodwork showed that he has some missing parts in his immunoglobulin, making him susceptible to illnesses and unable to get over them as quickly as other kids.  This explains the bazillion viruses he has contracted at daycare since he started, and his multiple hospital visits.  Knowing this also helps explain his inability to sleep more than an hour and a half at night without waking up crying and in obvious pain.  The results from his August 23rd endoscopy showed that, as a result of this immune deficiency, his body is having an inappropriate immune response to food proteins ("eosinophilic esophagitis).  The gastroenterologist has taken him off of the top 6 allergens--wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, shellfish, and nuts--for two months.  It sounds impossible, and it will be very difficult, but we're on a mission and we're going to make it happen.  His doctor said the poor little guy has probably been in constant pain since he was born (or at least since he started solid foods), so whatever it takes to make our tiny guy feel better, we're going to do it!  After the two months are up, the hope is that his body will have had time to recover a bit, and we'll slowly add one food back at a time to figure out which food proteins he can tolerate and which ones he can't.  So these are not true food "allergies", but that's the way we'll be treating him for now.  Wish us luck!  Here is a picture of our pantry before, and a picture AFTER we removed all items containing the top 6 allergens (I'd guess it was 80-90%).  The fridge was about the same.  Sigh.

Before

After

Piles and piles of food to be thrown or given away.  That's a LOT of money right there.  Sigh.