I know that it has been awhile since I have written a letter about Austin's health. I will try to catch you all up. In early December Austin went in for another endoscope. To recap where we were:
Austin went on steroids to get his eosinophilic (pronounced ee-OH-sin-oh-filic) esophagitis under control. After 2 months they preformed another endoscope and all looked REALLY good. The doctor decided took Austin off of the steroids to see if he could maintain. During these two months Beau and I did everything that we could to keep allergens away from him.
Unfortunately, at his last procedure his condition backslide. Austin is unable to maintain a healthy esophagus without the steroids. The doctor thinks that there are other allergies that Austin has to foods that have not been diagnosed, yet.
Austin will remain on steroids until.... TBD.
Ah, what will happen if Austin's eosinophilic esophagitis goes untreated?
What a great question. Nothing, for now. EE is a disease closely linked to allergies that involves an increased accumulation of white blood cells called eosinophils in the esophagus. These eosinophils grow in an uncontrolled manner and attack the gastrointestinal system, leading to vomiting, chest and abdominal pain, breathing problems, difficulty swallowing food.
I would like to again remind everyone about their part in Austin's health. Before we do, Beau and I want to convey that no one more than us understands the frustration of tailoring meals to Austin. It is very important to make sure that you are not feeding Austin any of the foods that he is allergic to.
Egg White
Egg Yolk
All Fish
Wheat
Milk – All milk (cow milk, goat milk, milk of the gods, ALL)
All Nuts
Soy
If you go to a restaurant with Austin have a piece of paper with his allergens written on it. Ask for a manager and share them with him. French Fries are almost always not allowed and the toughest because he loves them. The oils are generally vegetable, soy or peanut. FYI soy is a vegetable and often added to vegetable oil and not always properly marked. So the best practice is no vegetable oil. Fries are never fresh and are often fried and then frozen and shipped. What they fry them in at the factory may be peanut oil while in house is canola.
Things that you thought were okay for Austin may not be anymore. I used a butter that Austin can eat called Olivio. It is made with Canola and Olive oil. It didn't have dairy or soy. As of late it now has "sweet cream" and soon it will have soy lecithin. I have found a replacement butter called Earth Balance soy free. Not until after I reread the ingredients for Olivio.
Rice dreams is another that caught me by surprise. I was certain that this was my new best friend in building memories with Austin. NOT ALL RICE DREAMS ARE AUSTIN SAFE. If you get rice Dreams for Austin you must read the ingredients.
For example they have soy in them
· Rice Cream Cocoa Marble Fudge Frozen Dessert
· Neapolitan Frozen Dessert
· Orange Vanilla Swirl Frozen Dessert
· Cookies n Dream Frozen Dessert
I was on the website looking at ingredients and gave up trying to find one that didn’t have soy lecithin in it.
We were recently introduced to All Natural SO Delicious products. Austin enjoys their coconut milk and yogurt products. They have the following flavors of yogurts Blueberry, Passionate Mango, Plain, Raspberry, Strawberry Banana & Vanilla. I personally like coconut milk much more then the rice milk products.
