G has had health issues from the time he was born, starting with his first ear infection at only 3 days old. He had had over 30 rounds of antibiotics before he went to preschool! He has since had 7 sets of ear tubes, his adenoids taken out twice, his tonsils taken out, sleep issues, asthma, digestion issues, and severe allergies, which we dealt with on a daily basis at times.
About a year and a half ago, G could not function like a normal 9-year-old, he was vomiting all of the time, could not eat yet was bloating and gaining weight and had severe abdominal pain. We went to so many emergency rooms they knew him by name! We finally got a specialist to agree to scope him in both ends, although she thought it was not necessary. After going into surgery, the colonoscopy showed several ulcers in his intestines along with allergic colitis and his esophagus was closed almost completely due to a condition known as Eosinophilic Esophagitis, or EoE. They then ran several blood tests and found he was allergic to at least 38+ foods including wheat, gluten, rice, potatoes, many fruits and vegetables, even seasonings.
After many more months of illness, learning and more scopes, of course, getting 2nd opinions on everything, we were told G was getting worse even with all of his food restrictions. We went to yet another specialist that put him on a formula, took him off of dairy which was his last good source of vitamins and talked of placing a GI feeding tube to help him with nutrients. As a mother, I could not take much more of this testing on my child and I surely was not ready to have a tube placed in him! I agreed to start the formula, which G hated and I have to agree it was not the best tasting concoction, not to mention it had corn in it which he had an allergy to.
My mom, G’s NeNe was visiting Doc one day for an adjustment and mentioned G, she called me with such excitement saying he HAD to visit Dr. Rusty, this had to work and make him better. I was willing to try ANYTHING!!! So we went in for our first visit, G was of course so upset we are adding yet another doctor to his list and he was not happy nor optimistic this would work. After 5 minutes with Dr. Rusty, she won him over! He followed the plan as instructed, we had good days and bad. It was not an immediate turnaround BUT he was changing for the better! He was able to smell foods without getting sick or having a reaction. We slowly tried foods, his first enjoyment was mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. I had the EpiPen ready, still unsure how he would react and I think he ate about 5 lbs! He did awesome and was so excited, this was his turning point. He then asked to go see the doctor!
The coolest part of this whole thing was watching him change and feel better. We were finally able to tell when he got sick rather than guess if he was sick or having a reaction. He is doing well in school, taking less medicine and finally able to play outside without getting sick! We will continue to do maintenance on G and keep him healthy, he is not 100% yet but he is at least 80% better than he was which is enough for me now. No feeding tube needed and not as much stress knowing food is not going to hurt my child any longer.