-FREE. (And to clarify, the dash is intentional. I'll explain in a minute.)
If you scroll back through posts since James' birth -- well, let me rephrase that. If I had been better about posting regular pictures since James' birth, you'd notice a couple things: that he constantly had scratches all over this face and scalp, or, that we constantly kept his hands covered with baby socks.
What was being passed off as eczema just didn't sit well with me.
And then, the week after Christmas, when James was seven months old, he developed a peri-rectal fissure, and thus began the run around between multiple pediatricians, pediatric gastroenterologists, and allergists. MRSA, Celiac disease, Crone's disease -- all these and more were tossed out as possible issues our little man was facing. Blood work, stool samples, ER trips due to abscess ruptures that filled his tiny diapers with blood.... This is what made up our January and February.
And in the midst of it all, the only this we know thus far is that James is moderately (3, on a scale of 1-5) allergic to gluten [but he doesn't have Celiac -- whoohoo!!!], dairy, and peanut.
Boo. Hiss.
James is still having a lot of digestive and growth issues, so table food is slow going, therefore, he is still at least 80% breastfed. Which means that, for now, I'm also gluten-, dairy-, and peanut-free.
It bears repeating: BOO. HISS.
These past three months have been hard. Frustrating. Time consuming. Pizza, chocolate, and ice cream-deprived.
But we are seeing improvement with James in several areas, so we feel we are on the right track. I'm not loving the approach the doctors are taking, but I have been blessed to have a handful of girlfriends (both local and in the compute -- Hi, Hillary!) who are right there with me in the allergy trenches and who have been amazingly compassionate and supportive as we try to figure this all out.
So, yes, my recipe posts may very well be taking on a gluten and/or dairy free spin, but that's okay. I'm happy to share the recipes and sites I've found that make this lifestyle a little bit easier.
And, I'm sure it goes without saying.
He is totally worth every sacrifice.
3 comments:
So sorry you are going through all this. Must be scary. Sending prayers and well wishes.
fissures are the devil. i know...and that makes me so so so sad for your little guy. i am glad for improvement. pizza, chocolate, and ice cream are over rated.
Poor guy and poor mama! I'm not sure if you've found it but Enjoy Life brand chocolate is really good and is nut, dairy, and gluten free :) And a little pricey but worth it for chocolate. (I get the baking chips and usually end up just eating them ;-) )
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