Leo's 2nd Upper GI Scope

Not sure how it happened, but I have that allergy kid.  You know the one you are like "God I hope my kid isn't like that".  Yep, that's us and we are those parents too.  I'm lucky in that my friends/family are normally very great about keeping anything he's allergic to away (peanuts, tree nuts, fish, peas, and mustard).  Leo has had skin tests which identified those items as allergens. 

What we hadn't realized is the extent to his allergies.  Leo gags and pukes.  We have no idea what causes it, so we had a scope done on him about a year ago.  They were looking to identify this rare, but growing, medical issue called EoE (essentially Esophogeal Allergies).  A year ago, it was borderline, so we have been treating for acid reflux.  He had his second scope today.

Let's just say that I held back my tears when I saw the pictures of his esophagus and the doc says "that is definitely not normal".  The color wasn't right, it was so swollen that it was almost shut, and it had white spots/scabby looking things.  I cried the moment she walked out of the room.  She is 99% positive it is EoE.  The biopsy results will come back this week.  The first thing our GI wants, is to heal his esophagus since it is a mess.  He will start a new medication that is like a topical steroid for his esophagus and eventually get off Prevacid, as it's not reflux.

Our next steps will be to work with a food allergy specialist/EoE specialist to see what is causing the reactions.   Leo is already on the wait list to see the specialist.  Luckily we have one of the best Children's Hospitals in the country, and they now have an EoE department, of which 2 of the best food allergy specialist from National Jewish, will run (one of which Leo will see).   It's going to be a long process, with multiple steps and scopes, but at least we have something identified.

Our saving grace is our son.  He is so laid back and happy.  He loves the attention he gets at the hospital and is sadly so used to it, that it doesn't bother him.  Just listening to him say "hospital" cracks me up.  A couple fun things:

1.  When he was handed purple pants to put on, he said "I'm a boy".
2.  On his chart, under the social issues section, a nurse wrote "Adorable!"

Here are some pictures from his big day.  He was passed out after the procedure and loved his grape slushy.  Since he couldn't eat all day, they told us to slowly add back in food.  Yeah right.  That kid ate some mac/cheese like nobody's business!