I wanted to send a quick update on Jacoby since we just had our annual evaluation at Children's Hospital in Denver. Jacoby is part of the Gastro Eosinophilic Disease Program (GEDP), so we see a dietitian, allergist, and pediatric gastroenterologist during these evaluations. Nutritionally speaking, Jacoby is growing, gaining weight, and has a good diet despite his multiple food allergies. Our main concern with Jacoby's nutrition is his calcium intake (or lack thereof) since he doesn't eat dairy. So, the dietitian was super helpful with this and I think we're on the right track now for getting the level of calcium he needs. We had a great discussion with allergist about our observations on how Jacoby has been doing over this past year. Some of the topics included how seasonal allergies might be coming into play, what's up with getting pneumonia annually (and is it really pneumonia), what's up with breaking into hives after trying two antibiotics, and some discussions about kindergarten, future research, etc. It's way more than I can summarize here, but I'm always happy to share more if you're interested. The GI doc came last, and the first thing he did was sit down and talk directly to Jacoby. It's no secret that Jacoby is a kid who doesn't warm up quickly, but it was so interesting to see the connection this doctor had with him. And Jacoby talked with him like we weren't even in the room. Our GI issues focus on the eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE). So, the discussions were on how he's been doing with food intake (actually getting food down), how Justin is doing and the possibility of having him evaluated, and our thoughts on dietary changes and medication. There are really only 2 ways of treating EoE as of now, diet and medication. We're open to both right now for Jacoby, especially since he's young. Diet changes now are much easier than they will be when he's older. I know these doctors have hundreds, maybe even thousands of patients, but we're always impressed with how much time and attention they give us. No question is off limits, and they stay with us as long as it takes to finish the conversation and come up with next steps. We decided with the GI doc to go ahead with another endoscopy to see how Jacoby's esophagus is doing, so it's been scheduled for the 28th. We were encouraged by the results of Jacoby's lab work, which included a normal metabolic blood count, a normal eosinophilic count, a "normal" immunoglobin level for an allergic kid, and several of his allergies to certain foods have gone down. In fact, we left the evaluation fully expecting to have to drop wheat from our diet, but our allergist doesn't want us to pursue that since Jacoby's wheat number was so low. So, it seems like much of what we're doing and the hard work over the past few years to really pinpoint what this boy can and cannot eat are paying off. There's no cure to any of his medical issues, but I am so grateful for the medical care he's able to receive and that, in general, he's able to live life right now like a pretty normal kid. That's the "short" version of where we're at right now. (:
We will be spending Thanksgiving with the Barber clan: 6 adults and 4 boys (who no doubt are a force of nature when together). There won't be much on our table that resembles the traditional Thanksgiving meal (except maybe cranberry sauce), but we are so glad to be able to share the holiday with family and spend some time reflecting on the many, many blessings we've received in our lives over the past year.
We hope your holiday is filled with blessings, good food and company, and much thanksgiving!
Two boys being silly on the couch
An assembly line of sorts...we were making our Advent calendar, which is a new tradition for us this year. I find that our projects go much smoother when everyone has their own job to do. (:
I thought I might need to have my head examined for wanting to break out the glitter with a 4.5 and 2.5 year old, but they did very well and took their jobs very seriously.
