so with a recent discovery that has basically derailed our entire dining cart, I have decided to start a new blog that openly and honestly discusses the challenges and rewards we are going to be facing. The name of the blog kind of sums up how i feel... unexpectedly I am having to completely change how we eat, drink & all around live with regards to food. Its not so much a diet but more like a lifestyle. I have literally gone from cooking just about nothing to cooking everything... from scratch. I'm getting a bit ahead of myslef so let me start from the beginning.
Almost 6 years ago, my bub and I gave birth to our first (of three) little men. Cohen Jack was a beautiful & perfectly healthy baby boy for about 48 hours. Then the spitting up began. And like every other first time mom in the world I began to worry. However just like every other first time mom I was reassure that babies spit up and it was completely normal. Well days turned into weeks and weeks into months and with every passing minute it seemed the spitting up got worse. We called him the exorcist jokingly but in reality that's what he resembled after every feeding. I was nursing in the beginning and ended up eliminating anything and everything from my diet that might be making him worse. We tried everything it seemed with regards to breastfeeding and eventually his pediatrician decided that he just wasn't gaining enough weight and he needed to be on a special formula called Nutramagin... aka powdered nastyness. The formula stunk so bad, his throw up stunk so bad and his poop was hurrindous. The formula didnt seem to help anything so his pediatrician diagnosed him with GERD, gastroesphageal refulx disease. He started him on Zantac then a month later switched him to prevacid. The exorcist vomiting did eventually go away but was replaced with the constant smell of omit on his breath and intermittant vomiting throughout the day. As Cohen got older, the bub and I realized that dairy products made the vomiting and now diarrhea worse so we took him completely of dairy and replaced it with soy products. For about a year he began to get better and we thought that we had eliminated the problem and were going to begin living a normal life not filled with vomit and poop. The time where the symptoms were better was very short lived and came back with a vengence. Cohen would complain of stomachaches and headaches all the time. His breath constantly smelled of vomit and would have bouts of diarrhea and vomiting on a daily basis. Mind you this whole time we have been told its just severe GERD and the prevacid dose had been increased to help. I finally asked his new pediatrician if we could have a referal to a pediatric gastroenteroligist and she was more than happy to... she actually told me that she had been consuloting with one for a while trying to figure out the next step for a while. She was out of ideas at this point. We met with the pediatric gastroenterologist for about 2 hours and went through a very extensive medical history. The doctor was so awesome and really listened to everything I said. He suggested a few different things beginning with a swallow study and an esophogram. He did so good during these and the results showed that he had no stinosis (or structural deformity) that would cause him to vomit. So the next step would be a scope from the top and the bottom so that the doctor could get a really good look at the entire G.I. tract. After the scope was over the doctor came and spoke with me finally giving me the answers we have been desperately wanting since he was an infant. Cohen is allergic to gluten, soy & cassien. The continual exposure to these foods has cause him to be inflamed through his G.I. tract and covers in lesions. The doctor took some biopsies but said that he didn't think there was any extensive damage or cancer cells that wouldn't heal on their own. Here's the kicker.... to begin the healing process we must stop the exposure to these allergic foods. Which is where we are now. I am finding out very quickly that just about EVERYTHING has one of the three things he's allergic to in it. So I am basically having to go through everything with a fine tooth comb and cook from scratch. Luckily I live in an age where medical advances have been made and I have access to so many resources available online. Plus I have the MOST AMAZING family and friends that have helped me start finding recipes and resources and are all completely on board with supporting us in this whole family lifestyle change.
This blog will basically be a blog about food but I am sure I will add in other fun things too. I was very hesitant and overwhelmed at first with the feeling of "what the heck are we going to eat" but as I become a little bit more informed I am actually a little bit excited about all the new foods we will be experiencing and I am super excited to expose my children early on to foods that typically they would never be exposed to. I am hoping that this will help them to develop a very well rounded appetites.
and so it starts...
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