Let the food trials begin!

As you can probably guess by the title, the week went well.  I had my endoscopy on Monday, and it showed that everything was "calm."  We found out Thursday that the biopsies showed no eosinophils (EOS), which is exactly the result we wanted after the Neocate diet and prednisone.  The allergy testing on Tuesday showed every food group was negative, as well as every environmental factor.  I had mixed feelings on that - I was hoping something would show so we could get a little clearer idea of what caused it, but I'm glad nothing showed up as I've never been allergic to anything in my life.

We met with 3 doctors on Thursday.  Dr. Gonsalves is keeping me on the current meds and ok'd me to start food trials.  We'll still do weekly blood testing to monitor the EOS levels.  Then we met with Beth the dietician, and she went over the food trials. I picked my foods to cover 1 month.  No seasonings but salt, pepper, and olive oil.  It's disappointing to think how long it will take to start getting to eat my normal foods, but it's food!  I had my first can of green beans last night, and a second tonight, both of which I digested just fine.  My body is adjusting internally obviously to the solid food, so that'll take a bit of work-through, but no pain and I get to eat.  My mom made fun of me eating the whole can, but heck, when it's all you can have, you do it.  I will continue to drink the juice boxes for the next year, until we can test all the foods.

Next week I can start plain white rice.  I have to be very careful reading labels to ensure it wasn't in a manufacturing plant with another allergenic item, etc.  Minute Rice was safe (the big box), so I picked up some of the rice I could microwave (pre-packaged).  Found out that had soy in it and put it back.  It's amazing how much stuff is contaminated with other high-allergy items.  I ended up buying some stuff I'll be giving to the food pantry.  I'm very hopeful we'll fly through the first few food groups without relapse.  Unfortunately, peas are on the highest allergenic list, so I won't get to have those probably for about another year.  But that's ok.

I may not be able to eat green beans sauteed with margarine and onions (that would be 3 weeks - one for beans, one for onions, one for margarine), but at least I can do beans for now.  I'm happy for Christmas I can have rice and green beans.  We've come a long way, and I'm hopeful for the future.  I plan to return to work on January 2nd, part-time to start.  The steroid psychosis is under better management and seems to be improving.

I thank you all for your prayers and support during these last four months.  Have a Merry Christmas!