Archie's Diagnosis: Phase Two

We met with the allergist today. We basically just confirmed what we already knew: he has a lot of food allergies and they have caused his eosinophils to gather in his esophagus, giving him a chronic disease called EE or EOE. He described eosinophils as a nasty white blood cell that is great for fighting parasites, but gets confused and comes out with allergens instead. It releases nasty chemicals to attack the parasite, but in Archie's case, his esophagus. He also said it is the same blood cell that causes asthma, but with asthma it is attacking the lungs. It is chronic disease (we just learned this today), but Archie is so young, and most of his food allergies should be outgrown, that the allergist excitedly wondered if he may outgrow the EE too. Wouldn't it be great if he didn't have to deal with this for the rest of his life?!?! He loved the mystery of it all.

He also said that with most food allergies, the blood work alone is inconclusive because it is the actual clinical symptoms, not the numbers, that determine true allergy. But, since Archie has EE, even the most minor food allergy could have caused the reaction, so there is no such thing as a non-significant allergen. So, we are supposed to keep him away from his allergens, mainly dairy, egg, gluten, soy and peanuts, and keep him on a topical steroid (an asthma inhalant liquid that we mix with stevia). Most EE patients have to stay on this regime for the duration of the disease, but with Archie, we are going to test his blood in 5 months to see if his blood allergy levels have decreased, and if they have, we will introduce the allergens one at a time while still on the steroids. If he continues to improve, we will take him off the steroids, and do another endoscopy to test for eosinophils in the esophagus again. If the eosinophils are gone, then he is one of the rare cases where it won't be chronic!!!

It seems like a lot to take in, and it is, but we aren't overwhelmed. He is still such a little guy, and he doesn't know what he's missing. Also, he is so young, that I am still making him special food for each meal, despite the EE. So, instead of chicken nuggets and french fries, I give him low-allergen nuggets and veggie chips. He doesn't care. The only difficult thing we've run into is emergency snacking. We have to have a bag on Lucky Charms on hand at all times (yes they are allergen free! Cool huh?), because we can't just grab something wherever we are. He takes his medicine well, he eats CONSTANTLY, he likes his special food, and we are good!
Here is a little information I found on EE if you are interested in learning from a more official source.
http://www.gastrokids.org/files/documents/resources/A%20Guide%20to%20Eosinophilic%20Esophagitis%20in%20Children%20and%20Adults.pdf
PS. I just found out Archie got diagnosed during the UK's national eosiniphillic awareness week! I just thought that was funny.