Park City

I've prayed since Wednesday that God would just show me the exact cause of Ebbie's allergy. Like Austin said, "I think He answered in a big way". She didn't test positive to a milk allergy but since since milk is an inflammatory food we have just been trying to avoid it in large doses. After the last test results the plan was to avoid all dairy when we got back to Jackson. So since we're on vacation I let her have a bowl of ice cream at dinner last night. Needless to say....she's been throwing up for the past 9 hours! 

All yesterday she just kept saying "I like to go fast!" So I hate that she can't go out today. Praying she feels better this afternoon! We'll definitely need prayers over the next few months while we avoid all dairy....it's going to be hard!! 

Love y'all! 

Deidre 

Test 2/15/16

So...we're finished up and headed home. Dr said her colon looks good. She did biopsies just to be absolutely sure but she didn't see anything. Thankful for this small positive!

The not so great news is that she has new white patches in her esophagus and stomach. (To quote Ebbie "this makes me kind of sad"). Best case is that it's a yeast infection from the steroids she took to clear the eosinophils. If so, she will take an anti-fungal and we'll keep on the diet we're on.

Worst case is the eosinophils are back :(
If that's the case then we'll have to take out those top 6 allergens on top of the foods we've already eliminated. She mentioned the elemental diet and a supplemental diet but I can't think about what's the best thing right now. We just need to take it one day at a time....just wait to see what the biopsy shows and make a decision about diets and whether or not to go to Boston Children's Hospital.

As always we appreciate your prayers. I'm so thankful for Ebbie's kind spirit and bravery! 

Deidre 

So Proud!

Bo won the JA Geography Bee today! He is the first 4th grader to ever win while competing against 8th graders.
After he got the first question correct we could see his confidence begin to grow...
Best birthday present I could have gotten!!

All his 4th grade classmates cheered and yelled for him when he won! So much fun!

Good news

Praise the Lord! We got great news on Ebbie today...see picture below!

Also, we're trying to work out a deal on selling our house. It's been under contract for a while but the family who wants to buy ours is having a hard time selling theirs. They got an offer on theirs today but it was a lot lower than their asking price. Please pray it will work out so that they can purchase ours and we can move into our new home without the burden of a second mortgage. I've always felt like God was going to work this out for us so hopefully this is the right time...if not, prayers and hope continue!

Ebbie's Scope

Ebbie had her follow-up scope today. Dr Shannon said her esophagus looks so much better. The pictures show no inflammation and there are none of the visible white patches. So.... we're praying that the biopsy results show that her EoE is in remission. If so, we can stop the steroid and see how that goes! Still cutting out most of her high allergy foods and hoping that once we stop steroids her symptoms won't return. 
Thanks for all the prayers and support! 

Ebbie's 8th Birthday

We celebrated Ebbie's birthday by having lunch with her at school. Later...a birthday party at Fat Cat Ceramics and lastly her BFF Rosemary spent the night to help play with all of her new gifts. I'm so thankful for this sweet, loving, kind-spirited little girl. And very grateful for sweet friends that she loves so much.

Good News

We followed up with GI doctor today and got some good news....we can add back some of the high allergy foods that Ebbie didn't test positive to!!! Y'all don't know- this is so freeing! While she can't guzzle a gallon of milk or eat ice cream every night she can definitely have butter on baked potatoes now! And a birthday cake on her birthday! 

Dr basically said that with eliminating all the foods at once it's setting us up for failure (ummm...yes!) and that in the end the medicine should help with the healing of her esophagus. While that is the immediate goal the long term goal is to find out which one or two foods cause the eosinophils. She also put her on an additional medicine to help promote the healing. 

I also just want to thank you all for the prayers. And I want Ebbie and Bo to read this later in life and know that God is good-even in trials. That He will meet you where you are! But also, to know that Satan too is real, and evil, and will attack you while you're down and try to steal your joy. Ebbie's condition is not life threatening but it definitely affects her quality of life and as a mom it's hard to watch and not fix it immediately. I've felt very condemned by guilt that I didn't catch this sooner, or that I'm not doing what I need to do to fix it now. However I know that condemnation is from satan and that sweet conviction is from the Lord. That all of life is a roller coaster and that though satan is real-God is bigger, and good, and a provider, and sustainer. 
So, I appreciate the prayers and I know that God will equip me with the tools I need to provide and care for Ebbie.