The Results Are In

The nurse telephoned with the results of Asher's latest endoscopy. Biopsies reveal three eosinophils (eos) per high-powered field (hpf) in the proximal and 15 eos per hpf in the distal esophagus. Results greater than 15 are bad, which means that Asher just barely squeaked by. Since Asher had over 90 eos per hpf in the distal esophagus in his last scope on October 17th, it's encouraging that the number has gone down that significantly. The general consensus is that it takes a long time for the eos to clear from the esophagus.

In other words, it's a pass. We can begin introducing additional foods into Asher's diet. One at a time, of course. One food, wait two weeks for reaction, then another food, wait another two weeks, add a third food, then scope three months from now.

Once Asher stops vomiting, we'll introduce another food. Right now he chooses bananas, but he's allowed to change his mind.

Asher had an absolutely horrendous afternoon and evening yesterday. He vomited up a storm - from 3 PM to about 6 PM. After there was nothing in his tummy left to vomit, he started to dry heave. His tiny little body shook like crazy while it tried to expel something from its empty stomach. I looked on helplessly, trying desperately to think of some way to help my sweet baby.

In a desperate attempt, I took Asher to the pediatrician's last night to see if there could be a virus or bacterial infection or some sort of medicine to sooth his tummy. No dice. Logic says that it's caused by some irritation due to the endoscopy, so it's best handled by the ped. gastroenterologist. Doctor did suggest giving Benedryl (short term) or Zantac (longer term) to sooth the stomach and help with the vomiting. I had never heard of that before. Something about how they are antihistamines, which suppress the histamine allergic reaction. Oh. good to know. So off I went to give Asher some antihistamine. We'll see if it helps.