Three days ago, Claire turned 18 months young and today marks the one-year anniversary of the day this adventure first began. What a difference a year makes. Since the initial terrifying FPIES episodes and the turbulent days leading up to and after the diagnosis, it's with a grateful heart that I say our lives (and nerves) have stabilized entirely. Claire hasn't touched a morsel of rice, oats, or sweet potatoes since we learned they were trigger foods and she's been episode-free ever since. In addition, her milk intolerance was resolved naturally around her first birthday, and she's been indulging in limitless dairy goodness for the last six months. Even more encouraging, she's tipping the scales at 23 pounds and standing 31 1/8in. tall (that fraction is hard earned!), which puts her in the 25th percentile range for both. Dr. Boyce, her Pediatrician, gave her a squeaky clean bill of health for her growth and development.
We are relishing the peace and balance of the present, but we still have concerns about the future of Claire's FPIES. Dr. Hubbard, our allergist, has suggested a food trial (in a hospital setting) around Claire's second birthday to check her tolerance (or lack thereof) to her trigger foods. At first I was eager for closure on this chapter, but agreed that, at two years old, Claire's body will have matured enough to (hopefully) break down the offending foods without trouble and she can communicate with us as she undergoes the trial. Two vast improvements from when we first began...
I have thought a lot about how I will continue this blog/journal since, these days, our life is so FPIES- uneventful. Sometimes I feel embarrassed by how "easy" we've got it compared with those FPIES families that fight with it every single day; spending countless hours with old and new doctors, undergoing painful and frustrating tests, and waiting years for any sign of encouraging progress. Our story hasn't played out that way. We're one of the lucky ones, and I will never forget that. I've decided to update this blog periodically, when I have experiences worth remembering or news to share. I'd like to think that one day someone, a lot like myself on January 13, 2010, would stumble on this blog, and might feel a glimmer of hope. It's taken 365 days for me to learn that everything is gonna be alright :)
