Testing, Testing, 1 2 3

Kip will be 14 months at the end of this week. The "Kip Diet" will be about 12.5 months old then too. Yes, the Kip diet continues.

Since Kip's food sensitivities did not magically improve at 12 months, he has begun seeing specialists to hopefully help identify what he can and cannot eat (and therefore what I can and cannot eat). He is quite the trooper.

So far, three doctors have confirmed that Kip either has FPIES or EE. Whichever one we land on doesn't change the plan of action much. Since his reactions are delayed, traditional allergy testing doesn't produce positive results. The next step is to go down to Houston for a 3rd round of allergy testing, which we will do in April. So far, his blood and skin tests have all been normal or negative of any allergy, which is exactly what we expected with his diagnosis. This 3rd round of testing, called patch testing, is specifically for delayed reactions and will hopefully provide some useful information. I did read a journal article saying that a small percentage of kids don't test positive even with this specialized testing. What a bummer that would be! The test results will hopefully suggest which foods to trial him on and which ones to continue excluding from our diets. Of course, I have a list of 20 something problematic foods and we'll only be able to test 6 or 7 of them during our (possibly first?) stay in Houston.

It has been wonderfully encouraging to talk with the specialists. They have confirmed that continuing the Kip diet is the best thing possible. In fact, according to the GI specialist, the Kip diet has prevented Kip from having to undergo endoscopy and take medications. It is priceless to be told that you are not crazy by someone with an MD after their name. Kip has also expanded his menu up to 5 items: rice, sweet potato, avocado, squash, and carrots. He sure isn't lacking for Vitamin A! Months ago, he seemed to react to rice and avocado, so we're hopeful that means he will continue to outgrow his sensitivity to the other culprit foods. All it takes is patience, prayer, and lots of turkey, rice, and avocado. Yum.