O-Boy(s)!: Easter Lesson

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Easter Lesson

Saturday night, before Easter, Peter took Colin to the ER to have a small MRSA infection on his thumb lanced and cleaned. I decided to proceed with my Easter lesson for the big boys. Admittedly I was nervous about the baby, because of his serious infection last month. The boys were excited and surprised when we opened the egg carton. Each egg contained something small that related to the story of Christ's resurrection. They each took turns opening an egg, while Michael read the corresponding scripture from the New Testament.

Jacob declared the last egg was for him. The last egg is empty - to represent the empty tomb because of the resurrection. When he opened it, he was mad and yelled, "What a rip off! That is just not fair. Why is my egg empty?!?" He was actually really mad. I was still stressed about the baby, about to close our lesson with some final teaching thoughts and totally over reacted, yelling at Jacob. Michael gave him a dirty look, and Jacob burst into sobbing tears. He cried, "I am so sorry, I didn't mean that". What a disaster. I felt horrible - my reaction really killed the whole spirit of the lesson. We closed the carton and apologized to each other. Off to bed, to wait for Peter to get home. What a bad Mom Moment. Good thing all of Easter happened, and we can say sorry, forgive, and love.

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What is FPIES?

I have 2 children that are recently healed from FPIES - Food Protein Induced Enterocolitis Syndrome. Scotty is 5 years old - and fought this disorder for about 3.5 hard years. Colin is a 20 month old baby - and had a quick recovery. He is recently cleared of all of his symptoms, calling him FPIES free!

FPIES is a severe delayed food allergy of the gut, it is understood to be a T-cell mediated response in which food is considered a foreign invader and the body “fights” it until it can violently expel it; although the exact mechanisms are still not well understood.

Symptoms include: profound vomiting (often to bile), diarrhea and/or constipation. These can lead to: lethargy, low body temp or fever, hypotension, and in severe cases, sepsis and shock. Reactions to food are often delayed - a couple hours or even days.

Many children also experience a combination of discomforting symptoms while the body "fights" this reaction and these can include: extreme stomach pains, gas, runny stools with or without mucous or blood, persistent hiccups, acid reflux, rashes, sleep disturbance, and agitation. Other atypical symptoms I see in my own children are persistent runny noses and ear infections. Sypmtoms can last a couple hours or even weeks after the initial ingestion of a trigger food.

FPIES is a clinical diagnosis (based on symptoms), there is currently no test for it.

FPIES common trigger foods as listed in the literature include, but are certainly not limited to: Dairy, Soy, Rice, Oats, Barley, Green Beans, Sweet Potatoes, Squash, Chicken, Turkey, Corn, Eggs.

Safe foods for these children to eat are determined by food challenges either at home or the doctor's office, as directed by the child's physician.

Children diagnosed with FPIES are treated in part with a strict elimination diet - keeping all trigger foods 100% out of their bodies. It is hoped that this will give their gut time to "heal".

Read and learn more in Joy's collection of articles:
FPIES File Cabinet

Also see her great collection of articles at The FPIES Foundation:
Medical Resource Articles

Check out this new great website with tons of FPIES info:
International Association for Food Protein Enterocolitis