A Mother's Journey to Diagnosis with Her Son: Eosinophilic Esophagitis

By Jaclyn Tran

Where did you go for lunch today? What will you have for dinner? Chances are you probably wont have to put TOO much thought into it. But what if every piece of food that went into your body could be seen as a foreign invader. Yes; an allergy. But this is a new disease that has been hiding under the Radar and starting to Rear its monstrous face. Read a mothers emotional roller-coaster that goes alongside this new and evolving disease.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512748611

Jaclyn Tran

Jaclyn was born and raised in Southern California. She loves Healthcare and making a difference. When her son was born she stopped her nursing career to focus on new mommy hood; never expecting that her future would soon be taking care of her own child from a medical stand point. Jaclyn honestly tells her story of a complicated and complex disease from a moms perspective. Raw and emotional; this book takes you step by step from a child’s first six months from diagnosis and the Emotions that are involved.

Book preview

A Mother’s Journey

to Diagnosis

with Her Son

Eosinophilic Esophagitis

kaibookcover.JPG

Jaclyn Tran

22972.png

Copyright © 2016 Jaclyn Tran.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4862-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-4861-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016910669

WestBow Press rev. date: 7/1/2016

Contents

Dedication

Introduction

Chapter 1

The First Year

The Second Year

Third Year

Baking It Out

Allergy Testing Begins

Aloha

On Our Way

A Few of My Favorite Recipes

Dedication

T his book is dedicated to every mother of a child with eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorder (EGID). Many of those mothers stay up late at night, as I do, reformulating recipes for the children they love. It is also for every EGID dad who sits so patiently during the endless hours of feedings and for the brothers and sisters of members of the EGID community. They also understand this disease’s effects on a moment-by-moment, daily basis. I dedicate my book also to my family—to my husband, for all his support in everything I do. And my two everyday heroes Kai and McKenzie … I love you and thank you for letting Mommy do her work.

Those other mothers’ stories may not be too different from mine. However, I wanted to share the roller coaster of emotions this horrible disease can evoke. I want to place this book in the hands of all you new EGID moms so that you may sleep a little more easily, knowing you are not alone and that in your situation, it is perfectly normal to cry in the baking section of the grocery store. Another point to understand: It will probably take a minimum of ten attempts to make a cookie that is safe for your child to eat. I understand completely.

kaifb4.jpg

Introduction

I n the baking section of my local grocery store, I read the ingredient list of each baking mix, noting each ingredient carefully. I pulled my sunglasses over my eyes as the tears started to stream down my cheeks. I felt heaviness in my chest; I put the box of gluten-free cake mix down and ran to the bathroom, which was a few aisles down. There I locked myself in the stall and hid my face against the door. I cried until I felt I had nothing left. As of that difficult day, one