English
As Nicole Audrey Spector tells
May 22, 2025 is the EEO day of the first world.
It was a completely normal day that for me, a mother of two children who works and ensures that everything at home goes without any problems that things were very busy. I was at work and my children (Jerich, 7 years old and chase, 5 years old) played with a boy named Max in our house.
When the children eat for lunch, Max ‘mother called me to tell me that Jerich put a piece of turkey game in his neck. I had no problem with breathing or talking, so I was not afraid, but I could hear that I was in a very unpleasant situation.
I quickly returned and brought Jerich to the emergency room. There the doctor examined him, confirmed the disability and injected Jerich an anti -inflammatory headache caused by the obstruction.
Jerich relaxed during the process and the problematic piece of colder finally crossed his neck. What relief!
But that was not the end of the problem. In fact, it was only the beginning of something that would completely change our life.
The doctor of the emergency room asked whether Jerich tested the eosinophilic esophagitis (EEO), a chronic disorder of the immune system. The symptoms of EEO include difficulties when swallowing and food bowling (FBO), which is the term used in the season of food in the esophagus.
He had never heard of EEO before, so he hadn’t led Jerich to never have a reason to do this. Jerich had atopic dermatitis, asthma and allergies associated with the EEO, since all of these disorders are the product of inflammation of type 2. But at that time we didn’t know that and the incident of this day with the couple of the turkey was the first and only indication that something was wrong with his process of siping the food.
If no treatment is provided, the EEO can be very serious. It can lead to delays in the development, malnutrition and weight loss. So I definitely wanted Jerich to go through tests and plan a consultation as soon as possible.
The test required for Jeric was a superior endoscopy with biopsies from different places from the esophagus to the stomach. I was afraid. It was possible for you to use general anesthesia for Jerich during the procedure. But what alternative did we have? We needed answers. Fortunately, Jeric’s medical team was fantastic and we knew that Jerich was in the best hands.
Seeing the pictures of Jerich’s endoscopy was fascinating and terribly worrying. It was seen how his esophagus was unusually tight. It was like seeing train rails, crossing the swollen fabric. Completely inflamed. We had to reduce this inflammation.
The good news was that the EEO was only in its esophagus. Some people have EEO in the entire section in their stomach, which is much more complicated.
The doctor gave a very clear explanation of how to deal with Jerichs Eee, and I was very relieved to hear that it was almost certain that he could only be treated with nutritional changes.
Now you may think: “Changes in nutrition? Very easy!” It was what we initially think. Then I heard how great and intensive these nutritional changes should be.
Heather and Jerich, September 2024 (Photo/Caitie McBride)
In order to treat Jerich’s EEE and avoid future complications, we had to remove the most important eight allergens of his diet. That means dairy products, soy, wheat, gluten, eggs, nuts, shellfish and fish.
Jerich had peanut anaaphylaxis, so he no longer ate peanuts, but everything else? Up to this point, Jeric was a typical American child in what referred to what he ate. I lived practical and eat fish sticks, scrambled eggs, fries fries, pizza, cheese in stripes and ice cream, food that I could no longer eat.
The removal of all these foods from Jerich’s diet, as we normally had, as we usually had in terms of food purchases and our budget, was cruel for Jerich. So my husband and I decided that Jeric would not be the only one in the house that would stop eating all of these delicious food. If he couldn’t eat these foods, none of us would.
When we came home, I checked our refrigerator and the pantry. We had to eliminate almost everything. I remember a can of black beans and thought: “Well, at least it can stay in his place.”
Although this happened just 10 years ago and the Internet already used something, it was much more difficult than finding food blogs and creators from specialized recipes that focus on restrictive diets. I received a lot of help from Jerich’s medical team, but I also commissioned a woman to prepare recipes for myself and provide me with tutorials to use the remains.
These first trips to the supermarket were very difficult. I felt like an alien in the halls and went through dozens of products that I used to be directly on the car, but could no longer do it. The approach was now in unprocessed meat and in fresh fruit and vegetables. In the box, I constantly surprised how expensive it was.
Heather y Jeric en la eos Connection Conference [Conferencia de conexiones de EOS]2023
It was a difficult transition, and on many occasions I tried to be creative with false cheese or another replacement, and finally made completely unpleasant dishes. We endure countless grotesque and plenty of dinner and desserts. We all had to pretend that nothing had happened and laughter. It was crucial to have a sense of humor for all of this. It was useful to maintain the perspective of things and to keep us emotionally together.
And I cannot ignore the good parts of our experience with the EEO. Our community really supported Jerich. The parents of their school took many precautions and were very careful. When they invited Jerich to birthday parties, they always made sure that Jerich did not feel excluded. We also eaten much better. I could feel and see the changes in my body. I had more energy, I slept better and my hair, skin and nails were much healthier.
Now Jerich is 18 years old and ready to travel for a year. The inflammation that I saw in the images of endoscopy when EEO was diagnosed for the first time was completely dissolved. He still follows his EEO diet, but he doesn’t have to be as strict as before and if he eats something from time to time, if he is not serious, there are no serious consequences.
Life with EEO is not easy, especially at the beginning, but if you concentrate on your spirit and mind, you will do everything necessary and learn what is most important: to stay safe and happy. If you can also be healthy, how great is that?
resources
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – patient brochure
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – specialist back
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – toolkit for patient lessons
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – navigateeoscare.org
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – patient conference
American partnership for eosinophilic disorders – online community
This educational resource was created with the support of Sanofi and Regeneron.
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