Adventures with Texas Children's Hospital and milk

Some of you may know that Nathan has had some "bowel issues" for a few months - he has had diarrhea since May, so our Pediatrician after ruling out parasites, etc told us he probably had toddler diarrhea (unexplained diarrhea in a toddler that goes away in a few months).  At the beginning of August I first noticed blood so instead of waiting for the "toddler diarrhea" to go away, we again started to look for other causes.  Because he was still gaining weight and was happy, not sick, the doctor referred us to a specialist, so off to the GI doctor we went.
At our appointment they did a test in the office and found blood again, so we scheduled Nathan for a sigmoidoscopy (a mini-colonoscopy...poor kid!) for last Monday.  I was an emotional wreck the whole weekend thinking about it, but Chris was the rational one saying it was just a minor procedure and he'd be just fine.  The doctor squeezed us in to his only opening-at the exact same time we were supposed to find out the sex of the baby- and during Chris's only open time all day in between orientations and starting his first rotation.  Sunday night we put Nathan to bed as late as possible and fed him a ton - he wasn't able to eat ANYTHING after midnight and the procedure wasn't till 11:30 the next morning! It wasn't fun keeping Nathan distracted from food that morning, but I (being pregnant and emotional) knew that everything would be fine as long as Chris was there.  Turns out, Chris got surprised with 2 extra orientations and couldn't come! I cried.  I had to take Nathan to Texas Children's and got all the paper work done, spoke with the doctor again, and then waited...and waited...and waited.  Thankfully (being a children's hospital) there were tons of toys to play with and the nurses were great.

When it was finally time, they gave him some medicine to make him drowsy and they let me carry him back.  I said goodbye and gave him lots of hugs and kisses.  I left the room, started to tear up, and Chris called- he was done and on his way over! I talked to him till he got there, and right when he did the doctor came out and said he was done! We heard Nathan from down the hall saying "MAMA, MAMA" He was so happy to see me and Chris.  He was still a little loopy from the drugs and it was pretty funny.  He was so hungry and thirsty; he downed two boxes of apple juice in just a few minutes.  The doctor showed us some pictures he took and said he would call us on Wednesday to discuss the results of the biopsy.

On Wednesday I got a call from the doctor and he said he needed to meet with us as soon as possible.  Chris is working far away and has the car, so getting anywhere has been a bit of an issue, so I left a message with Chris telling him come get me as soon as he gets off so we could meet with the doctor at 12:30...thankfully he got out early that day and didn't hit any traffic coming to get us and we made the appointment.

It turns out Nathan had ulcers on his colon- that's why he had been bleeding.  The ulcers are a result of a MILK ALLERGY! We've been worried about this for a few weeks, but I didn't really know much about it.  The doctor and nutritionist sort of explained things, but I was still really confused about it.  They gave us a few cans of special milk for Nathan to drink and told us to go to WIC as soon as possible to get some from them because a two week supply of milk is over $150!
At first I confused his milk allergy with lactose intolerance, but they are completely different.  Nathan doesn't just have trouble with milk sugar, he is allergic to the milk protein, which means he can't have anything with milk in it, made from milk, or any milk product.  I've been learning a lot online about what foods are okay for him to eat (graham crackers, bagels, sorbet...)  and what contains milk (nilla wafers, most lunch meats, most margarines, breads...so many things!)
Nathan really hated the special milk the first time we gave it to him (it was unflavored) but he likes the vanilla much better.  It is super thick and a little brown, but it should hopefully not make him sick. If it still does we have to switch to an even grosser tasting, more expensive kind.
Since many kids with milk allergies are also allergic to other foods, we have to cut out soy as well for right now.  Learning how to cook without any milk products and no soy replacements has been interesting.  I made my first real replacement meal last night and it was pretty good.  The special "butter" we get has a different flavor and but still works.
While this will be a tough experience (making sure no one gives him food without us knowing, not getting anything in nursery, going over to other people's houses, or eating out) it could be so much worse.  We are glad his allergy isn't so bad (so far) to cause him breathing problems or other big issues- and there is the possibility that it will go away by age 3 (it does in many kids but not all).  So while this will be hard we are grateful that he is happy and healthy and that we live in a time and place where his needs can be taken care of.