Tonight we celebrated with my daughter her super human self control.
Korina was diagnosed 6 years ago with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EoE). There is no cure as a result She manages such a very difficult diet. every day and looks forward to her “cheat day”.
Korina has to have frequent upper endoscopies to see if the status of her EoE… this was number thirteen to be exact!
When Korina has her scope all of her hard work is measured and nothing is in her control. If her esophagus doesn’t have more than 5 eosinophils (although 15 is considered an active disease – 5 is our safe number) she gets to keep the foods she has been trialing and on to the next food challenge. If it is over 5, we have to pull those foods that she was trialing since her last scope out before trialing the next foods.
If she cheats between scopes she can compromise the results and may forever lose what would have actually been a safe food. It’s not worth the risk of jeopardizing her future diet.
The time between having her scope and getting the biopsy results – anything goes!!! She gets to splurge… today was Donuts, Cicis and Hibachi… it’s a pretty fun time for our family because Korina gets to try things she’s never had an opportunity to eat before and it goes to show that no task is too hard to achieve.
I say this right now because I know so many are building momentum with their “new years resolutions” and just know that you truly can push through and achieve whatever your heart desires.
The need for reaching the goal must be greater than the instant gratification of breaking the commitment you make to yourself.
Cut yourself some slack, and take baby steps.
With that said, goals are SMART
Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Time-related
If a (pretty cool) 13 year old can overcome temptation for (conservatively) over 5000 meals since her diagnosis, you can reach your goals too!!!
Happy New Year!