Endoscopy
We showed up about 7:40AM. We left earlier than I had planned because G was already looking around for his cup of juice and his breakfast, and I knew it would only go downhill from there. Lewis and I took 2 cars, he had to go to work afterwards.
So first off, this is a small Pediatric Surgery Center associated with C.ook Child.ren's. Mostly what they do here are tubes and tonsils and I can't even think of what else. Endoscopies I guess. It's a large room, with about 8 cubbies running along each side, with benches in each. It's a little more privacy for the waiting families, I guess, and down the center are bean bag chairs and books and legos and toy kitchens and large, soft blocks and even a bunch of soft cushions for jumping into.
All the wall colors are pastels. Calming colors. It didn't help.
I kept trying to remember to be grateful that this was all we were here for, an endoscopy. Not to remove anything. Nothing very serious. I kept thinking about what the other families were there for, and if there kids were okay. Then I tried not to think about anything at all because it was all very sad. Thank God for all the healthy kids.
We had to wait quite a while. When our buzzer went off; a cheap circular disc like they use at Applebees, I had to take G away from the little toy kitchen and off we went. We went into another waiting area, with more little cubbies, with beds and monitors and more toys. They took G's blood oxygen levels and heart rate. He fussed. He cried. I walked him around and sang The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly, Old McDonald. It was about 9 something now, maybe? He was hungry. Lewis sat him on the gurney and got a new toy - the old school sorting toy from preskool. G was unimpressed but it's like he can not fight the urge to put things inside something else, or through holes. Pretty funny. He gave in eventually and played, and used brutte strength to get the round peg through the square hole. When he couldn't force another one, he threw them onto the floor.
Another nurse came then, and the anesthesiologist. Asked a few questions. I asked him about side effects, what to expect this afternoon. He said, cranky. Good times.
They walked us back through the rooms (they were cubbies separated by sheets - think emergency room in Gray's anatomy) and took us into the "surgery" room (I use it in quotes because there was no cutting). The anestheisologist showed me the mask. Had me smell it. Told me to lay G down, hold down his arms.
This was the worst part of the whole day.
G fought and kicked and hated having that mask over his face. And then within twenty seconds he subsided. It was the scariest thing. I immediately started crying. He was so still. The nurse handed me a tissue. The aneshesiologist told me to give him a kiss, and he promised to take good care of my little man. I said please do.
We went into a private room to wait. I had to walk down the hall crying and Lewis told me not to cause I'd upset other kiddos. But that's why they put us in those private rooms. So the kids can't see the parents crying. So the parents crying don't make other parents cry.
The private room was about the size of a midsized bathroom, without a tub or toilet. It had pale purple walls.
Irregardless, the doc comes in several minutes later (maybe 20-30?) and gives us his opinion. G has something called eosinophilic esophagitis. I don't understand everything exactly, but I know they confirmed the acid reflux and gave us a scrip for that, and some medicine to make the swelling in his esophagus go down. The doc recommended we take him off the soy milk (which I put him on at 12 months because I thought the cows milk was making his excema worse) and use allmond milk instead.
The irony here ... in the last few days he's been throwing up so much more that I have been giving him more soy milk. When I had been only giving him 4 ounces at a time (twice a day), since he'd been throwing up so much I'd been giving him 8 ounces at night, trying to help him hunger wise.
So when I noticed an uptick in the vomiting, I gave him more, and the uptick continued. Probably because I was giving him more.
Today I gave him half a dose of his prevacid, and honestly I think it worked. He coughed a bit before dinner and he looked genuinely confused when he didn't throw up. But he didn't! He also ate a ton. And his tummy didn't do the distended thing that it does sometimes (which may have been gas / constipation associated with the soy milk his body can't process).
The good news about this diagnosis; it confirms the acid reflux which we knew was there all along, and it also is likely he will outgrow these intolerances as his digestive system matures. So far, nothing is saying he is allergic to milk and soy just that he's intolerant. It's a subtle difference, but an important one to me. We will know for sure if there are any serious allergies when the biopsies come back.
Why do I feel there won't be much in those biospies? Because the biopsies are taken from the lower stomach and upper intestines, the only part of his tract that showed no swelling and was perfectly normal. To my mind, in order for them to find something there would need to be reactive tissue down there. And there is not.
This diagnosis really proves me right; except that I didn't realize that 50% of all kids who are intolerant to cows milk are also intolerant to soy milk. It bothers me a little that the pediatrician didn't mention switching him to a different milk but honestly I didn't get all worked up about the vomiting until 2 weeks ago, when I just felt like it was really hindering his growth.
And soon I think we'll just remove milk all together, because while he may not be allergic to dairy and soy truly, he will probably have the EE and acid reflux his whole life. Just like his granddad, his father, his uncle, his aunt, and his granddad on the other side has tummy issues too.
I feel better today than I have in about a week.
And if you see me in real life I don't want to talk about this. Just FYI.
So first off, this is a small Pediatric Surgery Center associated with C.ook Child.ren's. Mostly what they do here are tubes and tonsils and I can't even think of what else. Endoscopies I guess. It's a large room, with about 8 cubbies running along each side, with benches in each. It's a little more privacy for the waiting families, I guess, and down the center are bean bag chairs and books and legos and toy kitchens and large, soft blocks and even a bunch of soft cushions for jumping into.
All the wall colors are pastels. Calming colors. It didn't help.
I kept trying to remember to be grateful that this was all we were here for, an endoscopy. Not to remove anything. Nothing very serious. I kept thinking about what the other families were there for, and if there kids were okay. Then I tried not to think about anything at all because it was all very sad. Thank God for all the healthy kids.
We had to wait quite a while. When our buzzer went off; a cheap circular disc like they use at Applebees, I had to take G away from the little toy kitchen and off we went. We went into another waiting area, with more little cubbies, with beds and monitors and more toys. They took G's blood oxygen levels and heart rate. He fussed. He cried. I walked him around and sang The Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly, Old McDonald. It was about 9 something now, maybe? He was hungry. Lewis sat him on the gurney and got a new toy - the old school sorting toy from preskool. G was unimpressed but it's like he can not fight the urge to put things inside something else, or through holes. Pretty funny. He gave in eventually and played, and used brutte strength to get the round peg through the square hole. When he couldn't force another one, he threw them onto the floor.
Another nurse came then, and the anesthesiologist. Asked a few questions. I asked him about side effects, what to expect this afternoon. He said, cranky. Good times.
They walked us back through the rooms (they were cubbies separated by sheets - think emergency room in Gray's anatomy) and took us into the "surgery" room (I use it in quotes because there was no cutting). The anestheisologist showed me the mask. Had me smell it. Told me to lay G down, hold down his arms.
This was the worst part of the whole day.
G fought and kicked and hated having that mask over his face. And then within twenty seconds he subsided. It was the scariest thing. I immediately started crying. He was so still. The nurse handed me a tissue. The aneshesiologist told me to give him a kiss, and he promised to take good care of my little man. I said please do.
We went into a private room to wait. I had to walk down the hall crying and Lewis told me not to cause I'd upset other kiddos. But that's why they put us in those private rooms. So the kids can't see the parents crying. So the parents crying don't make other parents cry.
The private room was about the size of a midsized bathroom, without a tub or toilet. It had pale purple walls.
Irregardless, the doc comes in several minutes later (maybe 20-30?) and gives us his opinion. G has something called eosinophilic esophagitis. I don't understand everything exactly, but I know they confirmed the acid reflux and gave us a scrip for that, and some medicine to make the swelling in his esophagus go down. The doc recommended we take him off the soy milk (which I put him on at 12 months because I thought the cows milk was making his excema worse) and use allmond milk instead.
The irony here ... in the last few days he's been throwing up so much more that I have been giving him more soy milk. When I had been only giving him 4 ounces at a time (twice a day), since he'd been throwing up so much I'd been giving him 8 ounces at night, trying to help him hunger wise.
So when I noticed an uptick in the vomiting, I gave him more, and the uptick continued. Probably because I was giving him more.
Today I gave him half a dose of his prevacid, and honestly I think it worked. He coughed a bit before dinner and he looked genuinely confused when he didn't throw up. But he didn't! He also ate a ton. And his tummy didn't do the distended thing that it does sometimes (which may have been gas / constipation associated with the soy milk his body can't process).
The good news about this diagnosis; it confirms the acid reflux which we knew was there all along, and it also is likely he will outgrow these intolerances as his digestive system matures. So far, nothing is saying he is allergic to milk and soy just that he's intolerant. It's a subtle difference, but an important one to me. We will know for sure if there are any serious allergies when the biopsies come back.
Why do I feel there won't be much in those biospies? Because the biopsies are taken from the lower stomach and upper intestines, the only part of his tract that showed no swelling and was perfectly normal. To my mind, in order for them to find something there would need to be reactive tissue down there. And there is not.
This diagnosis really proves me right; except that I didn't realize that 50% of all kids who are intolerant to cows milk are also intolerant to soy milk. It bothers me a little that the pediatrician didn't mention switching him to a different milk but honestly I didn't get all worked up about the vomiting until 2 weeks ago, when I just felt like it was really hindering his growth.
And soon I think we'll just remove milk all together, because while he may not be allergic to dairy and soy truly, he will probably have the EE and acid reflux his whole life. Just like his granddad, his father, his uncle, his aunt, and his granddad on the other side has tummy issues too.
I feel better today than I have in about a week.
And if you see me in real life I don't want to talk about this. Just FYI.
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