Archive for May 12th, 2009

I’ve been writing this blog for a little over three years and have covered a wide variety of topics. But there’s one I’ve never touched, because I wanted to protect my son’s privacy. Someday he may read this little online journal and I didn’t want to embarrass him. Or give his girlfriend/wife tease-fodder. But I’ve hit the point of needing help; Dr. Google can only do so much and I’m at a loss.

A’s digestion has been craptastic (yes, a pun) since the moment of birth. A few hours old, he was given a little formula

SQQQQQUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKK…. Now is a good time for me to state that if you’re a flat out, rabid Breast Only And If You Use Any Formula You’re The Cause Of All Evil believer, just don’t even start with me. I lived in the breastfeeding consultant’s office for A’s first three months. I have never had my boobs so man-handled. When your kid is starving in front of your eyes, you give him formula. Now back to my original post.

A few hours old, he was given a little formula and promptly threw it back up. When we finally had to supplement him because nursing was not working, he went onto soy formula. That stopped him up so badly that we had to add dark Karo syrup to his bottles. Lots of dark Karo syrup, to the point that it looked like chocolate milk. At one point he had a barium xray to figure out why he’d just be sitting there on the floor and upchuck. We joke that we moved from our condo because it was cheaper to buy a house than replace all the carpet.

When he was old enough for milk, he hit the Terrible Twos. At 15 months. And stayed there until his third birthday, when we discovered, completely by accident, that he was considerably calmer off cow milk. Noticeably. Remarkably. Amazingly. Calmer.

Potty training was hell. Unabashed hell. When I hear other moms complain about potty training, I just look at them and comment that I have stories that could curl hair. Things were trucking right along until J was born and everything went to shit. Literally. I’d walk into a room and there’d be a little poop staring at me. Or a little trail of poop. A would try to poop and wouldn’t/couldn’t. This would be after practically forcing him into the bathroom. He was also wetting his pants on a daily basis.

So, given a family history (that’d be me) of bladder problems, off we went to the pediatric urologist. Nope, nothing wrong with the whizzer, but the xray showed he was constipated up, over, and around. The entire large intestine, packed solid. Off to the pediatric gastroenterologist. That’s when our friend, Miralax, came into our lives. (He’s four at this point…and this is only part of the reason why I say he’s lucky I let him live to be five; behavior was another part)

Off and on to the pediatric GI over the next three years. Still problems with making it to the bathroom. Still ongoing pants-wetting/pooping. On and off wheat/gluten. I finally laid down the law with the GI doc, saying I was done with treating the symptoms and by God, we’re finding the reason. A had his first endoscopy in October and it showed eosinophilic esophagitis, no sign of celiac.

Off to the Eosinophilic Esophagitis clinic at Children’s. A second endoscopy and colonoscopy in February. Upped the Miralax to double the adult dose. Met with the EE team again last month to review testing. The EE team has no freaking idea why he has EE or gets so constipated. The EE team has no idea why he still craps his pants at least once a week. The eosinophilic esophagitis could be due to reflux, but not sure. Decide to take a “wait and see” approach…basically a “we have no idea and could use this time for patients we can help” approach.

A gets so constipated that he throws up. Happened several times last spring, which is why I finally lit into the GI doc. He missed a day of school last week from puking, and is home today for the same reason. We were slowly trying to lower his dose of Miralax; gave that up last week and he’s back to a capful a day, twice a day. Double the adult dose; he’s barely 48 pounds. One of the shortest in his class at just over 48 inches…and that disturbs me, given that I’m 5’11″ and my brother is 6’4″. His four-almost-five year old brother is almost as tall. And the doctors who say that he’s stable on the growth chart at the 25th percentile can bite me.

So why am I posting all this? A giant poop post?

I am desperate for help here. Something is wrong with my son and I can’t find out what. He’s been tested for celiac twice, both times during the endoscopies, and both were negative, as was a blood test. Added to all this is that he’s on an ADHD medication that screws with his appetite. We think that the reflux may be due to him finally eating when the meds wear off late afternoon until bedtime and then lying down. I believe that blogging is a community, and I have to believe that someone knows someone that might be able to help me. I am open to homeopathic and/or Eastern medicine; I gave Western medicine its fair shake and it couldn’t figure out what’s wrong. Dietary changes, you name it, I’ll do it.

Someone, please, any help. There’s something not right with A. My Mom Sense has been tingling for years, and it just keep jangling louder and louder. The answer is out there somewhere, but I need help finding it. I’ve hit a dead-end.

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A: I’m sorry. I’m sorry I had to finally tell this story, but I need to find answers to help you. If you get teased about this, I’m so sorry. If this makes you uncomfortable because I shared so much about your pooper, I’m sorry. But, my sweetie, I’m at a loss. I will do anything to help you, and unfortunately if it means plastering this story up on the internets for God and the whole world to see, I’ll do it. I’m going to find the answer, sweetheart. You shouldn’t have to go through this. I know you’re upset that you still have accidents, I know you’re confused that you sometimes throw up for no reason, and I know you’re getting old enough to know something isn’t right. The answer is out there, my love. I’ll find it. I promise.